Dr. Christina Sanchez is a Spanish molecular biologist who is working on the research of cannabis and cancer. Dr. Sanchez was also the one who discovered that THC can kill tumor cells.
At the moment, there are only a few research facilities that are allowed to experiment with cannabinoid medications against cancer.
One of the most well-known institutions experimenting with cannabinoid is the Complutense University of Madrid.
At this university, a group of neuroscientists and biologists have been analyzing the effects of cannabis, specifically THC on cancer tumors for more than ten years now.
In a video they posted on YouTube, their lead researcher discussed their findings and showed the results on how cannabis can kill cancer cells.
Dr. Christina Sanchez on Her Research
A molecular biologist working both on cannabis and cancer research, Dr. Christina Sanchez is one of the members of a larger team of scientists and researchers who have discovered that THC has indeed properties that can effectively destroy tumors in both animal models as well as in cultured cells.
Thus far, Dr. Sanchez’ team has focused their work primarily on breast and brain cancers.
When asked to explain her work, she said that her team started working on the project basically by chance over 10 years ago.
They were working with astrocytes, a cell found in the central nervous system at that time when they have decided to replace the model and instead work with astrocytoma cells, also known as the tumoral cells.
Dr. Sanchez then said that her team observed that when they treated the cells with CBD or cannabinoids particularly THC, the main psychoactive components of cannabis, cancer cells began dying in their Petri dishes. Cancer cells are killed by cannabis compounds.
From Petri Dishes to Animal Models
After their success with the cultured cells, the team then decided to test cannabinoids with the experiment in animal models of cancers. First, they treated rodents which have brain and breast tumors with a cannabinoid-based therapy.
Dr. Sanchez said that the results they got from the experimental CBD therapy with animal models showed that cannabinoids may be indeed effective for the treatment of breast cancer.
They have then started to conduct more tests in animal models with brain tumors and glioblastoma. Their results prove that cannabinoids were very convincing in reducing the growth of tumors in those animals.
How Did it Work?
The team said that there is no doubt that cannabis has compounds like THC which can effectively kill cancer cells. But how? What did these compounds have and what were the factors for them to effectively exterminate tumors?
They explained that cells can die in a lot of ways. After the cannabinoid treatment, they observed that the glioma cells were dying in a clean way.
According to Dr. Sanchez, the cells were committing suicide which is something the researchers were looking forward to since they wanted an anti-tumoral drug.
Sanchez even went on to explain that the cannabinoids exclusively targets the tumor cells and they do not have any toxic effect on the healthy, normal cells throughout the body.
Watch the Video
Even if you are not familiar with the technicalities, the entirety of the video is worth the watch. Dr. Sanchez goes into more detail about how the endocannabinoid system works and what are the advantages of the cannabinoid treatment over the standard chemotherapy.
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