The three studies featured below relate to cannabinoids’ anticancer activity and potential treatments for breast cancer.

María M. Caffarel, Ph.D., Scientist at the Complutense University-CIBERNED-IRYCIS in Madrid, Spain, et al., stated the following in their 2012 study titled “Cannabinoids: A new hope for breast cancer therapy”:

Breast cancer is a prevalent disease that affects approximately 1 in 10 women at some point in their lives. Importantly, breast cancer cannot be considered a single disease as it is characterized by distinct pathological and molecular subtypes that are treated with different therapies and have diverse clinical outcomes. Although some highly successful treatments have been developed, certain breast tumors are resistant to conventional therapies, and a considerable number of them relapse. Therefore, new strategies are urgently needed, and the challenge for the future will most likely be the development of individualized therapies that specifically target each patient’s tumor. Experimental evidence accumulated during the last decade supports that cannabinoids, the active components of Cannabis sativa and their derivatives, possess anticancer activity. Thus, these compounds exert anti-proliferative, pro-apoptotic, anti-migratory, and anti-invasive actions in a wide spectrum of cancer cells in culture. Moreover, tumor growth, angiogenesis, and metastasis are hampered by cannabinoids in xenograft-based and genetically-engineered mouse models of cancer. This review summarizes our current knowledge on the anti-tumor potential of cannabinoids in breast cancer, which suggests that cannabinoid-based medicines may be useful for treating most breast tumor subtypes.

 

Another article by Sean D. McAllister, Ph.D., from California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, et al., stated the following in their Aug. 2011 study titled “Pathways Mediating the Effects of Cannabidiol on the Reduction of Breast Cancer Cell Proliferation, Invasion, and Metastasis,” published in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment journal:

The development of a compound (and perhaps a family of compounds) that is non-toxic, efficacious, and specifically targets metastatic cancer cells would significantly contribute to eradicating breast cancer. There is a consensus in cancer research that targeting multiple pathways that control tumor progression is the best strategy for eradicating aggressive cancers. Since CBD has low toxicity, it would be an ideal candidate for combination treatments with additional drugs already used in the clinic. Importantly, CBD appears to be interacting through a cellular system that regulates the expression of key transcriptional factors (e.g., Id-1) that control breast cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. The experiments described in this manuscript define the pathways that CBD is working through to control breast cancer cell aggressiveness and demonstrate the efficacy of CBD in pre-clinical models. A greater understanding of this system may lead to future therapies for breast cancer patients, including the additional refinement of CBD analog synthesis.

 

A more recent study by Dr. Kenyon et al. stated the following in their 2018 study titled “Clinical Responses to Pharmaceutical-grade Synthetic Cannabidiol” published in Anticancer Research journal:

Cannabinoids are widely used in the management of pain, nausea, and cachexia in cancer patients. However, there has been no objective clinical evidence of any anticancer activity yet. This study aimed to assess the effects of pharmaceutical-grade synthetic cannabidiol on a range of cancer patients. Patients and Methods: We analyzed the data routinely collected, as part of our treatment program, in 119 cancer patients over a four year period. Results: Clinical responses were seen in 92% of the 119 cases with solid tumors, including a reduction in circulating tumor cells in many cases and, in other cases, a reduction in tumor size, as shown by repeat scans. No side effects of any kind were observed when using pharmaceutical grade synthetic cannabidiol. Conclusion: Pharmaceutical grade synthetic cannabidiol is a candidate for treating breast cancer and glioma patients.