Quote Originally Posted by Shrooms
LIP and birdgirl can you both clear that up? so i was told that glioma cells were the main type of cell that was killed, or stunted in growth, and that these glioma cells are the cells most prone to cancer in the brian. is that correct? i want to make sure this fact is especially correct, as it is an important one.
Hey, Shrooms. I looked this up and then confirmed it with my neuroanatomy professor by email. Glial-cell originating cancers account for only about half of all brain cancers. Of that 50% figure, about 85% of those are glio-astrocytomas, which form in the astrocytes, which are star-shaped glial cells. One particular type of glio-astrocytoma is the most deadly, and that's called a glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). The GBM is the deadliest and fastest growing brain cancer.

What we know about cannabinoids (there are about 60 of these types of chemicals contained in weed; THC is one of these) is fairly limited right now. Lots of people here on these boards who can't really translate what the research is telling them--or who have just heard something that sounds positive and distorted it--have gone off the deep end and concluded that marijuana cures brain cancer. That is categorically untrue. We simply don't know that yet.

We do know that cannabinoids seem to have some beneficial anti-inflammatory effects on glial cells in vitro (meaning in lab studies in a test tube). And we also know that, in immuno-suppressed rats, THC and other cannabinoids led to a significant regression of malignant gliomas. No one yet knows why this is. But again, this was in rats, not humans. It now needs to be studied in humans, and somewhere we can hope that's being done. The problem is that most humans with malignant gliomas aren't alive long enough to be studied conclusively.

I'll post a good link below about the cannabinoid-glial connection, but I'm afraid it's written in very heavy medical language. I'm happy to help you translate if you need me to. I'm only a first-year med student, but I've got a husband who's a full-fledged doctor and a whole bunch of professors and books at my disposal. There are lots of other hopeful indicators about cannabis having beneficial neurological effects, but right now they're just indicators and not absolute conclusions. I don't mean to burst anyone's bubble, but accuracy in this sort of information if vital if we're ever to get this substance or its users taken seriously.
http://cannabismd.org/reports/carter3.php