Case study explores whether CBD oil contributed to tumor regression
It started as a lingering cough.
A few months later, cough persisting, the 80-something woman decided to see a doctor. It turned out to be lung cancer.
She was a light smoker, making her way through a little more than a pack of cigarettes a week. She didn’t drink, but took several prescription and over-the-counter drugs.
A CT scan in June 2018 showed a tumor in her lung, 41 millimeters at its longest axial diameter. After a biopsy, she was diagnosed with non-small cell lung carcinoma.
The woman’s doctor referred her to surgeons who could remove the tumor. She talked with them, but ultimately decided against surgery. She was offered radiation therapy, but declined this treatment as well. She and her doctor agreed on a watch-and-wait approach, with follow up CT scans.
“I was not very interested in traditional cancer treatments as I was worried about the risks of surgery, and I saw my late husband suffer through the side effects of [radiation],” the woman told the study’s authors.
“I was not very interested in traditional cancer treatments as I was worried about the risks of surgery, and I saw my late husband suffer through the side effects of radiation.”
— Lung cancer patient and subject of the case study
CT scans every three to six months for the next two and a half years documented the lung cancer shrinking. By February 2021, the 41-millimeter tumor had shrunk to 10 millimeters.
When doctors were baffled, the woman revealed that she’d been self-treating with CBD oil since August 2018.
“My relative suggested that I should try cannabidiol (CBD) oil to treat my cancer, and I have been taking it regularly ever since,” she said in the case study.
She said she’d tried to take 0.5 mL orally three times a day, but there were days she’d only taken it twice. The oil she used contained roughly equal amounts of CBD, delta-9 THC and THCA (tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, a chemical precursor to THC).
Hoping to minimize psychoactive effects, which could potentially be caused by conversion of THCA into THC — a process called decarboxylation, triggered by heat — she avoided taking the CBD oil with hot food or drink. She made no other changes to her lifestyle, and continued to smoke a pack a week.
She believes the CBD oil is responsible for the cancer’s retreat.
“I am over the moon with my cancer shrinking, which I believe was caused by the CBD oil,” she said. "I am tolerating it very well and I intend to take this treatment indefinitely.”
Researchers are less sure, but believe the case deserves attention.
Scientific research into cannabinoids’ potential as cancer treatment has been mixed.
“Studies have shown that cannabinoids have an effect on tumor growth, development, invasion, metastasis and angiogenesis,” the authors of the study wrote. “However, various studies have come to conflicting conclusions on the specific effect cannabinoids have on cancer cells.”
CBD has been found in some instances slow proliferation and migration of cancer cells, including lung cancer. And some studies have demonstrated that THC can decrease tumor growth and metastatic spread. But THC has been shown in other instances to increase proliferation of cancer cells, including lung cancer cells.
"Although there is clearly a potential for cannabinoids to be used as a primary or as an adjunct form of cancer treatment, further research is required to identify exactly which compound works against which specific cancer cell type,” the authors wrote.
There has been at least one similar case reported, according research cited in the study. In the earlier case CBD was the only active component.
“In both cases, the patients did not change their lifestyle, medications or diet,” the authors noted, “and the self-administration of the ‘CBD oil’ seems to be the only explanation for the radiological improvement of their known lung cancer. Due to each case involving a different selection of cannabinoids, it is difficult to conclude if the THC in our case contributed to the lung cancer reduction, or if it was just the CBD component that had a positive effect.”
The authors — who work in radiology and respiratory departments in the UK — offered a potential explanation of how CBD oil might work.
“Cannabinoids, which are chemically similar to our own body’s endocannabinoids, can interact with signalling pathways to control the fate of cells, including cancer cells," the authors wrote "[…] These interactions play a role in controlling a cell’s fate by allowing the release of various neurotransmitters, modulating the effects of proteins and nuclear factors that are involved in cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis.”
They also acknowledged that few conclusions can be drawn based on one or two instances of healing. But they also pointed out the value of further investigation, given the fact that some people would sooner risk death than subject themselves to existing cancer treatments.
Ultimately, the authors called for more research to identify the mechanism, if there is one, by which cannabinoids inhibit cancer growth. Also to determine their effects on different types of cancer and potential adverse side effects.
“The potential for cannabinoids to be used as an alternative to augment or replace conventional primary cancer treatments,” they concluded, “definitely justifies further research.”
