A cannabis extract could prove a "dramatically" successful treatment for brain cancer, British researchers said today.
Researchers found that the cannabis extracts combined with radiotherapy to cause the "virtual" disappearance of brain tumours.
The research at St George’s, University of London, has so far involved laboratory mice.
The mice were treated with the cannabis extracts tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol.
The findings have been published in the journal Molecular Cancer Therapeutics.
Researcher Dr Wai Liu said the results were "extremely exciting."
Dr Liu said: “Those treated with both irradiation and the cannabinoids saw the most beneficial results and a drastic reduction in size. In some cases, the tumours effectively disappeared in the animals.
"This augurs well for further research in humans in the future. At the moment this is a mostly fatal disease.
“The benefits of the cannabis plant elements were known before but the drastic reduction of brain cancers if used with irradiation is something new and may well prove promising for patients who are in gravely serious situations with such cancers in the future.”
Molecular Cancer Therapeutics 14 November 2014
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