Pancreatic cancer is one of the hardest-to-treat and deadliest forms of the disease, killing more than 92% of sufferers within five years. It makes up just 3% of all cancers in America, but nevertheless, it is predicted to be the second leading cause of cancer-related death (after lung cancer) by 2020.
The statistics are grim. Luckily, scientists from Harvard University’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have shared the good news. Their latest study found that a chemical found in cannabis has demonstrated “significant therapy potential” in treatment of pancreatic cancer. The research has been published in the journal Frontiers of Oncology.
Flavonoid FBL-03G
A flavonoid is a naturally-occurring compound found in plants, vegetables, and fruits which has many purposes, including providing their vibrant color. All plants have different flavonoids. The ones in cannabis were discovered by a London researcher named Marilyn Barrett in 1986, who later discovered they have anti-inflammatory benefits. In this new Harvard research to find a treatment for pancreatic cancer using cannabis, the scientists created a specific drug, called FBL-03G, a derivative of a cannabis flavonoid.
It may seem odd that scientists have long known about the therapeutic potential of cannabis flavonoids but nothing has been done with them until now. However, the reason for that is that the flavonoids make up just 0.14% of the plant which meant that researchers would need entire fields of it to be grown in order to extract large enough quantities to work with.
What is different now is that scientists have recently found a way to genetically engineer cannabis flavonoids thus making it possible to investigate their benefits. Thanks to that, the researchers at Danna-Farber were able to take the therapeutic potential of one of these flavonoids, FBL-03G, and test it on one of the deadliest cancers through a lab experiment.
Lo and behold, the results, according to Wilfred Ngwa, PhD, an assistant professor at Harvard and one of the study’s researcher, were “major.” Ngwa said:
“The most significant conclusion is that tumor-targeted delivery of flavonoids, derived from cannabis, enabled both local and metastatic tumor cell death, significantly increasing survival from pancreatic cancer. This has major significance, given that pancreatic cancer is particularly refractory to current therapies.”
The Experiments
The experiments consisted of testing the effects of FBL-03G on pancreatic cancer cells in Petri dishes and on animals with the disease. The flavonoids treatment killed all the tumor cells in 70% of mice with pancreatic cancer! “If successfully translated clinically, this will have major impact in treatment of pancreatic cancer,” Ngwa said.
Not only did the study demonstrate the potential of the compound by successfully killing the tumor cells, but the scientists also found FBL-03G capable of attacking other cancer cells — which was startling even to them. Ngwa said:
We were quite surprised that the drug could inhibit the growth of cancer cells in other parts of the body, representing metastasis, that were not targeted by the treatment. This suggests that the immune system is involved as well, and we are currently investigating this mechanism. The significance of that is that, because pancreatic cancer is often diagnosed in later stages, once it has spread, and the flavonoids seem to be capable of killing other cancer cells, it may mean the life expectancy of those with the condition could increase.
For now, the Harvard researchers are completing ongoing pre-clinical studies. Ngwa hopes to complete them by the end of 2020. Once done, if all goes well as it should, it could set the stage for testing the new treatment in humans, opening up a new window of hope.
