User:Ohiostandard/Sandbox2

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Around the rugged rock the romping ranger roamed

Sally spells sea swells from the sea floor

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A study by Complutense University of Madrid found the chemicals in marijuana promotes the death of brain cancer cells by essentially helping them feed upon themselves in a process called autophagy. The research team discovered that cannabinoids such as THC had anticancer effects in mice with human brain cancer cells and in people with brain tumors. When mice with the human brain cancer cells received the THC, the tumor shrank. Using electron microscopes to analyze brain tissue taken both before and after a 26- to 30-day THC treatment regimen, the researchers found that THC eliminated cancer cells while leaving healthy cells intact. The patients did not have any toxic effects from the treatment; previous studies of THC for the treatment of cancer have also found the therapy to be well tolerated. However, the mechanisms which promote THC's tumor cell–killing action are unknown.

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The last sentence, above, says the autophagic mechanism is unknown, but the paper's title, and the paper itself, say just the opposite. The paper's title, again, is Cannabinoid action induces autophagy-mediated cell death through stimulation of ER stress in human glioma cells.

This is what the paper says:


 * Our data indicate that THC induced ceramide accumulation and eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2alpha (eIF2alpha) phosphorylation and thereby activated an ER stress response that promoted autophagy via tribbles homolog 3-dependent (TRB3-dependent) inhibition of the Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) axis.

Guzman, one of the paper's authors put it more simply for his Oct 2009 presentation at the 5th annual conference of the IACM (International Association for Cannabis as Medicine), in Cologne, Germany:


 * ...THC, via ceramide accumulation, activates an endoplasmic reticulum stress response that promotes autophagy via inhibition of the Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) axis. We have also shown that autophagy is upstream of apoptosis in THC-induced cancer cell death and that activation of this pathway is necessary for THC anticancer action in mice.

But how to say so simply? A fun challenge.