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Marijuana Compound Removes Toxic Alzheimer’s Protein from the Brain
- pmiller2 9y agoA very exciting petri dish result! If this actually works in an animal model, it could be a true breakthrough. I am wondering if THC in vivo might undergo some kind of subtle metabolism after being ingested or smoked so that it still binds to cannaboid receptors, but doesn't affect beta amyloid.
- ianai 9y agoI skimmed the article. I'm way out of my comfort zone here, but I think they covered that. I think they said cannabinoids are converted to something lose that stops the progression to cell death.
- kharms 9y agoIf I recall correctly (from a radiolab interview w/ Dr.Tsai [0]), something like 99% of animal model successes don't transfer to humans. [0] http://www.radiolab.org/story/bringing-gamma-back/ http://www.radiolab.org/story/bringing-gamma-back/
- pmiller2 9y agoBe that as it may (and, yes, if mice had access to all human medical knowledge, no mouse would probably ever die of cancer), I'd still be more hopeful about an animal study than one done on a cell culture. In fact, given the relative safety of marijuana and THC, and the severity of the disease, I could even see going straight to humans to see if it can abate symptoms in actual Alzheimer's patients.
- chillingeffect 9y agoarticle is a value-added summary of: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160629095609.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160629095609.h... which is based on this press release: http://www.salk.edu/news-release/cannabinoids-remove-plaque-forming-alzheimers-proteins-from-brain-cells/ http://www.salk.edu/news-release/cannabinoids-remove-plaque-... original paper here: https://www.nature.com/articles/npjamd201612 https://www.nature.com/articles/npjamd201612 "Amyloid proteotoxicity initiates an inflammatory response blocked by cannabinoids" original paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/npjamd201612.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/npjamd201612.pdf
- avs733 9y agothank you! This type of work is super valuable
- jackhack 9y agoThank you for linking to real science. The fluff-piece is almost unbearable. Poor editing and foolish attempts at humor. Science for dummies. "But THC can also bind to them in much the same way, and when they do, they start messing with your brain’s ability to communicate with itself. The [SIC] can be a good and a bad thing, because while you might forget something important or suddenly be incapable of swinging a baseball bat, you’ll probably feel amazing, and want to eat all the snacks:"
- cat199 9y agowow.. who would have ever thought that MJ would be good for memory..
- silverdrake11 9y agoMarijuana high decreases short term memory. Alzheimer's decreases short term memory. Not quite sure how this works..
- bluejekyll 9y ago> Marijuana high decreases short term memory There haven't been enough studies to actually prove this. Most show an issue while being high (and many studies combine marijuana usage with alcohol), but nothing that directly shows negative long-term effects. If this study is held up by their further human trials they mention, then it would indicate that pop-culture is probably wrong.
- bdavisx 9y agoI thought I had read a study once and the abstract said it as follows (which I found amusing): * Marijuana causes short-term short-term memory loss, but doesn't cause long-term short-term memory loss. Unfortunately I can't find the study info now (@ work, so I'm kinda limited on spending too much time research pot...)
- bsenftner 9y agoLife / career long pot smoking scientists?
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- AckSyn 9y agoI think the key is in how much is being administered and what method. I'm sure the pothead next door will have different effects than someone who has been properly dosed by someone who know what they're doing.
- jjuel 9y agoThe problem is this will never get funded or passed due to the Big Pharma lobbyists.
- ianai 9y agoAll that really needs to happen is federal legalization. Once that's done, it doesn't matter whether pharma is behind it or not. I bet though they would quickly release all sorts of cannabinoid products. (Not everyone wants to be high/timed release doses etc)
- jjuel 9y agoThat is basically what I meant though. I don't see it being an easy sell to get federal legalization.
- ianai 9y agoIt seems like there should be enough lobby money there. Both tobacco companies and pharma companies could benefit from it.
- Broken_Hippo 9y agoPossibly, but it isn't what was written. Besides, there are lots of countries that aren't the US who might be more willing to approve this sort of thing. After all, those governments actually have stake in lowering health care costs (if this does, in fact, make costs lower) because they fund health care through taxes. It isn't like "big pharma" won't make money off of it, since they'll be able to grow their own crops, complete with GMO help to produce more of the "helpful" stuff, afterwards concentrating it into pill or inhaler form and checking for purity. The GMO and the final pill can likely be patented, giving them reason to pressure the government by lobbying. Something similar with health insurers, as lowering costs is in their best interests since Alzheimer's can be an expensive disease. The main lobby they'd have to worry about in the US is from places like private prisons and the like, because they can lose money with this - but even that is doubtful unless they change the laws for recreational use. Additionally, public opinion has been increasingly changing for this sort of thing, and that is starting to be shown through government policies (though slowly with the current administration's attitude), as evidenced by the fast-tracking of MDMA trials treating PTSD. I'm not sure that could have happened 20 years ago, and definitely not 30 years ago during the "Just say no!" heyday.
- kinleyd 9y agoHmm, seems like it's time to seriously consider extracting some THC and CBD. I'm looking at this: https://magicalbutter.com/ https://magicalbutter.com/. Anyone have some experience with this type of gear?
- ianai 9y agoAn older relative of mine uses a machine like that. He uses the butter to bake edibles for his dad. It's really helped with neuropathy and pain management.
- kinleyd 9y agoThank you. I think I will give it a try as well. We are running out of options for my father - perhaps this would be a good Hail Mary.
- guyt00 9y agoProblems with this terrible title: 1. In vitro petri dish testing is a million light years away from showing a compound works in humans. 2. This is a particularly bad problem in brain diseases as getting your compound to cross the blood-brain barrier in correct therapeutic quantities is extremely difficult. 3. We have lots of direct antibodies that kill beta amyloid in vivo that are very advanced in human trials. The problem now is that they often cause micro-damage when removing various forms of amyloid protein or have been shown to be administered far too late when the damage is already done. 4. It's still not clear that beta amyloid is even the main causal agent of Alzheimers! In general, if you see someone touting a low effort, pre-clinical study as major medical breakthrough, start hitting the downvote button. I'm disappointed this even got to the main page.
- JamesBarney 9y agoYeah over the past few years I've been convinced that beta amyloid is a not a cause of Alzheimer's but a red herring symptom. Too many drugs have failed. Maybe its a disease caused by glial cell dysfunction where beta amyloid is just the most obvious but not most important piece of trash that collects in the brain. And it's just a terrible coincidence injections of beta amyloid have similar effects as Alzheimer's.
- Danihan 9y agoIMO it's neuronal autophagy failing. Plaques accumulating and PH being thrown off are symptoms of that.
- icanhackit 9y agoBased on your hunch do you think the FOX04 peptide, which in mice showed promising results in destroying senescent cells and reducing arterial plaques, might be a solution? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FOXO4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FOXO4 http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/03/molecule-kills-elderly-cells-reduces-signs-aging-mice http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/03/molecule-kills-elderl...
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- maxxxxx 9y agoMarijuana seems to be approaching the peak of inflated expectations of the Hype Cycle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hype_cycle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hype_cycle. Pretty much nothing can't be healed by smoking weed. Let's hope it soon goes back to normalcy.