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Biotech / Medical : Pharmos (PARS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: yosi s who wrote (1042)	3/1/2000 7:49:00 AM
From: LLLefty	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1386

While the following doesn't directly relate to HU211, it may help lessen the antipathy toward medical use of marijuana derivitives and direct more attention to PARS' studies. Study says marijuana ingredients kill rat tumors By Lisa Richwine WASHINGTON, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Chemicals found in the marijuana plant were, in a third of cases, able to kill a rare and usually fatal type of brain tumour when tested on rats, researchers said on Monday. The findings were called promising, but the implications for humans are unknown as the study only involved 30 rats injected with cannabinoids, the active chemical ingredients in marijuana. Writing in the journal Nature Medicine, scientists at Complutense University in Spain injected cannabinoids directly into cells of malignant gliomas that had been implanted in rat brains. The treatment ``eradicated' the cancer in one-third of the cases and another third survived longer than expected, they wrote. Marijuana, or cannabis, is best known for its ability to give people a ``high,' but the plant also has medicinal properties, such as relieving pain and nausea. The scientists said they did not know if the cancer treatment was appropriate for humans, but they planned further studies. Cancer treatments that work in animals may be too toxic or not effective in humans. The chemicals activated two receptors, or chemical doorways to cells, which prompted an increase in a lipid known as ceramide. The researchers theorised that ceramide in turn activated a chain of protein reactions that killed the cancerous cells. One of the researchers, Dr. Manuel Guzman, said in an interview he hoped to start human tests in about a year. ``We are quite happy with (the findings), and we believe we can at least try and see what happens in humans,' Guzman said. Dr. Daniele Piomelli of the University of California at Irvine wrote in separate article the rat findings were encouraging, given the bleak scenario for treating malignant gliomas. Patients usually receive surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, but median survival is 40 to 50 weeks. ``Although incomplete, these findings must be seriously considered, `` Piomelli wrote. 19:54 02-28-00