Research to test effect of Cannabidiol on Childhood Brain Tumours
In 2018 and 2019, we co funded with Jessica Hope Foundation and Brain Tumour Action, research into the potential efficacy and safety of cannabis oil for brain tumours patients which will, we hope, start a similar process towards clinical trials. Without a strong evidence base for these new treatments, patients are stumbling in the dark, and as we are named after a star, we hope that our work brings light to that darkness.
The following is a press release with full details of the research:-
A non-psychoactive compound found in cannabis called cannabidiol is to be tested for its effects on paediatric brain cancer cells by experts at Nottingham’s world-leading Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre.
The research and fundraising was championed by the then four-year-old William Frost and his family from Newark, Nottinghamshire. William was diagnosed with an ependymoma brain tumour 3 years ago and is being treated at the Centre.
A non-psychoactive compound found in cannabis called cannabidiol is to be tested for its effects on paediatric brain cancer cells by experts at Nottingham’s world-leading Children’s Brain Tumour Research Centre.
William’s father Steve said: “We are proud to be supporting this important new avenue of research into children’s brain tumours. We were told half way through 2016 that nothing more could be done for William. We couldn’t bear to accept the news and decided to look into alternative treatments. The two options we started were a low carbohydrate (ketogenic) diet and cannabidiol. Six months later William’s tumour had shrunk by two thirds. He is slowly improving and attending school part time”.
“Because we know how unpredictable his tumour type can be we couldn’t just sit back and hope, which is why we championed this research project so that we can find out if the cannabidiol contributed to the reduction. We also set up www.makewilliamwell.com to keep people updated on William’s progress and, more recently, to raise money for the project.
“We are over the moon that Astro Brain Tumour Fund (who also support the ketogenic diet) agreed to significantly contribute towards the project,
Leading the research project, Professor Richard Grundy said: “Brain tumours are the biggest cancer killer of children in the UK but the disease receives less than 1% of the UK’s cancer research funding. New ways to treat childhood brain tumours are urgently needed to extend and improve the quality of life in malignant brain tumour patients so we are excited at the prospect of testing the effect of cannabidiol on brain tumour cells.
“Increasingly families are using CBD, often at great expense, presently there is no evidence that it might be of benefit or even what dose to use or how often. It is therefore very important to obtain objective scientific evidence of whether CBD is active against Children’s Brain tumour cell lines.”
The research team grew cells from either ependymoma or glioma tumours under standard lab conditions but either with the addition of cannabidiol molecules or without. After 7 days the level of cell death was measured and the presence of viable tumour cells in the two different assays analysed.
Cell staining was used to see how many of the cells divided, whether the cells are undergoing cell death and also for a group of proteins which regulate the expression of genes – peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs)]. These PPARs play essential roles in the regulation of cell differentiation, development, metabolism and the formation of cancer.
Professor Grundy said: “We expect the cells (brain tumour and normal brain) grown in our standard conditions to be healthy and actively dividing. We expect that normal brain cells grown in cannabidiol will remain healthy. However, we expect the brain tumour cells grown in cannabidiol to stop growing and die.”
This research will form part of the pre-clinical phase of the evaluation of the potential use of cannabidiol in paediatric brain tumours.
