demonstrated that it was a key gene for invasive breast cancer and tumor progression, and Desprez had found a way to inhibit it in mice, but not in humans.
Then, two years ago, McAllister – an expert on cannabinoids – and Desprez, a cancer researcher, started to work together. Through their combined forces “what we found is actually what I was looking for, for the last 12 years,” Desprez said.
Further study is needed before CBD can be conclusively identified as a treatment option, McAllister and Desprez said. “We need to involve a team of physicians because we are bench [basic] scientists,” McAllister said.
One expert called the findings intriguing but preliminary.
“This is the first evidence that a cannabinoid can target the expression of an important breast cancer metastasis gene,” noted Manuel Guzman, a Spanish expert on cannabinoids and cancer. He described the California study as giving “preliminary insight into the question of whether CBD could be used clinically to treat metastatic breast cancer.”
However, “all the experiments in the paper have been conducted in cultured cells and none of them in an animal model of breast cancer, which would be one of the steps for further research,” added Guzman, who is a professor of