THC:CBD Ratio with Alkylating Agent for Brain Tumor Treatment
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current treatments for brain tumors, particularly gliomas, face limitations in effectively targeting cancer cells while sparing normal brain tissue, with existing therapies often being toxic or ineffective due to the invasive and proliferative nature of these tumors.
Innovation Solution
A combination of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) in a ratio of 5:1 to 1:5, along with an alkylating agent, is used to treat brain tumors, with each cannabinoid present in sub-optimal amounts if used alone, to reduce cell viability and inhibit tumor growth, particularly effective against glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional chemotherapy or radiation therapy is used to treat brain tumors, then tumor growth is inhibited, but toxicity to normal brain tissue occurs
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple cannabinoids (THC, CBD, CBC) with alkylating agents to create a synergistic therapeutic regimen. This combination approach allows for enhanced anti-tumor efficacy while potentially reducing the toxic dose of individual agents, as the combined therapy achieves greater tumor cell killing than monotherapy at equivalent doses.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent specifies precise ratios of cannabinoids (THC:CBD from 1:5 to 5:1, with preference for 1:1) and combines them with specific alkylating agents at defined dosage ranges. This parameter optimization ensures maximum therapeutic effect while minimizing neurotoxicity, as the balanced ratio prevents overactivation of any single pathway that could lead to normal tissue damage.
2Volume of stationary object
If surgery is used to remove brain tumors, then tumor mass is reduced, but complete removal is limited by tumor infiltration into surrounding tissue
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs preoperative and postoperative cannabinoid-alkylating agent therapy to target infiltrating tumor cells before and after surgical resection. This preliminary and follow-up treatment addresses microscopic disease that would be impossible to remove surgically, thereby improving complete removal rates and reducing recurrence.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical limitation of surgical excision with a biochemical approach using cannabinoid-alkylating agent combinations that can penetrate and destroy infiltrating tumor cells throughout the brain parenchyma, regardless of their accessibility to surgical instruments.
3Reliability
If high doses of single cannabinoids are used to treat brain tumors, then anti-tumor effect is enhanced, but therapeutic window is reduced due to sub-optimal efficacy at lower doses
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple cannabinoids with different mechanisms of action (THC as CB1/CB2 agonist, CBD as TRPV1 agonist and modulator, CBC as terpene receptor ligand) with alkylating agents. This multi-target approach maintains efficacy at lower individual doses, expanding the therapeutic window by reducing the risk of dose-dependent toxicity while preserving anti-tumor activity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite therapeutic regimen combining cannabinoids in specific ratios (THC:CBD 1:5 to 5:1, preferably 1:1) with alkylating agents. This composite approach leverages the synergistic interactions between different compounds to achieve enhanced efficacy at lower doses, thereby expanding the therapeutic window and reducing side effects.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A~2B
Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
The invention relates to the use of one or more cannabinoids, particularly THC and/ or CBD in combination with a non-cannabinoid chemotherapeutic agent in the manufacture of a medicament for use in the treatment of cancer. In particular the cancer to be treated is a brain tumour, more particularly a glioma, more particularly still a glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). The non-cannabinoid chemotherapeutic agent may be a selective estrogen receptor modulator or an alkylating agent.