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- Relapsed Multiple Myeloma- CR from Velcade w/ CBD
Relapsed Multiple Myeloma- CR from Velcade w/ CBD
“These results showed that CBD by itself or in synergy with BORT strongly inhibited growth, arrested cell cycle progression and induced MM cells death by regulating…”
Hello David- I write with mixed feelings. Normally, one would be elated, but unfortunately, it’s not the case. I only dreamed of being able to write this, but now that the time has come, there are so many other complications that it’s not happy times. My dad’s M-protein has been at zero for 2 months now. He continues on the velcade injection treatments for his multiple myeloma (MM) (1 injection to the stomach a week for 3 weeks, and one week off).
The velcade worked well, and quickly, but the M-protein hovered at 2.0 for months. It wasn’t until we started giving my father concentrated RSO oil at night to help him sleep (he was getting up so much due to prostate issues) that we’re correlating this to possibly the difference in the M-protein. We were told by the oncologist that it’s very unusual for someone to hit zero on velcade after a relapse.
Unfortunately, we’re now querying heart issues as my Dad is so weak, he can barely walk, and only wants to be in bed. He can’t sit up at a table without resting his head on it. it’s so concerning.
The hospital seems to insist he keep up with his weekly injections, fearmongering to say if he doesn’t do so, the M-protein will go up and they might not be able to get it under control. I’m of the opposite mindset- why risk habituation to it giving it when it’s not needed, and possibly shortening the life of the usefulness of the drug?
Thought I would write to you to see if you had thoughts….
Hi Terry,
Your email highlights several key issues for MM patients. I’ll address each and try to summarize at the bottom of my reply. As per usual, I enumerate in order to organize my thinking…
- An m-spike of zero for the relapsed MM survivor after 4 plus years of therapy really is a remarkable response to Velcade. I am confident that your dad’s response is due, in large part, to his CBD oil (I don’t know the difference between RSO and CBD). I have linked and excerpted the study discussing the synergy between bortezomib (velcade) and CBD oil.
- Regarding your father’s fatigue, weakness and possible heart issues. Are you thinking all these are heart related because of any of his blood tests he has had? Is your dad experiencing any other side effects from velcade such as CIPN (nerve damage)?
- Anemia, fatigue caused by reduced red blood cells is a common side effect of velcade. Possible therapies to increase your dad’s red blood cell count are 1) blood transfusion 2) ESA therapies such as procrit or iron supplementation. How does your dad like liver?
- A compromise between yes to velcade or no to velcade could be lowering your dad’s dose. I’m not sure what his oncologist will say to the idea of velcade being enhanced by CBD but in my mind, you can lower his dose because CBD is increasing velcade’s efficacy. Lowering his dose plus boosting his red blood cells may reduce increase his red blood cells sufficiently.
Blood testing should tell you how his red blood cells are doing. If your dad’s counts are below the normal range then you can be confident that his fatigue is due, in whole or in part, to his chemotherapy. Don’t get me wrong, complete remission (0) is spectacular. I’m simply trying to check all of the possible indicators.
Lastly, regarding the idea of “shortening the life of the usefulness of the drug,” I think you will actually lengthen the useful life of velcade by reducing your dad’s dose. Please confirm this with his oncologist.
I don’t want to get ahead of things but CBD synergizes carfilzomib as well as with velcade.
Ask your dad’s oncologist about the idea of lowering the dose of his velcade and let me know if that works.
Let me know if you have any questions.
Hang in there,
David Emerson
- MM Survivor
- MM Cancer Coach
- Director PeopleBeatingCancer
Recommended Reading:
- A Long-term Multiple Myeloma Survivor’s Diet, Nutrition Plan-
- Multiple Myeloma-Diagnostic Testing- DIY Blood Work-
- Cancer Coaching- Do Curcumin and C-B-D Help Myeloma Patients?
The effects of cannabidiol and its synergism with bortezomib in multiple myeloma cell lines. A role for transient receptor potential vanilloid type-2.
“Multiple myeloma (MM) is a plasma cell (PC) malignancy characterised by the accumulation of a monoclonal PC population in the bone marrow (BM). Cannabidiol (CBD) is a non-psychoactive cannabinoid with antitumoural activities, and the transient receptor potential vanilloid type-2 (TRPV2) channel has been reported as a potential CBD receptor.
TRPV2 activation by CBD decreases proliferation and increases susceptibility to drug-induced cell death in human cancer cells. However, no functional role has been ascribed to CBD and TRPV2 in MM.
In this study, we identified the presence of heterogeneous CD138+TRPV2+ and CD138+TRPV2- PC populations in MM patients, whereas only the CD138+ TRPV2- population was present in RPMI8226 and U266 MM cell lines.
Because bortezomib (BORT) is commonly used in MM treatment, we investigated the effects of CBD and BORT in CD138+TRPV2- MM cells and in MM cell lines transfected with TRPV2 (CD138+TRPV2+).
These results showed that CBD by itself or in synergy with BORT strongly inhibited growth, arrested cell cycle progression and induced MM cells death by regulating the ERK, AKT and NF-κB pathways with major effects in TRPV2+ cells. These data provide a rationale for using CBD to increase the activity of proteasome inhibitors in MM.