
Marijuana Compound Removes Toxic Alzheimer’s Protein from the Brain - miraj
https://futurism.com/marijuana-compound-removes-toxic-alzheimers-protein-from-the-brain/
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guyt00
Problems with this terrible title:

1\. In vitro petri dish testing is a million light years away from showing a
compound works in humans.

2\. This is a particularly bad problem in brain diseases as getting your
compound to cross the blood-brain barrier in correct therapeutic quantities is
extremely difficult.

3\. We have lots of direct antibodies that kill beta amyloid in vivo that are
very advanced in human trials. The problem now is that they often cause micro-
damage when removing various forms of amyloid protein or have been shown to be
administered far too late when the damage is already done.

4\. It's still not clear that beta amyloid is even the main causal agent of
Alzheimers!

In general, if you see someone touting a low effort, pre-clinical study as
major medical breakthrough, start hitting the downvote button. I'm
disappointed this even got to the main page.

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gourou
> start hitting the downvote button

I know this will get downvoted but it's too bad there's no downvote button on
HN

~~~
striking
That's only true if you have less than 500 karma.

Edit: although stories can't be downvoted.

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chillingeffect
article is a value-added summary of:
[https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160629095609.h...](https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160629095609.htm)

which is based on this press release: [http://www.salk.edu/news-
release/cannabinoids-remove-plaque-...](http://www.salk.edu/news-
release/cannabinoids-remove-plaque-forming-alzheimers-proteins-from-brain-
cells/)

original paper here:
[https://www.nature.com/articles/npjamd201612](https://www.nature.com/articles/npjamd201612)
"Amyloid proteotoxicity initiates an inflammatory response blocked by
cannabinoids"

original paper:
[https://www.nature.com/articles/npjamd201612.pdf](https://www.nature.com/articles/npjamd201612.pdf)

~~~
jackhack
Thank you for linking to real science. The fluff-piece is almost unbearable.
Poor editing and foolish attempts at humor. Science for dummies.

"But THC can also bind to them in much the same way, and when they do, they
start messing with your brain’s ability to communicate with itself. The [SIC]
can be a good and a bad thing, because while you might forget something
important or suddenly be incapable of swinging a baseball bat, you’ll probably
feel amazing, and want to eat all the snacks:"

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kinleyd
Hmm, seems like it's time to seriously consider extracting some THC and CBD.
I'm looking at this: [https://magicalbutter.com/](https://magicalbutter.com/).
Anyone have some experience with this type of gear?

~~~
yodsanklai
> Hmm, seems like it's time to seriously consider extracting some THC and CBD

It's great if researchers can find new treatments, but I think people get
over-enthusiastic with medical cannabis

> Anyone have some experience with this type of gear?

I would rather vaporize weed. Very simple and (likely) safe, effect is
immediate and it's easier to adjust the quantity as you go.

I'm not sure about the gear but I cooked cannabis butter a few times (quite
easy without special equipment). It's more difficult to control the quantity.
You need to be careful to not ingest too much cannabis, because then it's too
late and it can be very powerful. Conversely, if not enough, you have to wait
for an hour or so to be sure. Another issue I had is that I ended up with a
nice cake that I had to ration carefully as it was very psychoactive. I
couldn't simply eat it whenever I felt like. Besides, the weed doesn't add a
good taste (at best neutral, depending on the quantity).

I'm sure that these issues can be overcome with some experience but is it
worth the trouble?

~~~
tudorw
Take care, eaten is the only way I've ever seen anyone have a really bad
experience ending in a trip to in an ambulance from the results of anxiety,
although no long term physical damage was done, nonetheless this was an
unpleasant experience and to be avoided if possible! If you are unfamiliar
with the effects of cannabis / marijuana talk with someone who is about what
to expect, if you or others you trust would classify you on the anxious end of
the spectrum, the advice is doubly applied, paranoia is unpleasant enough,
when coupled with the knowledge that the strength of the effect is going to
get worse before it gets better can be very stressful.

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cat199
wow.. who would have ever thought that MJ would be _good_ for memory..

~~~
silverdrake11
Marijuana high decreases short term memory. Alzheimer's decreases short term
memory. Not quite sure how this works..

~~~
bluejekyll
> Marijuana high decreases short term memory

There haven't been enough studies to actually prove this. Most show an issue
while _being_ high (and many studies combine marijuana usage with alcohol),
but nothing that directly shows negative long-term effects. If this study is
held up by their further human trials they mention, then it would indicate
that pop-culture is probably wrong.

~~~
bdavisx
I thought I had read a study once and the abstract said it as follows (which I
found amusing):

* Marijuana causes short-term short-term memory loss, but doesn't cause long-term short-term memory loss.

Unfortunately I can't find the study info now (@ work, so I'm kinda limited on
spending too much time research pot...)

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pmiller2
A very exciting petri dish result! If this actually works in an animal model,
it could be a true breakthrough. I am wondering if THC _in vivo_ might undergo
some kind of subtle metabolism after being ingested or smoked so that it still
binds to cannaboid receptors, but doesn't affect beta amyloid.

~~~
kharms
If I recall correctly (from a radiolab interview w/ Dr.Tsai [0]), something
like 99% of animal model successes don't transfer to humans.

[0] [http://www.radiolab.org/story/bringing-gamma-
back/](http://www.radiolab.org/story/bringing-gamma-back/)

~~~
pmiller2
Be that as it may (and, yes, if mice had access to all human medical
knowledge, no mouse would probably ever die of cancer), I'd still be more
hopeful about an animal study than one done on a cell culture. In fact, given
the relative safety of marijuana and THC, and the severity of the disease, I
could even see going straight to humans to see if it can abate symptoms in
actual Alzheimer's patients.

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jjuel
The problem is this will never get funded or passed due to the Big Pharma
lobbyists.

~~~
ianai
All that really needs to happen is federal legalization. Once that's done, it
doesn't matter whether pharma is behind it or not. I bet though they would
quickly release all sorts of cannabinoid products. (Not everyone wants to be
high/timed release doses etc)

~~~
jjuel
That is basically what I meant though. I don't see it being an easy sell to
get federal legalization.

~~~
Broken_Hippo
Possibly, but it isn't what was written. Besides, there are lots of countries
that aren't the US who might be more willing to approve this sort of thing.
After all, those governments actually have stake in lowering health care costs
(if this does, in fact, make costs lower) because they fund health care
through taxes.

It isn't like "big pharma" won't make money off of it, since they'll be able
to grow their own crops, complete with GMO help to produce more of the
"helpful" stuff, afterwards concentrating it into pill or inhaler form and
checking for purity. The GMO and the final pill can likely be patented, giving
them reason to pressure the government by lobbying. Something similar with
health insurers, as lowering costs is in their best interests since
Alzheimer's can be an expensive disease.

The main lobby they'd have to worry about in the US is from places like
private prisons and the like, because they can lose money with this - but even
that is doubtful unless they change the laws for recreational use.

Additionally, public opinion has been increasingly changing for this sort of
thing, and that is starting to be shown through government policies (though
slowly with the current administration's attitude), as evidenced by the fast-
tracking of MDMA trials treating PTSD. I'm not sure that could have happened
20 years ago, and definitely not 30 years ago during the "Just say no!"
heyday.

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maxxxxx
Marijuana seems to be approaching the peak of inflated expectations of the
Hype Cycle
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hype_cycle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hype_cycle).
Pretty much nothing can't be healed by smoking weed. Let's hope it soon goes
back to normalcy.

