Health & Medicine
Increased Use of Marijuana Linked to Testicular Cancer
Brooke Miller
First Posted: Sep 11, 2012 07:07 AM EDT
A lot of studies have highlighted devastating health effects of 'Marijuana' one of the commonly used illicit drugs in the United States. They vary from having less IQ to increased heart rate and reduced blood pressure.
This time the researchers from the University of Southern California (USC) have showed a strong association between recreational marijuana use and an increased risk of developing subtypes of testicular cancer that tend to carry a somewhat worse prognosis.
It is estimated that testicular cancer is the most common cancer that young men between the ages 15 to 45 suffer from. The malignancy is becoming more common, due to increasing exposure to unrecognized environmental causes.
The study in online journal of Cancer suggests that the potential cancer-causing effects of marijuana on testicular cells should be considered not only in personal decisions regarding recreational drug use, but also when marijuana and its derivatives are used for therapeutic purposes in young male patients.
The researchers analyzed the self reported history produced 163 young men diagnosed with testicular cancer and compared it with that of 292 healthy men of the same age and race/ethnicity.
It revealed that men habituated to using marijuana were twice as likely to have subtypes of testicular cancer called non-seminoma and mixed germ cell tumors. Commonly occurring in younger men, these tumors carry a worse prognosis than the seminoma subtype.
This study was led by Victoria Cortessis, MSPH, PhD, assistant professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC in Los Angeles, and her colleagues.
"We do not know what marijuana triggers in the testis that may lead to carcinogenesis, although we speculate that it may be acting through the endocannabinoid system -- the cellular network that responds to the active ingredient in marijuana -- since this system has been shown to be important in the formation of sperm," said Cortessis.
However, cocaine uses had a reduced risk of both subtypes of testicular cancer, indicating that men with testicular cancer are not simply more willing to report a history of using recreational drugs.
"If this is correct, then 'prevention' would come at a high price," Cortessis said.
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First Posted: Sep 11, 2012 07:07 AM EDT
A lot of studies have highlighted devastating health effects of 'Marijuana' one of the commonly used illicit drugs in the United States. They vary from having less IQ to increased heart rate and reduced blood pressure.
This time the researchers from the University of Southern California (USC) have showed a strong association between recreational marijuana use and an increased risk of developing subtypes of testicular cancer that tend to carry a somewhat worse prognosis.
It is estimated that testicular cancer is the most common cancer that young men between the ages 15 to 45 suffer from. The malignancy is becoming more common, due to increasing exposure to unrecognized environmental causes.
The study in online journal of Cancer suggests that the potential cancer-causing effects of marijuana on testicular cells should be considered not only in personal decisions regarding recreational drug use, but also when marijuana and its derivatives are used for therapeutic purposes in young male patients.
The researchers analyzed the self reported history produced 163 young men diagnosed with testicular cancer and compared it with that of 292 healthy men of the same age and race/ethnicity.
It revealed that men habituated to using marijuana were twice as likely to have subtypes of testicular cancer called non-seminoma and mixed germ cell tumors. Commonly occurring in younger men, these tumors carry a worse prognosis than the seminoma subtype.
This study was led by Victoria Cortessis, MSPH, PhD, assistant professor of preventive medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC in Los Angeles, and her colleagues.
"We do not know what marijuana triggers in the testis that may lead to carcinogenesis, although we speculate that it may be acting through the endocannabinoid system -- the cellular network that responds to the active ingredient in marijuana -- since this system has been shown to be important in the formation of sperm," said Cortessis.
However, cocaine uses had a reduced risk of both subtypes of testicular cancer, indicating that men with testicular cancer are not simply more willing to report a history of using recreational drugs.
"If this is correct, then 'prevention' would come at a high price," Cortessis said.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone