📅 New #SystematicReview in #Vol32_Iss7
📑 "Psychedelic-Assisted Therapies for Psychosocial Symptoms in Cancer: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis"
✍️ by Haley D. M. Schuman et al.
📍 Access the full paper here: https://t.co/lrzzQKI9rs
In a recent study published in Science Advances, researchers found that ovarian cancer cells recruit healthy mesothelial cells lining the abdomen and form small groups that move through tissue together, making them harder to treat and more likely to spread.
◽️Tumor cells release signals (like TGF-β)
◽️Mesothelial cells lose their tight connections and barrier function
◽️These cells become more mobile and change shape
◽️The tissue is remodeled, creating openings
◽️Cancer cells move through these openings alongside them
◽️Traveling as a group makes them more resistant to chemotherapy
A single dose of psilocybin did not reduce pain in mice.
In a new 2026 study published in @Nature, researchers tested psilocybin across three common models of pain: inflammatory pain, nerve injury pain, and widespread muscle pain.
The term "PSYCHEDELICS" can cover a broad set of substances, which people define differently. Risks vary by substance, so worth specifying which one(s) you mean whenever you use the term.
New article led by Jared Hinkle (MD/PhD), w/ @willjwchoi (med student and researcher) & me:
Estrogen is treated differently in ER-positive cancers because estrogen can promote cancer growth.
Excessive estrogen disturbs the mitochondria. The stimulation opens calcium channels excessively, allowing calcium to flood into the cell. Over time, this calcium builds up in the mitochondria, overwhelming their capacity. High calcium levels trigger increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), damage mitochondrial enzymes (particularly in the electron transport chain), and impair the mitochondrial membrane potential. As a result, the mitochondria become less efficient at producing ATP through OXPHOS and are forced to rely on glycolysis in the cytoplasm.
+ Estrogen is a growth hormone. It plays a key role in puberty, breast development, and fertility. It even boosts growth hormone production, which is why young women have been found to have up to 80 times more growth hormone in the morning than men. In fact, women on birth control pills (containing estrogen) had median growth hormone levels that were 117 to 125 times higher than those of age-matched men. Growth without regulation is a recipe for cancer. And to grow, cells need a lot of quick energy, that’s why estrogen stimulates glycolysis.
The reality is, hormonally driven cancers still rely on controlling estrogen.
This doesn’t mean estrogen is bad, it just means it’s wise to be more cautious with estrogen exposure in the body, especially when it’s exogenous.
@esaagar I tried years ago to share the data on psychosis, but was accused of misinformation. A recent expert clinician on the HLP confirmed that it’s even more of an issue now. One thing is for sure: you don’t want your kids using cannabis. The “better than alcohol” = stoner logic.
@imbrettcooper I'm really sorry to hear about your brother
This is unfortunately becoming all too common due to the false perception of cannabis being "harmless" https://t.co/sionIjmV37
We do not have a worldview that legitimates or encourages the project of meaning-making (self-transcendence) and the cultivation of wisdom.
It’s the reason why people are forced to cobble together their own personal responses to perennial problems (like loss of agency, alienation, despair, existential anxiety) without guidance, communities, and well-worked-out sets of practices.
Most cultures cultivated such sets of practices, but they have to be fitted into a legitimizing and sustaining worldview...and historical factors have undermined that possibility for us.
Sugar and Cancer: What the Latest Science Tells Us https://t.co/YXn1LyaHea The science is clear and growing stronger: added sugar is a modifiable risk factor for cancer. It affects inflammation, metabolism, and even the ability of cancer cells to spread.