Pembrolizumab (Keytruda), Cannabis and Cannabinoids

Cindy. Where do you live and where are you going for medical help. From what you tell me, I am baffled. With me, the first thing they did, when they saw the kiwi size mass in my lung, was to do a bronchoscopy, take a sample of the tumor and test it. Pathology came right back with squamous cell cancer. I don't understand your situation. Brian

Baffled is a good word for it. There is actually a cancer known as 'cancer of unknown primary' where they sometimes never figure out the type of cancer or where it originated. We are hoping we won't be in that category forever.
My husband has a tumor in his lung. It is cancer. He also has cancer in one lymph node (the subcarinal lymph node). Both cancers come back as the same material/cancer. However, the pathology on the cancer can't be identified as a specific cancer. He had a lung biopsy and three biopsies of the lymph nodes via different means. All the tissue samples match from all the biopsies but it isn't identifiable as a lung cancer completely or any other type of cancer. The cancer has elements of several types of cancer but none stands out. It is truly odd and it's been looked at by multiple pathology groups, including the Mayo Clinic. It's been on a trip around the country. They simply don't know what type of cancer it is ....yet.........
I am a breast cancer survivor so we know the cancer ropes all too well but this has been an eye opener (in a bad way). We have two oncology groups working with us here in Colorado. One is the prominent leader in cancer here at the University of Colorado. All the doctors and pathologists agree that all they can do is wait, watch and see where the primary cancer shows up, whether that's in the lung ultimately (the only place their is a tumor) or somewhere else. Sometimes they never find the primary cancer. it's rare but it happens. Who knew........

I never knew there was an unknown cancer out there. Sounds like you have good people working to solve this mystery. If it were me, given the situation, I wouldn't hesitate to use CBD and THC oil. Also, not just THC oil. But FECO oil. That's full extract cannabis oil. It's the most potent THC oil. It is what I will be using. When they took my lung, they also took 28 lymph nodes, some were cancer. They thought that might be the end of it, but they were wrong. Actually, my odds of it not coming back, were very bad, but no one told me that. So here we are. I am moving forward with using cannabis, as well. I will probably tell my oncologist, at some point. We'll talk again. Brian

There has been no complaints of side effects. He has been on it since end of June of this year and has responded very well. Before starting this treatment and shortly after diagnosed with stage 4 non small cell lung cancer which was in May of this year ,he was feeling really bad and fluid taken out of his lungs twice and once around heart. A month and a half later and feeling good he ran in his annual 5 k race at his home town!

@lighthouse68 Can you please share your experience with Keytruda? Did you do it together with chemo? For how long did you use it? Thanks.

Hi Everyone,

MY dad has stage 3B lung cancer and he went through chemo radio , surgery but it came back then he was on Keytruda and Chemo we had %70 success in the mid of treatment but then suddenly he got infection and couldnt keep going on treatment for 6 weeks then he completed but scan result came out the size of tumor actually increased compare to previous one. then he was on another chemo and after that was completed the test result was stable and now he is on Opdivo he just took the first one and I also provided him thc oil but some research says its not good to give both at same time. I do know what to do? anyone used both at same time?

I am stage 4 mesothelioma. I am using Keytruda and THC at the same time. I used THC for over 4 months now, and only started the Keytruda treatment last week. My oncologist didn't stop me using the oil. He said current research study is limited and no conclusion to strongly suggest one way or the other.

@robin47- Welcome to Mayo Connect. I am not sure why your post was not answered in December. I just received it. I apologize for this oversight.
I'm so sorry that your dad is going through this. It must be very very difficult to feel so helpless. Are you his main caretaker? I am a lung cancer survivor but I never had immunotherapy. What type of lung cancer does he have? Small cell (SCLC) or non-small cell (NSCLC)?
I think that you can google Opdivo and see the side effects and how to avoid some of them, if your dad experiences them.
https://www.opdivo.com/

There is some research that indicates that CBD oil interferes with immunotherapy. And as you know, the use of CBD oil and how it interacts with other drugs is far from giving us definitive answers.
- https://www.oncologynurseadvisor.com/general-oncology/cannabis-reduces-immunotherapy-response/article/688059/
- https://oncologypro.esmo.org/Meeting-Resources/ESMO-2017-Congress/The-effect-of-cannabis-use-on-tumor-response-to-Nivolumab-in-patients-with-advanced-malignancies
- https://www.medicaljane.com/2014/08/28/study-cannabinoids-may-increase-lung-cancers-susceptibilty-to-specialized-killer-cells/

The ultimate decision will be up to your dad. Have you asked him about this? What does he want to do? As a cancer survivor of 21 years (NSCLC) I can tell you that unless a cancer patient can not answer questions all decisions should be made by the cancer patient. It is his/her power. I'm sure that you know this.
Please get back to me and let me know if what your dad's decision is. My best, Merry

I lost my brother to cancer 3 years ago. During his last months, I did quite a bit of research into CBD oil and how it works on cancer. Please correct me if I am incorrect. What I gathered is that cancer cells each have a lifespan. CBD oil retards reproduction of cancer cells. As a result, over time, more cancer cells will die off than new cells being produced. This results in the cancer shrinking and hopefully dying off. Unfortunately my brother and his family could not be convinced to try it because of state laws at that time.

@binky957 -- Good morning and welcome to Mayo Connect. I am so sorry for the loss of your brother. It must have been very painful to have watched his decline. Unfortunately at this time there is no proof that CBD oil or any cannabis product kills cancer cells. Even if it will prove to be true that these products can kill cans cells people with cancer do not have the luxury of time. Some cancer cells reproduce at a very high rate, that's why some people die so quickly. If cancer cells can be killed off faster by any substance then that's a gold mine! You might find this interesting: https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/cam/hp/cannabis-pdq#section/_7
I hope that this helps to understand this horrible disease better.