Research Library

Everything we have read, summarised here so you can judge it without leaving the page. Each entry says what the study actually did, what it found, and what it does not show — then links to the publisher if you want the full text.

One thing to know before you start. Almost all of the cannabinoid research below was done in laboratory cell lines or in mice. That is genuinely interesting science, and it is not the same as evidence that a product works in people. Where a study is an opinion piece, a magazine feature or a student paper rather than peer-reviewed research, the entry says so.

What is in this library

Cannabinoids and cancer

Five of these six come from one group — Katherine Scott, Wai Man Liu and Professor Angus Dalgleish at St George's, University of London. None of them is a study of an Oley product, and none is a clinical trial in people.

Cannabinoid combinations and treatment schedules in leukaemia cells

Scott KA, Shah S, Dalgleish AG, Liu WM. Anticancer Research, 2013;33(10):4373–80. Peer-reviewed; laboratory cell lines.

The team tested six cannabinoids on leukaemia cells, alone and in combination. The compounds stopped the cells dividing and held them at every phase of the cell cycle at once, and when pre-treated cells were moved back into drug-free medium their viability still dropped sharply. Combining cannabinoids did not make them work against each other.

Their conclusion is about method rather than cure: the effect depended on the treatment schedule, so how and when the compounds are given matters as much as which ones.

Read the full paperOpens right here — nothing to download

CBD and THC alongside radiotherapy in glioma

Scott KA, Dalgleish AG, Liu WM. Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, 2014;13(12):2955–67. Peer-reviewed; cell lines and a mouse model.

High-grade glioma is among the most aggressive adult cancers and standard treatment largely fails. This study paired THC and CBD with radiotherapy across three glioma cell lines and an orthotopic mouse model. Cell viability fell in a dose- and duration-dependent way, and the pure and whole-plant preparations did not behave identically — THC worked better as a botanical extract, CBD better in pure form.

Read the full paperOpens right here — nothing to download

Why heat shock proteins blunt CBD's effect

Scott KA, Dalgleish AG, Liu WM. Anticancer Research, 2015;35(11):5827–37. Peer-reviewed; cell lines.

Gene profiling of glioma cells treated with CBD showed a large family of heat shock proteins switching on, driven by the reactive oxygen species CBD generates. Those proteins are a stress response — and they worked against CBD, limiting how much damage it did. Blocking them made CBD more cytotoxic.

A useful result precisely because it is unflattering: it describes a mechanism by which cannabinoids become less effective, not more.

Read the full paperOpens right here — nothing to download

Pairing cannabinoids with chemotherapy, and why order matters

Scott KA, Dalgleish AG, Liu WM. International Journal of Oncology, 2017;51(2):369–77. Peer-reviewed; cell lines.

Pairs of cannabinoids outperformed single compounds: in one leukaemia cell line, CBD and THC needed 8 and 13 µM respectively on their own, but 4 µM together. The pairs were then combined with the standard chemotherapy drugs cytarabine and vincristine, and the sequence of administration changed the result.

Read the full paperOpens right here — nothing to download

Cannabis meets chemotherapy

Liu WM. PEN — Pan European Networks: Health, 2017;2:122. A magazine feature, not peer-reviewed research.

Dr Wai Liu summarising the group's work above for a general readership, written around the time several European countries were reclassifying medical cannabis. Useful as an accessible overview; it reports the laboratory findings rather than adding new ones.

Read the full paperOpens right here — nothing to download

CBD with low-dose naltrexone

Liu WM, Hall NK, Liu HSY, Hood FL, Dalgleish AG. Oncology Reports, 2022;47(4):76. Peer-reviewed; cell lines and a mouse model.

Given together, CBD and low-dose naltrexone did almost nothing. Given one after the other in a particular order, cell numbers fell significantly — and reversing the order lost the benefit. The proposed explanation is priming: the first agent changes how the cells respond to the second.

Read the full paper

About Professor Dalgleish

Angus Dalgleish is a British oncologist and immunologist, Foundation Chair in Oncology at St George's, University of London and now Professor Emeritus. His research has centred on cancer vaccines and immunotherapy, cytokine biology, melanoma and renal-cell cancer. Profiles: City St George's · ICON Cancer Centre.

Cannabinoids and Alzheimer's disease

A molecule is shown to produce cognitive improvement in rodents with early Alzheimer's disease

Moreno-Rodríguez M, Rodríguez-Puertas R, et al. University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), January 2025 — reported by ScienceDaily. Press coverage of animal research.

A compound that activates the CB1 cannabinoid receptor appeared to stimulate the cholinergic system — the one that governs memory and learning — by raising acetylcholine levels in the cortex. In a rodent model of early-stage cholinergic damage, treated animals learned and remembered spatial orientation about as well as animals with no damage at all. An earlier study from the same group found the benefit disappeared when a CB1 blocker was given alongside, which is what points to that receptor as the route.

Read this one carefully. The compound is WIN55,212-2, a synthetic cannabinoid-receptor agonist. It is not CBD, it is not derived from hemp, and it is not an ingredient in anything we sell. The file arrived in our collection labelled as being about CBD and Alzheimer's, which is simply wrong, and we are leaving the correction visible rather than quietly dropping the entry.

The researchers' own caveat is worth repeating too: the work is in rodents only, and they have said the molecule is unlikely to attract the pharmaceutical investment that toxicology and clinical trials would require, so they are now looking for similar compounds.

Read the ScienceDaily report · read the university's announcement

Honey and nasal allergy

Is honey, as adjunctive therapy, effective in alleviating nasal allergy symptoms?

Ditzel AN. Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, 2019. A Physician Assistant Studies student systematic review — openly published and citable, but a student capstone paper rather than a peer-reviewed journal review.

A review of three randomised controlled trials on honey and nasal allergy symptoms. The trials that showed the best results had one thing in common: consistency — a small daily dose taken through the weeks leading into allergy season, rather than reached for once symptoms were already flaring.

Read the full paper

Nitric oxide

Nitric oxide bioactivity of traditional Chinese medicines used for cardiovascular indications

Tang Y, Garg H, Geng YJ, Bryan NS. Free Radical Biology & Medicine, 2009;47(6):835–40. Peer-reviewed.

A laboratory screen of herbal preparations long used for cardiovascular complaints, testing whether they carry measurable nitric-oxide activity. The interest here is mechanistic — a possible physical explanation for effects reported over a very long period.

Read the full paper

Tai Chi and Qigong, blood pressure and nitric oxide

Liu D, Yi L, Sheng M, Wang G, et al. A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

Pooled trial data on whether these practices shift blood pressure alongside blood levels of nitric oxide and endothelin-1. The strongest evidence type in this collection — though it concerns exercise practices, not a supplement.

Find it on PubMed

Does nitric oxide = qi?

Waters J. Acupuncture Today, "East Meets West" column. A practitioner opinion piece.

An argument that nitric oxide may be the physical correlate of qi, drawing parallels between the traditional concept and what is known about the molecule. Interesting framing; it is a column, not evidence, and we list it as such.

Acupuncture Today

The link between qigong breath holding and nitric oxide

West S. Pacific College of Health and Science, 26 March 2020. A college blog post.

An accessible piece on breath-holding practices and nitric oxide, aimed at practitioners.

Read the article

Topical CBD: a reading list

Four studies we keep for reference on topical cannabidiol, spanning animal models and human tolerability:

Hemp, soil and feed

One distinction governs this whole section: industrial hemp and sunn hemp are different crops. Industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa) is the one relevant to soil function and nutrient capture. Sunn hemp (Crotalaria juncea) is used for summer forage and grazing. They are routinely confused, and the claims attached to each do not transfer.

Industrial hemp cultivation and soil quality in Florida

Peer-reviewed journal article.

Industrial hemp may support soil organic matter under some site and season conditions, and may reduce soil nitrate-nitrogen. The paper's own caveat is the important part: outcomes are management- and site-dependent. Hemp is not a guaranteed soil treatment.

Read the full paper

Industrial hemp — Penn State Extension

University extension guidance.

The practical picture: hemp performs best in well-drained soils, is sensitive to compaction, and fits different production systems depending on what it is grown for.

Read the guidance

Sunn hemp can boost summer pastures — University of Missouri Extension

University extension article.

On sunn hemp, not industrial hemp: a productive summer forage option in managed grazing, rapid-growing and non-bloating, with season-long accumulation around 4,400 lb per acre. Grazing can begin at roughly 1.5 to 3 feet and graze down to about 10–12 inches, with around 21 days of rest supporting regrowth. One point worth stating plainly: sunn hemp seeds are toxic to cattle.

Read the article

Our own background notes

Two documents here were written in-house rather than published. They are working notes, and we list them so the collection is complete.

Nitric oxide: key ideas

A structured summary of a recorded interview covering nitric oxide biology, the dietary nitrate pathway, oral bacteria, ageing and exercise. It is a summary of one conversation, not an independent review. The readable version of the parts that are settled science is on our How the Products Work page.

Nitric oxide in dermatology

Notes on how nitric-oxide-releasing topicals are described in the dermatology literature. Important context: much of the clinical evidence it describes concerns berdazimer sodium, a prescription medicine approved for molluscum contagiosum. That is a regulated drug, not a cosmetic, and none of those findings describe an Oley product or transfer to one.

How to read this collection

Almost everything here is laboratory work, animal work, or a review of other people's work. That is the honest state of the evidence, and it is why this page exists separately from anything describing a product.

This page is a bibliography with our own summaries, published for transparency about what we read. It is not medical advice, none of it is a claim about any Oley product, and no Oley product is intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease. Speak to a qualified healthcare professional before starting any new wellness regimen, particularly if you have a medical condition, are pregnant or nursing, or take medication.