Integrating cannabis into clinical cancer care.

Authors: D.I. Abrams
Current Oncology, March 2016

Cannabis species have been used as medicine for thousands of years; only since the 1940s has the plant not been widely available for medical use. However, an increasing number of jurisdictions are making it possible for patients to obtain the botanical for medicinal use. For t…

Use of cannabinoids in cancer care: palliative care.

Authors: S.K. Aggarwal
Current Oncology, March 2016

Integrating cim into oncologic palliative care promises to improve overall health-related quality of life, to provide further relief from distressing symptoms and spiritual suffering, and to bring hope to patients and families facing terminal illness. O’Shaughnessy offers the…

Cannabinoid WIN55, 212-2 induces cell cycle arrest and inhibits the proliferation and migration of human BEL7402 hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

Authors: Dacai Xu, Jianglin Wang, Zhenkang Zhou, Zhiwei He, Qing Zhao
Molecular Medicine Reports, December 2015

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the leading cause of cancer-associated mortality worldwide; however, only limited therapeutic treatments are currently available. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of cannabinoids as novel therapeutic targets in HCC. In additi…

Role of cannabinoid receptor CB2 in HER2 pro-oncogenic signaling in breast cancer.

Authors: Eduardo Pérez-Gómez, Clara Andradas, Sandra Blasco-Benito, María M. Caffarel, et al
Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 8 April 2015

BACKGROUND: Pharmacological activation of cannabinoid receptors elicits antitumoral responses in different cancer models. However, the biological role of these receptors in tumor physio-pathology is still unknown. METHODS: We analyzed CB2 cannabinoid receptor protein expressio…

Proapoptotic effect of endocannabinoids in prostate cancer cells.

Authors: O. Orellana-Serradell, C. E. Poblete, C. Sanchez, E. A. Castellón, I. Gallegos, et al
Oncology Reports, April 2015

In the early stages, prostate cancer is androgen‑ dependent; therefore, medical castration has shown significant results during the initial stages of this pathology. Despite this early effect, advanced prostate cancer is resilient to such treatment. Recent evidence shows that…

Anandamide inhibits breast tumor-induced angiogenesis.

Authors: P. Picardi, E. Ciaglia, M. C. Proto, S. Pisanti
Translational Medicine, 8 April 2014

Breast cancer is one of the most frequently diagnosed malignancies and a leading cause of cancer death in women. Great advances in the treatment of primary tumors have led to a significant increment in the overall survival rates, however recurrence and metastatic disease, the…

Targeting endocannabinoid signaling in tumor‐associated macrophages as treatment for glioblastoma multiforme

Authors: Susan Fung, Nephi Stella
Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Membrane Transport and Signaling, 21 January 2014

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common form of primary brain tumor and is diagnosed in approximately 15,000 people each year in the United States alone. No cure for this type of cancer exists, and the current standard of care treatments provide little benefit and are…

Primary gliosarcoma of the brain: radiologic and histopathologic features.

Authors: Alfredo E. Romero-Rojas, Julio A. Diaz-Perez, Lina M. Ariza-Serrano, et al
The Neuroradiology Journal, December 2013

Gliosarcoma is a rare central nervous system (CNS) neoplasm with biphasic glial and non-glial malignant components. Here we describe the radiologic and histopathologic features observed in five cases of primary gliosarcoma. The mean age at diagnosis in the studied patients was…

Enhancing the activity of cannabidiol and other cannabinoids in vitro through modifications to drug combinations and treatment schedules.

Authors: Katherine Ann Scott, Sini Shah, Angus George Dalgleish, Wai Man Liu
Anticancer Research, October 2013

Cannabinoids are the bioactive components of the Cannabis plant that display a diverse range of therapeutic qualities. We explored the activity of six cannabinoids, used both alone and in combination in leukaemic cells. Cannabinoids were cytostatic and caused a simultaneous ar…

Cannabinoids inhibit energetic metabolism and induce AMPK-dependent autophagy in pancreatic cancer cells.

Authors: I. Dando, M. Donadelli, C. Costanzo, E. Dalla Pozza, A. D’Alessandro, L. Zolla, M. Palmieri
Cell Death & Disease, 13 June 2013

The anti-tumoral effects of cannabinoids have been described in different tumor systems, including pancreatic adenocarcinoma, but their mechanism of action remains unclear. We used cannabinoids specific for the CB1 (ACPA) and CB2 (GW) receptors and metabolomic analyses to unra…

The orphan receptor GPR55 drives skin carcinogenesis and is upregulated in human squamous cell carcinomas.

Authors: E Pérez-Gómez, C Andradas, J M Flores, M Quintanilla, J M Paramio, M Guzmán, C Sánchez
Oncogene, 16 May 2013

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) control crucial physiological processes and their dysfunction contributes to various human diseases, including cancer. The orphan GPCR GPR55 was identified and cloned more than a decade ago, but very little is known about its physio-patholog…

The medical necessity for medicinal cannabis: prospective, observational study evaluating the treatment in cancer patients on supportive or palliative care.

Authors: Gil Bar-Sela, Marina Vorobeichik, Saher Drawsheh, Anat Omer, Victoria Goldberg, Ella Muller
Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2013

BACKGROUND: Cancer patients using cannabis report better influence from the plant extract than from synthetic products. However, almost all the research conducted to date has been performed with synthetic products. We followed patients with a medicinal cannabis license to eval…