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Cannabinoids and cancer: pros and cons of an antitumour strategy
Author(s) -
Bifulco Maurizio,
Laezza Chiara,
Pisanti Simona,
Gazzerro Patrizia
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
british journal of pharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.432
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1476-5381
pISSN - 0007-1188
DOI - 10.1038/sj.bjp.0706632
Subject(s) - cannabinoid receptor , cancer , cannabinoid , endocannabinoid system , pharmacology , metastasis , signalling pathways , cancer cell , medicine , biology , neuroscience , bioinformatics , receptor , agonist
In the last two decades, research has dramatically increased the knowledge of cannabinoids biology and pharmacology. In mammals, compounds with properties similar to active components of Cannabis sativa , the so called ‘endocannabinoids’, have been shown to modulate key cell‐signalling pathways involved in cancer cell growth, invasion and metastasis. To date, cannabinoids have been licensed for clinical use as palliative treatment of chemotherapy, but increased evidences showed direct antiproliferative actions of cannabinoid agonists on several tumour cells in vitro and in animal models. In this article, we will review the principal molecular pathways modulated by cannabinoids on cancer and summarize pros and cons evidence on the possible future use of endocannabinoid‐based drugs in cancer therapy. British Journal of Pharmacology (2006) 148 , 123–135. doi: 10.1038/sj.bjp.0706632