Preclinical and Clinical Assessment of Cannabinoids as Anti-Cancer Agents

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States with 1.7 million new cases estimated to be diagnosed in 2016. This disease remains a formidable clinical challenge and represents a substantial financial burden to the US health care system. Therefore, research and development of novel...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inFrontiers in pharmacology Vol. 7; p. 361
Main Authors Ladin, Daniel A, Soliman, Eman, Griffin, LaToya, Van Dross, Rukiyah
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Switzerland Frontiers Media S.A 07.10.2016
Subjects
Cancer
Cannabinoids
endocannabinoid system
Endocannabinoids
in vivo
Pharmacology
Therapeutics
therapeutics
cancer models
clinical studies
cannabinoids
cancer
clinical trials
endocannabinoids
in vivo
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Summary:Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States with 1.7 million new cases estimated to be diagnosed in 2016. This disease remains a formidable clinical challenge and represents a substantial financial burden to the US health care system. Therefore, research and development of novel therapeutics for the treatment of cancer is of high priority. Cannabinoids and their derivatives have been utilized for their medicinal and therapeutic properties throughout history. Cannabinoid activity is regulated by the endocannabinoid system (ECS), which is comprised of cannabinoid receptors, transporters, and enzymes involved in cannabinoid synthesis and breakdown. More recently, cannabinoids have gained special attention for their role in cancer cell proliferation and death. However, many studies investigated these effects using models which may not adequately mimic tumor growth and metastasis. As such, this article aims to review study results which evaluated effects of cannabinoids from plant, synthetic and endogenous origins on cancer development in preclinical animal models and to examine the current standing of cannabinoids that are being tested in human cancer patients.
Bibliography:Reviewed by: Elena Martín-García, Pompeu Fabra University, Spain; Sean D. McAllister, California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute, USA
Edited by: Gian Marco Leggio, University of Catania, Italy
This article was submitted to Experimental Pharmacology and Drug Discovery, a section of the journal Frontiers in Pharmacology
ISSN:1663-9812
1663-9812
DOI:10.3389/fphar.2016.00361