CANNABIDIOL AS POTENTIAL ANTICANCER DRUG

[Storm Shadow]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22506672


Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2012 Apr 17. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2125.2012.04298.x. [Epub ahead of print]
CANNABIDIOL AS POTENTIAL ANTICANCER DRUG.

Massi P, Solinas M, Cinquina V, Parolaro D.
Source

Department of Pharmacology, Chemotherapy and Toxicology, University of Milan, Via Vanvitelli 32, 20129 Milan, Italy; Department of Theoretical and Applied Sciences, Biomedical Division, University of Insubria, Via A. da Giussano 10, 21052 Busto Arsizio (VA), Italy.

Abstract

Over the past years, several lines of evidence support an antitumorigenic effect of cannabinoids including Δ(9) -tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ(9) -THC), synthetic agonists, endocannabinoids and endocannabinoid transport or degradation inhibitors. Indeed, cannabinoids possess anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic effects and they are known to interfere with tumour neovascularization, cancer cell migration, adhesion, invasion and metastasization. However, the clinical use of Δ(9) -THC and additional cannabinoid agonists is often limited by their unwanted psychoactive side effects, and for this reason interest in non-psychoactive cannabinoid compounds with structural affinity for Δ(9) -THC, such as cannabidiol (CBD), has substantially increased in recent years. The present review will focus on the efficacy of CBD in the modulation of different steps of tumourigenesis in several types of cancer and highlights the importance of exploring CBD/CBD analogues as alternative therapeutic agents. © 2012 The Authors. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology © 2012 The British Pharmacological Society.
© 2012 The Authors. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology © 2012 The British Pharmacological Society.

 

[Storm Shadow]

Is the cardiovascular system a therapeutic target for CBD?

Is the cardiovascular system a therapeutic target for CBD?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22670794

Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2012 Jun 1. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2125.2012.04351.x. [Epub ahead of print]
Is the cardiovascular system a therapeutic target for CBD?

Stanley CP, Hind WH, O'Sullivan SE.
Abstract

Cannabidiol (CBD) has beneficial effects in disorders as wide ranging as diabetes, Huntington's disease, cancer and colitis. Accumulating evidence now also suggests that CBD is beneficial in the cardiovascular system. CBD has direct actions on isolated arteries, causing both acute and time-dependent vasorelaxation. In vitro incubation with CBD enhances the vasorelaxant responses in animal models of impaired endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation. CBD protects against the vascular damage caused by a high glucose environment, inflammation, or the induction of type 2 diabetes in animal models, and reduces the vascular hyperpermeability associated with such environments. A common theme throughout these studies is the anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effect of CBD. In the heart, in vivo CBD treatment protects against ischaemia-reperfusion damage, or against cardiomyopathy associated with diabetes. Similarly, in a different model of ischaemia-reperfusion, CBD has been shown to reduce infarct size and increase blood flow in animal models of stroke, sensitive to 5HT(1A) receptor antagonism. Although acute or chronic CBD treatment seems to have little effect on haemodynamics, CBD reduces the cardiovascular response to models of stress, applied either systemically or intracranially, inhibited by a 5HT(1A) receptor antagonist. In blood, CBD influences the survival and death of white blood cells, white blood cell migration and platelet aggregation. Taken together, this preclinical data appears to support a positive role for CBD treatment in the heart, and in peripheral and cerebral vasculature. However, further work is required to strengthen this hypothesis, establish mechanisms of action and whether similar responses to CBD would be observed in humans. © 2012 The Authors. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology © 2012 The British Pharmacological Society.
© 2012 The Authors. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology © 2012 The British Pharmacological Society.