Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2011 Dec;30(3-4):599-612.
doi: 10.1007/s10555-011-9318-8.

Cannabinoids, endocannabinoids, and cancer

Daniel J Hermanson  1 , Lawrence J Marnett
Affiliations
Review

Cannabinoids, endocannabinoids, and cancer

Daniel J Hermanson et al. Cancer Metastasis Rev. 2011 Dec.

Abstract

The endocannabinoid system consists of an array of endogenously produced bioactive lipids that activate cannabinoid receptors. Although the primary focus of endocannabinoid biology has been on neurological and psychiatric effects, recent work has revealed several important interactions between the endocannabinoid system and cancer. Several different types of cancer have abnormal regulation of the endocannabinoid system that contributes to cancer progression and correlates to clinical outcomes. Modulation of the endocannabinoid system by pharmacological agents in various cancer types reveals that it can mediate antiproliferative and apoptotic effects by both cannabinoid receptor-dependent and -independent pathways. Selective agonists and antagonists of the cannabinoid receptors, inhibitors of endocannabinoid hydrolysis, and cannabinoid analogs have been utilized to probe the pathways involved in the effects of the endocannabinoid system on cancer cell apoptosis, proliferation, migration, adhesion, and invasion. The antiproliferative and apoptotic effects produced by some of these pharmacological probes reveal that the endocannabinoid system is a promising new target for the development of novel chemotherapeutics to treat cancer.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Biosynthesis of AEA
NAT catalyzes the transfer of AA from PC to the ethanolamine of PE to from NAPE. NAPE is then hydrolyzed by NAPE-PLD to form AEA.
Figure 2
Figure 2. Biosynthesis of 2-AG
PIP2 is hydrolyzed by PLC-β to form DAG. DAGL then hydrolyzes DAG to form 2-AG.
Figure 3
Figure 3. Metabolism of 2-AG and AEA
The endocannabinoids are primarily metabolized by hydrolysis to AA. 2-AG is hydrolyzed by MAGL and AEA is hydrolyzed by FAAH.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Structures of compounds used to study the endocannabinoid system.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Pertwee RG. Emerging strategies for exploiting cannabinoid receptor agonists as medicines. Br. J. Pharmacol. 2009;156:397–411. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Starowicz K, Nigam S, Di Marzo V. Biochemistry and pharmacology of endovanilloids. Pharmacol. Ther. 2007;114:13–33. - PubMed
    1. Brown AJ. Novel cannabinoid receptors. Br. J. Pharmacol. 2007;152:567–575. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Piomelli D. The molecular logic of endocannabinoid signalling. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 2003;4:873–884. - PubMed
    1. Matsuda LA, Lolait SJ, Brownstein MJ, Young AC, Bonner TI. Structure of a cannabinoid receptor and functional expression of the cloned cDNA. Nature. 1990;346:561–564. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources