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Review
. 2013 Feb;75(2):303-12.
doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2125.2012.04298.x.

Cannabidiol as potential anticancer drug

Paola Massi  1 , Marta Solinas, Valentina Cinquina, Daniela Parolaro
Affiliations
Review

Cannabidiol as potential anticancer drug

Paola Massi et al. Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2013 Feb.

Abstract

Over the past years, several lines of evidence support an antitumourigenic 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.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Chemical structures of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), cannabidiol (CBD), anandamide (AEA) and WIN55212-2
Figure 2
Figure 2
Some of the potential biological targets of CBD
Figure 3
Figure 3
Schematic representation of the signalling pathways associated with CBD effects on breast cancer
Figure 4
Figure 4
Schematic representation of the signalling pathways associated with CBD effects on glioma
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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