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
. 2021 Sep 24:8:713153.
doi: 10.3389/fmed.2021.713153. eCollection 2021.

Cannabinoids, Medical Cannabis, and Colorectal Cancer Immunotherapy

Mariia Zaiachuk  1 , Nazar Pryimak  1 , Olga Kovalchuk  1 , Igor Kovalchuk  1
Affiliations
Review

Cannabinoids, Medical Cannabis, and Colorectal Cancer Immunotherapy

Mariia Zaiachuk et al. Front Med (Lausanne). .

Abstract

Colorectal cancer is a major public health problem. Unfortunately, currently, no effective curative option exists for this type of malignancy. The most promising cancer treatment nowadays is immunotherapy which is also called biological or targeted therapy. This type of therapy boosts the patient's immune system ability to fight the malignant tumor. However, cancer cells may become resistant to immunotherapy and escape immune surveillance by obtaining genetic alterations. Therefore, new treatment strategies are required. In the recent decade, several reports suggest the effectiveness of cannabinoids and Cannabis sativa extracts for inhibiting cancer proliferation in vitro and in vivo, including intestinal malignancies. Cannabinoids were shown to modulate the pathways involved in cell proliferation, angiogenesis, programmed cell death and metastasis. Because of that, they are proposed as adjunct therapy for many malignancies. By far less information exists on the potential of the use of cannabis in combination with immunotherapy. Here, we explore the possibility of the use of cannabinoids for modulation of immunotherapy of colon cancer and discuss possible advantages and limitations.

Keywords: Cannabis sativa extracts; cannabinoids; colorectal cancer; immunotherapy; inflammation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Phases of immunoediting in colorectal cancer. Elimination includes the removal of neoplastic cells, equilibrium describes the survival of a fraction of transformed cells, and escape describes the evasion and proliferation of these cells.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The potential of cannabinoids for cancer immunotherapy. The upper panel shows how cannabinoids can increase tumor immunogenicity. The release of tumor antigens might be increased due to the direct cytotoxicity of cannabinoids in cancer cells. Next, the presentation of enhanced tumor antigens occurs followed by an increase in T cells-mediated immune response and T cells lysis of tumor cells. The lower panel shows how cannabinoids can reverse tumor immunosuppression. Macrophages can be reprogrammed into an antitumor phenotype with the help of cannabinoids. M1 immunostimulatory macrophages secrete the anti-tumorigenic cytokines and effectively phagocytize cancer cells.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The desired effects of cannabinoids on immune cells.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Mármol I, Sánchez-de-Diego C, Dieste AP, Cerrada E, Yoldi MJR. Colorectal carcinoma: a general overview and future perspectives in colorectal cancer. Int. Mol J. Sci. (2017) 18:10197. 10.3390/ijms18010197 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hamzehzadeh L, Yousefi M, Ghaffari SH. Colorectal cancer screening: a comprehensive review to recent non-invasive methods. Int. Hematol J Stem Cell Res. (2017) 11:251–62. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Arnold M, Sierra MS, Laversanne M, Soerjomataram I, Jemal A, Bray F. Global patterns and trends in colorectal cancer incidence and mortality. Gut. (2017) 66:683–91. 10.1136/gutjnl-2015-310912 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Johnson CM, Wei C, Ensor JE, Smolenski DJ, Amos CI, Levin B, et al. Meta-analyses of colorectal cancer risk factors. Cancer Causes Contr. (2013) 24:1207–22. 10.1007/s10552-013-0201-5 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Conteduca V, Sansonno D, Russi S, Dammacco F. Precancerous colorectal lesions (Review). Int Oncol J. (2013) 43:973–84. 10.3892/ijo.2013.2041 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources