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| Notizie dal mondo della Ricerca - Terapia antitumorale |
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In the current study, colonic mucosal biopsies were obtained from healthy and cancer tissue in patients with left-sided colon carcinoma and from healthy tissue and adenomatous polyps in patients with colonic adenomas.
All tissues were found to contain anandamide, 2-AG, CB1 and CB2 receptors, and FAAH. The levels of anandamide and 2-AG were increased relative to controls in the adenomatous polyps and carcinomas, but there appeared to be no differences in levels of CB1 and CB2 receptors or FAAH among the tissues.
The authors tested the effects of cannabinoids on undifferentiated and differentiated CaCo-2 cells in vitro. Anandamide and 2-AG dose-dependently inhibited the growth of undifferentiated CaCo-2 cells as did selective CB1 receptor agonists; the cannabinoids had little effect on the proliferation of differentiated CaCo-2 cells.
In addition, the antiproliferative effects of the cannabinoids were antagonized by SR141716A but not SR144528.
Pharmacological inhibition of the inactivation of endocannabinoids also inhibited proliferation of undifferentiated CaCo-2 cells and this effect was also antagonized by SR141716A.
the authors suggest that local concentrations of these endocannabinoids may be high enough to interact physiologically with CB1 receptors in the tissue resulting in endogenous inhibition of cancer growth.
These observations in turn lead the authors to suggest that inhibitors of endocannabinoid inactivation might represent useful anticancer drugs.
fonte: Ligresti A et al. Possible endocannabinoid control of colorectal cancer growth. Gastroenterology. 2003 Sep;125(3):677-87. |
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