Involvement of the Endocannabinoid System in the Development and Treatment of Breast Cancer.

摘要

The synthetic cannabinoids, Win55,212-2 (Win2), enhanced the growth- inhibitory response to ionizing radiation in three different (MCF7, MDA-MB-231 and 4T1) experimental breast tumor cell lines. Studies using an inactive analog of Win-2 demonstrated that this effect was structure-specific. This finding was confirmed in an immune-competent (4T1) rodent model of tumor growth. Unexpectedly, Win2 failed to improve the response to a variety of cancer chemotherapeutic agents such as Adriamycin and Paclitaxel; studies in vivo also failed to demonstrate that the combination of Win-2 + Adriamycin was more effective than Adriamycin alone. However, in view of the fact that cannabinoids are currently used to improve the quality of life for cancer chemotherapy patients, the absence of antagonistic effects suggests that Win2 could be used in combination with radiation and chemotherapy without interfering with the effectiveness of chemotherapeutic agents as antitumor drugs.