Cancer continues to be a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Although extensive research examines new therapies, treatment options remain inadequate and non-specific, or often result in severe side effects. The development of therapeutics with high efficacy and specificity are major goals of drug discovery efforts. The utilization of natural compounds as potential therapeutics has been a major emphasis of biomedical and cancer research, and compounds isolated from plants have demonstrated a significant record of success; nevertheless, there are thousands of potential candidate species that need to be investigated. Phytocannabinoids from Cannabis sativa have been reported to possess a variety of medicinal properties, including anticancer activities in animal models of brain, pancreas, breast, prostate, colon, liver, and lung cancers. As part of a more in-depth study to develop a cannabinoid-based targeted treatment for malignant tumors, we are currently investigating the in vitro effects of select cannabinoids on several human cancer cell lines (melanoma, glioblastoma, pancreatic, breast, lung and colon). Cancer cells treated with increasing concentrations of a purified cannabinoid showed a potent dose-dependent decrease in cell viability, suggesting that this cannabinoid exhibits significant anti-proliferative effects. Additional studies evaluating the effects of these cannabinoids on several cancer cell lines are currently being conducted and will be reported. These cannabinoids may represent viable candidates for further therapeutic evaluation.

In vitro anti-neoplastic activity of specific phytocannabinoids of Cannabis sativa

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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