Urothelial carcinoma (UC) is the most common cancer of the urinary system. Current treatments aim to mitigate disease progression and limit disease recurrence, but more efficient therapies with acceptable side effects are unavailable.
Recently, a large retrospective epidemiological study involving 84,170 participants showed that cannabis use is correlated with decreased risk of UC. To identify the active compounds from cannabis that have substantial cytotoxic activity against UC cells, one group of researchers from Israel used XTT assay, a cell-based colorimetric assay that detects the cellular metabolic activities, to determine cytotoxic activity of cannabis extracts on T24 and HBT-9, two UC tumor cell lines. The results showed that the most active fraction of a high CBD extract was found to contain CBC and THC, and synergistic interaction was demonstrated between CBC + THC. Treatments with CBC + THC or CBD led to cell cycle arrest and cell apoptosis, inhibited cell migration and affected F-actin integrity (which affects cell motility). The study concluded that this research forms a solid basis for future pre-clinical trials for cannabis-based treatments against urinary system cancers.
Reference:
Thomas, A. A. et al. Association Between Cannabis Use and the Risk of Bladder Cancer: Results from the California Men’s Health Study. Urology 85, 388–393 (2015). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25623697/
Anis, O. et al. Cannabis-Derived Compounds Cannabichromene and Delta 9-Tetrahydrocannabinol Interact and Exhibit Cytotoxic Activity against Urothelial Cell Carcinoma Correlated with Inhibition of Cell Migration and Cytoskeleton Organization. MOLECULES 26, 465 (2021). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33477303/
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