文章：

大麻素：潜在的抗癌剂

Cannabinoids: potential anticancer agents

原文发布日期：2003-12-01

DOI: 10.1038/nrc1188

类型: Review Article

开放获取: 否

要点：

1. Cannabinoids, the active components of Cannabis sativa and their derivatives, act in the organism by mimicking endogenous substances, the endocannabinoids, that activate specific cannabinoid receptors.
2. Cannabinoids exert palliative effects in patients with cancer and inhibit tumour growth in laboratory animals.
3. The best-established palliative effect of cannabinoids in cancer patients is the inhibition of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. Today, capsules of Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (dronabinol (Marinol)) and its synthetic analogue nabilone (Cesamet) are approved for this purpose.
4. Other potential palliative effects of cannabinoids in cancer patients — supported by Phase III clinical trials — include appetite stimulation and pain inhibition. In relation to the former, dronabinol is now prescribed for anorexia associated with weight loss in patients with AIDS.
5. Cannabinoids inhibit tumour growth in laboratory animals. They do so by modulating key cell-signalling pathways, thereby inducing direct growth arrest and death of tumour cells, as well as by inhibiting tumour angiogenesis and metastasis.
6. Cannabinoids are selective antitumour compounds, as they can kill tumour cells without affecting their non-transformed counterparts. It is probable that cannabinoid receptors regulate cell-survival and cell-death pathways differently in tumour and non-tumour cells.
7. Cannabinoids have favourable drug-safety profiles and do not produce the generalized toxic effects of conventional chemotherapies. The use of cannabinoids in medicine, however, is limited by their psychoactive effects, and so cannabinoid-based therapies that are devoid of unwanted side effects are being designed.
8. Further basic and preclinical research on cannabinoid anticancer properties is required. It would be desirable that clinical trials could accompany these laboratory studies to allow us to use these compounds in the treatment of cancer.

要点翻译：

1. 大麻素作为 Cannabis sativa 的活性成分及其衍生物，通过模拟内源性大麻素激活特定大麻素受体而在生物体内发挥作用。
2. 大麻素对癌症患者具有姑息治疗作用，并在实验动物中抑制肿瘤生长。
3. 在癌症患者中，大麻素最确切的姑息疗效是抑制化疗引起的恶心呕吐。目前Δ9-四氢大麻酚（屈大麻酚（Marinol））胶囊及其合成类似物纳比隆（Cesamet）已获准用于该用途。
4. 经III期临床试验支持，大麻素对癌症患者的其他潜在姑息疗效包括刺激食欲和抑制疼痛。就前者而言，屈大麻酚现用于治疗艾滋病患者伴随体重减轻的厌食症。
5. 大麻素在实验动物中能抑制肿瘤生长。其通过调节关键细胞信号通路，诱导肿瘤细胞直接生长停滞和死亡，并抑制肿瘤血管生成和转移。
6. 大麻素具有选择性抗肿瘤特性，能杀死肿瘤细胞而不影响其非转化对应物。大麻素受体很可能在肿瘤和非肿瘤细胞中以不同方式调控细胞存活与死亡通路。
7. 大麻素具有优良的药物安全性特征，不会产生传统化疗的全身性毒性作用。然而，大麻素在医学中的应用受其精神活性作用的限制，因此正在设计避免不良副作用的大麻素疗法。
8. 需要开展更多关于大麻素抗癌特性的基础与临床前研究。若能配合这些实验室研究进行临床试验，将有助于我们将这些化合物应用于癌症治疗。

英文摘要：

Cannabinoids — the active components of Cannabis sativa and their derivatives — exert palliative effects in cancer patients by preventing nausea, vomiting and pain and by stimulating appetite. In addition, these compounds have been shown to inhibit the growth of tumour cells in culture and animal models by modulating key cell-signalling pathways. Cannabinoids are usually well tolerated, and do not produce the generalized toxic effects of conventional chemotherapies. So, could cannabinoids be used to develop new anticancer therapies?

摘要翻译： 

大麻素——大麻植物及其衍生物的活性成分——通过预防恶心、呕吐和疼痛以及刺激食欲，在癌症患者中发挥姑息作用。此外，这些化合物已被证明能通过调节关键细胞信号通路，在体外和动物模型中抑制肿瘤细胞的生长。大麻素通常耐受性良好，不会产生传统化疗的全身毒性作用。那么，大麻素能否用于开发新的抗癌疗法？

原文链接：

Cannabinoids: potential anticancer agents