Dual-Acting Compounds Targeting Endocannabinoid and Endovanilloid Systems-A Novel Treatment Option for Chronic Pain Management.

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“Compared with acute pain that arises suddenly in response to a specific injury and is usually treatable, chronic pain persists over time, and is often resistant to medical treatment.

Because of the heterogeneity of chronic pain origins, satisfactory therapies for its treatment are lacking, leading to an urgent need for the development of new treatments.

The leading approach in drug design is selective compounds, though they are often less effective and require chronic dosing with many side effects.

Herein, we review novel approaches to drug design for the treatment of chronic pain represented by dual-acting compounds, which operate at more than one biological target.

A number of studies suggest the involvement of the cannabinoid and vanilloid receptors in pain.

Interestingly cannabinoid system is in interrelation with other systems that comprise lipid mediators: prostaglandins, produced by COX enzyme.

Therefore, in the present review, we summarize the role of dual-acting molecules (FAAH/TRPV1 and FAAH/COX-2 inhibitors) that interact with endocannabinoid and endovanillinoid systems and act as analgesics by elevating the endogenously produced endocannabinoids and dampening the production of pro-inflammatory prostaglandins.

The plasticity of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) and the ability of a single chemical entity to exert an activity on two receptor systems has been developed and extensively investigated.

Here, we review up-to-date pharmacological studies on compounds interacting with FAAH enzyme together with TRPV1 receptor or COX-2 enzyme respectively.

Multi-target pharmacological intervention for treating pain may lead to the development of original and efficient treatments.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27582708

Down-regulation of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) by cannabidiolic acid in human breast cancer cells.

“Metastases are known to be responsible for approximately 90% of breast cancer-related deaths.

Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is involved not only in inflammatory processes, but also in the metastasis of cancer cells…

…cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), a selective COX-2 inhibitor found in the fiber-type cannabis plant…

Taken together, the results obtained here demonstrated that i) CBDA had dual inhibitory effects on COX-2 through down-regulation and enzyme inhibition, and ii) CBDA may possess the ability to suppress genes that are positively involved in the metastasis of cancer cells in vitro.”

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25242400

“Cannabidiolic acid as a selective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitory component in cannabis…Taken together, these lines of evidence in this study suggest that naturally occurring CBDA in cannabis is a selective inhibitor for COX-2.”  http://dmd.aspetjournals.org/content/36/9/1917.long

“Cannabidiolic acid, a major cannabinoid in fiber-type cannabis, is an inhibitor of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell migration… The data presented in this report suggest for the first time that as an active component in the cannabis plant, CBDA offers potential therapeutic modality in the abrogation of cancer cell migration, including aggressive breast cancers.”  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4009504/

http://www.thctotalhealthcare.com/category/breast-cancer/