
“The endocannabinoid system is currently under intense investigation due to the therapeutic potential of
cannabinoid-based drugs as treatment options for a broad variety of diseases including cancer.
Besides the canonical endocannabinoid system that includes the
cannabinoid receptors CB
1 and CB
2 and the endocannabinoids N-arachidonoylethanolamine (anandamide) and 2-arachidonoylglycerol, recent investigations suggest that other fatty acid derivatives, receptors, enzymes, and lipid transporters likewise orchestrate this system as components of the endocannabinoid system when defined as an extended signaling network.
As such, fatty acids acting at
cannabinoid receptors (e.g. 2-arachidonoyl glyceryl ether [noladin ether], N-arachidonoyldopamine) as well as endocannabinoid-like substances that do not elicit
cannabinoid receptor activation (e.g. N-palmitoylethanolamine, N-oleoylethanolamine) have raised interest as anticancerogenic substances.
Furthermore, the endocannabinoid-degrading enzymes fatty acid amide hydrolase and monoacylglycerol lipase, lipid transport proteins of the fatty acid binding protein family, additional
cannabinoid-activated G protein-coupled receptors, members of the transient receptor potential family as well as peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors have been considered as targets of antitumoral
cannabinoid activity. Therefore, this review focused on the antitumorigenic effects induced upon modulation of this extended endocannabinoid network.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29390896 http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03602532.2018.1428344?journalCode=idmr20