CANNABIDIOL AS AN ANTICANCER AGENT IN GLIOMA CELLS
Date
2018-05
Authors
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
Because of the highly invasive nature of brain cancer glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), there has been little success with known treatment options. As a lab, we focus on trying to understand the factors that contribute to increasing the invasiveness of GBM. Specifically, we look at tumor initiating glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs), which have been shown previously to be resistant to common cancer treatments as well as a key component in tumor progression and recurrence, and adhesion protein L1CAM, which increases motility and proliferation in cancer cells, as major players.
Cannabidiol (CBD), a plant derived cannabinoid that lacks psychoactive effects, has been looked at as an alternative treatment for cancer. Previous claims have shown that CBD has antitumor properties and is able to induce death in glioma cells. Here I investigated CBD for its ability to limit motility of glioblastoma-derived cell lines T98G and GSCs at a concentration below lethality, whether CBD has a differential effect between L1CAM-positive and L1CAM-negative T98G cells, and if CBD can be used in conjunction with a small molecule inhibitor that is known to inhibit stimulatory the effects of L1CAM. Time lapse microscopy was used to collect images of cells over a 22 hour period to be measured for their velocity. Using this information, I hoped to determine if CBD could be a viable treatment for GBM.
In this study, the effects of CBD on GSCs and L1CAM-positive and -negative T98G cells was measured through time-lapse motility studies. Surprisingly, CBD appeared to have a stimulatory effect on GSCs. When CBD was tested on T98G cells, it had an inhibitory effect on L1CAM-negative cell motility, while the effect on L1CAM-positive cells was not as clear. This could indicate that L1CAM is able to protect cancer cells from the effects of CBD. When coupled with a focal adhesion kinase (FAK) inhibitor, PF431396, that previously was shown to be able to inhibit cell motility in L1CAM-postivive glioblastoma cells, CBD did not potentiate its effects. These results suggests that CBD might be stimulatory for the cells that drive the growth and spread of GBM tumors (GSCs) and that continued research is necessary to test the capacity of CBD for treatment of GBM.
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Keywords
Biological Sciences, Glioma cells, Cannabidiol, Anti-cancer