Endogenous and synthetic cannabinoids exert antiproliferative and proapoptotic effects in various types of cancer and in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). In this study, we evaluated the expression of cannabinoid receptors type 1 and type 2 (CB1 and CB2) in nonHodgkin lymphomas of B cell type (n 5 62). A majority of the lymphomas expressed higher mRNA levels of CB1 and/or CB2 as compared to reactive lymphoid tissue. With the exception of MCL, which uniformly overexpresses both CB1 and CB2, the levels of cannabinoid receptors within other lymphoma entities were highly variable, ranging from 0.1 to 224 times the expression in reactive lymph nodes. Low...

Endogenous arachidonic acid metabolites with properties similar to compounds of Cannabis sativa Linnaeus, the so-called endocannabinoids, have effects on various types of cancer. Although endocannabinoids and synthetic cannabinoids may have pro-proliferative effects, predominantly inhibitory effects on tumor growth, angiogenesis, migration and metastasis have been described. Remarkably, these effects may be selective for the cancer cells, while normal cells and tissues are spared. Such apparent tumor cell selectivity makes the endocannabinoid system an attractive potential target for cancer therapy. In this review we discuss various means by which the endocannabinoid system may be targeted in cancer and the current knowledge considering the regulation of the...

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is an aggressive, genetically heterogenerous disease and the most common type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma among adults. To gain further insights into the etiology of DLBCL and to discover potential diseaserelated factors, we performed a serum lipid analysis on a subset of individuals from a population-based NHL case-control study. An untargeted mass-spectrometry-based metabolomics platform was used to analyze serum samples from 100 DLBCL patients and 100 healthy matched controls. Significantly elevated levels of the endocannabinoid, 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG), were detected in the serum of DLBCL patients (121%, P<0.05). In the male controls, elevated 2-AG levels were observed in those who were overweight...