“The anti-tumor properties of cannabinoids have recently been evidenced, mainly with delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
Here we investigated whether the most potent endogenous cannabinoid, arachidonylethanolamide (AEA), could be a candidate.
We observed that AEA induced apoptosis in long-term and recently established glioma cell lines via aberrantly expressed vanilloid receptor-1 (VR1).
In contrast with their role in THC-mediated death, both CB1 and CB2 partially protected glioma against AEA-induced apoptosis.
These data show that the selective targeting of VR1 by AEA or more stable analogues is an attractive research area for the treatment of glioma.”