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The Role of Cannabis Species on Oxidative Stress in Cancer Cells

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Handbook of Oxidative Stress in Cancer: Therapeutic Aspects

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Abstract

Many therapeutic mechanisms kill cancer cells through reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, ROS plays a vital role in cancer cell signaling and metabolism, which is an irony. Cancer therapies can therefore target oxidative stress through varying mechanisms. The cannabis plant consists of many bioactive compounds with multiple beneficial health properties which have been overlooked for decades. It had been limited to illegal recreational use and legal pharmaceutical exploitation for the manufacturing of medicine. Cannabis consists of derivatives known as cannabinoids which target the endocannabinoid system in the body. Alongside its psychoactive effects, most of the cannabinoid compounds have potent therapeutic effects, one of which observed is the induction of oxidative stress in cancer cells, eventually leading to the cell death. This review discusses a brief account of cannabis and its derivatives and how they cause apoptosis in cancer cells by inducing oxidative cellular damage.

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Acknowledgments

The authors sincerely thank the University of Johannesburg, the National Laser Centre, and the National Research Foundation – South African Research Chairs Initiative (NRF-SARChI) for their financialgrant support. The authors sincerely thank the University of Johannesburg, the National Laser Centre, and the University of Johannesburg GES 4.0 PDF Fellowship for their financial grant support.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest. This manuscript is based on our original research and has neither been published, nor is being considered elsewhere for publication. Additionally, all the authors note that they do not have any relationships that they believe could be construed as a conflict of interest with regards to manuscript review process.

Funding

This research was funded by the South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Technology and National Research Foundation of South Africa, grant number 98337.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laser Research Centre, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa

    Dimakatso Mokoena, Blassan P. George & Heidi Abrahamse

Authors
  1. Dimakatso Mokoena
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  2. Blassan P. George
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  3. Heidi Abrahamse
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Heidi Abrahamse .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Kalyani, Kalyani, West Bengal, India

    Sajal Chakraborti

Section Editor information

  1. Department of Internal Medicine, General Hospital Minamiseiko Hospital, Nagoya, Japan

    Takehiko Takayanagi

  2. Eppley Institute for Research in Cancer and Allied Diseases, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA

    Prakash Radhakrishnan

  3. Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Sciences, Bezmialem Vakif University, Istanbul, Turkey

    Ayse Günes-Bayir

  4. Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Rockford, Illinois, USA

    Gnanasekar Munirathinam

  5. Dean, Research, Central University of Punjab, Bathinda, Punjab, India

    Anjana Munsi

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Mokoena, D., George, B.P., Abrahamse, H. (2022). The Role of Cannabis Species on Oxidative Stress in Cancer Cells. In: Chakraborti, S. (eds) Handbook of Oxidative Stress in Cancer: Therapeutic Aspects. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5422-0_201

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