Abstract
Cancer is a multifactorial disorder that is a life-threatening health challenge worldwide. Prostate
and lung cancer are two types of cancers with a high death rate in males due to their inability to
be diagnosed early. These types of cancer may be attributed to risk factors such as genetic
changes, geographical area, ethnicity, lifestyle, and occupational exposure. These cancers are
more common and deadly in black men or men of African ancestry. Moreover, chronic pain is
one of the main highlighting symptoms of these conditions. Although several painkillers are
currently used to treat this chronic pain associated with cancer, bioactive and easily accessible
alternatives that produce lesser addictive side effects than those currently in use still need to be
developed. Henceforth, this study aimed to investigate the anticancer, anti-inflammatory (painrelief)
effects of Cannabis sativa and its metabolic product, cannabidiol (CBD), in in vitro, lung,
and prostate cancer cell lines. Cannabis sativa is a medicinal plant that has gained attention from
academics to pharmaceutical fields towards developing and discovering drugs and food products.
C. sativa is well-known for its medical and therapeutic health benefits, including stimulating
apoptosis, anti-inflammation, pain relief, and suppressing chemotherapy-associated side effects.
To achieve the aim of this study, C. sativa was collected, ground, and extracted using several
solvents, and its effect in in vitro prostate (PC-3) and lung (A549) cancer cells was evaluated.
The following techniques were used to achieve the objectives; alamarBlue, xCELLigence,
caspase activity, mitochondrial assay (ATP detection), and gene expression analysis. A reduced
cell viability following treatment with pure and crude extracts of different concentrations, with a
decreased metabolic & cyclooxygenase-2 enzymes (COX-2) expression associated with
decreased cell proliferation on some extracts was observed. Furthermore, a slightly increased
caspase and decreased mitochondrial activity associated with programmed cell death following
treatment with C. sativa extracts was observed. From these observations, CBD induced cancer
cell proliferation, while hexane crude extracts had an anti-proliferative effect. These results
suggest that C. sativa and metabolic extracts might have therapeutic potential in both pain and
apoptosis induction inflammations. However, CBD had little effect on inflammation and cancer
cell death, suggesting that perhaps total extracts contain some compounds that play a crucial role
in activating caspase activity and decreasing the expression of COX-2 together with the metabolic
enzymes. However, this preliminary study would require more analysis of CBD and extracts on a
broad number of cell lines and in vivo studies.
Keywords: Prostate cancer, lung cancer, pain, inflammation, Cannabis sativa, cannabidiol
(CBD), tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).