• Pál Pacher and George Kunos.
• Laboratory of Physiologic Studies, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-9413, USA. pacher@mail.nih.gov
• FEBS J. 2013 May 1;280(9):1918-43.

AbstractThe discovery of the endocannabinoid system, comprising the G-protein coupled cannabinoid 1 and 2 receptors (CB1/2), their endogenous lipid ligands or endocannabinoids, and synthetic and metabolizing enzymes, has triggered an avalanche of experimental studies implicating the endocannabinoid system in a growing number of physiological/pathological functions. These studies have also suggested that modulating the activity of the endocannabinoid system holds therapeutic promise for a broad range of diseases, including neurodegenerative, cardiovascular and inflammatory disorders; obesity/metabolic syndrome; cachexia; chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting; and tissue injury and pain, amongst others. However, clinical trials with globally acting CB1 antagonists in obesity/metabolic syndrome, and other studies with peripherally-restricted CB1/2 agonists and inhibitors of the endocannabinoid metabolizing enzyme in pain, have introduced unexpected complexities, suggesting that a better understanding of the pathophysiological role of the endocannabinoid system is required to devise clinically successful treatment strategies.© Journal compilation © 2013 FEBS. No claim to original US Government works.

29 keywords...

hide…