Cannabis suppresses antitumor immunity by inhibiting JAK/STAT signaling in T cells through CNR2.

ABSTRACT: The combination of immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) with chemotherapy significantly improves clinical benefit of cancer treatment. Since chemotherapy is often associated with adverse events, concomitant treatment with drugs managing side effects of chemotherapy is frequently used in the combination therapy. However, whether these ancillary drugs could impede immunotherapy remains unknown. Here, we showed that ^∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the key ingredient of drugs approved for the treatment of chemotherapy-caused nausea, reduced the therapeutic effect of PD-1 blockade. The endogenous cannabinoid anandamide (AEA) also impeded antitumor immunity, indicating an immunosuppressive role of the endogenous cannabinoid system (ECS). Consistently, high levels of AEA in the sera were as

SUBMITTER: Xiong X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8983672 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature