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Tobacco Hornworm as an Insect Model System for Cannabinoid Pre-clinical Studies
Published on: December 29, 2021
The National Cancer Institute and Cannabis and Cannabinoids Research
Gary L Ellison1, L Alejandro Salicrup2, Andrew N Freedman1
1Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Abstract:
The landscape of both recreational and medicinal cannabis use has changed dramatically over the past decade; however, research examining the risks and benefits of cannabis and cannabinoid use has lagged significantly behind the increased media promotion and their use by the general public and cancer patients. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has supported cannabis-related research projects and funding opportunity announcements. In addition, NCI organized a virtual symposium on December 15-18, 2020, to discuss recent research findings on the use of cannabis and cannabinoids in relationship to cancer risk, prevention, and care. Specifically, the symposium sought to highlight the state of the science regarding cannabis, including the chemical constituents of cannabis (eg, cannabinoids), and cancer research involving cannabis, including cancer epidemiology, use in cancer patients, cancer biology and prevention, and preclinical and clinical cancer symptom and treatment side effect management with cannabis and cannabinoids as therapeutics. The symposium identified promising areas of future study, current barriers to conducting the research, and strategies to overcome those barriers. The series of papers in this special edition provide a summary of the symposium sessions as well as a synopsis of opportunities and challenges related to conducting research in this area.
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