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Updated: Jun 15, 2025

Studying Triple Negative Breast Cancer Using Orthotopic Breast Cancer Model
Published on: March 20, 2020
Cannabinoids and triple-negative breast cancer treatment
Luka Dobovišek1, Simona Borštnar1, Nataša Debeljak2
1Division of Medical Oncology, Institute of Oncology Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
None:
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) accounts for about 10-20% of all breast cancer cases and is associated with an unfavorable prognosis. Until recently, treatment options for TNBC were limited to chemotherapy. A new successful systemic treatment is immunotherapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors, but new tumor-specific biomarkers are needed to improve patient outcomes. Cannabinoids show antitumor activity in most preclinical studies in TNBC models and do not appear to have adverse effects on chemotherapy. Clinical data are needed to evaluate efficacy and safety in humans. Importantly, the endocannabinoid system is linked to the immune system and immunosuppression. Therefore, cannabinoid receptors could be a potential biomarker for immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy or a novel mechanism to reverse resistance to immunotherapy. In this article, we provide an overview of the currently available information on how cannabinoids may influence standard therapy in TNBC.
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