Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
  • A61K31/00—Medicinal preparations containing organic active ingredients
  • A61K31/33—Heterocyclic compounds
  • A61K31/335—Heterocyclic compounds having oxygen as the only ring hetero atom, e.g. fungichromin
  • A61K31/35—Heterocyclic compounds having oxygen as the only ring hetero atom, e.g. fungichromin having six-membered rings with one oxygen as the only ring hetero atom
  • A61K31/352—Heterocyclic compounds having oxygen as the only ring hetero atom, e.g. fungichromin having six-membered rings with one oxygen as the only ring hetero atom condensed with carbocyclic rings, e.g. methantheline 
  • A61K31/353—3,4-Dihydrobenzopyrans, e.g. chroman, catechin
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
  • A61K31/00—Medicinal preparations containing organic active ingredients
  • A61K31/185—Acids; Anhydrides, halides or salts thereof, e.g. sulfur acids, imidic, hydrazonic or hydroximic acids
  • A61K31/19—Carboxylic acids, e.g. valproic acid
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
  • A61K31/00—Medicinal preparations containing organic active ingredients
  • A61K31/185—Acids; Anhydrides, halides or salts thereof, e.g. sulfur acids, imidic, hydrazonic or hydroximic acids
  • A61K31/19—Carboxylic acids, e.g. valproic acid
  • A61K31/20—Carboxylic acids, e.g. valproic acid having a carboxyl group bound to a chain of seven or more carbon atoms, e.g. stearic, palmitic, arachidic acids
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61K—PREPARATIONS FOR MEDICAL, DENTAL OR TOILETRY PURPOSES
  • A61K31/00—Medicinal preparations containing organic active ingredients
  • A61K31/33—Heterocyclic compounds
  • A61K31/335—Heterocyclic compounds having oxygen as the only ring hetero atom, e.g. fungichromin
  • A61K31/35—Heterocyclic compounds having oxygen as the only ring hetero atom, e.g. fungichromin having six-membered rings with one oxygen as the only ring hetero atom
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
  • A61P35/00—Antineoplastic agents
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A61—MEDICAL OR VETERINARY SCIENCE; HYGIENE
  • A61P—SPECIFIC THERAPEUTIC ACTIVITY OF CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS OR MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS
  • A61P43/00—Drugs for specific purposes, not provided for in groups A61P1/00-A61P41/00

Definitions

• This invention relates to cancer therapy and organic chemistry.
• THC tetrahydrocannabinol
• the invention is based on the discovery that non-psychoactive THC derivatives, such as THC acids, can decrease cell proliferation. Moreover, this effect is not dependent on an increase in the rate of apoptosis, which has been identified as a CB1 receptor-mediated activity of THC (Sanchez et al., FEBS Lett. 436:6-10, 1998). Accordingly, the invention features a method of decreasing cell proliferation in a mammal (e.g., a human) by identifying a mammal in which a decrease in cell proliferation is desirable, and administering to the mammal an amount of a compound of Formula I effective to decrease cell proliferation in the mammal,
• a mammal e.g., a human
• R 1 is a hydrogen atom, — COCH , or — COCH 2 CH 3 ; and R is a branched C 5 -C ⁇ 2
• R can be hydrogen, and R can be a C alkyl, which can be a branched alkyl such as 1,1-dimethylheptyl.
• the invention also features a method of decreasing cell proliferation in a mammal (e.g., a human) by identifying a mammal in which a decrease in cell proliferation is desirable, and administering to the mammal an amount of a compound of Formula II effective to decrease cell proliferation in the mammal,
• Rj is hydrogen, -COCH 3 , or -COCH 2 CH 3 ;
• R 2 is a branched C 5 . ⁇ 2 alkyl compound which may have a terminal aromatic ring, or a branched -OCHCH (CH 2 ) m alkyl compound which may have a terminal aromatic ring, wherein m is 0 to 7;
• R is
• Preferred compounds of Formula II are obtained when Rl is hydrogen, R2 is , -dimethylheptyl, and Y is nil.
• the compounds have Formula III below:
• R includes hydrogen, branched or unbranched C ⁇ . 8 alkyl compounds, and branched or unbranched C ⁇ . 8 alkanol compounds.
• R is methyl or methanol, or a branched or unbranched ethyl, propyl, ethanol, or propanol.
• the compounds may be administered orally (e.g., as a dietary supplement), systemically, intravenously, or via an implant, which can provide slow release of the compound.
• the compound can be administered for treatment of a pre- existing disease or condition that is characterized by cell proliferation, or for prophylaxis against such a disease or condition.
• the compounds can be administered to the mammal at a dose of about 0.1 to 20 mg/kg body weight (e.g., about 0.2 to 2 mg/kg body weight) to effectively decrease cell proliferation.
• the method is particularly useful in treating a mammal that is suffering from cancer.
• a cell in vitro can be contacted with the compounds to decrease or abolish the cell's ability to proliferate.
• cell proliferation means an increase in cell number.
• decreasing cell proliferation is meant a decrease in cell proliferation that is not solely due to an increase in apoptosis.
• alkyl means a straight or branched hydrocarbon chain containing carbon atoms or cyclic hydrocarbon moieties. These alkyl groups may also contain one or more double bonds or triple bonds.
• substituted alkyl is meant an alkyl in which an atom of the alkyl is substituted with an atom, e.g., a sulfur, oxygen, or halogen atom.
• the methods of the invention provide a new use for non-psychoactive cannabinoids as drugs for the treatment or prophylaxis of a condition or disease characterized by cell proliferations (e.g., cancer).
• a condition or disease characterized by cell proliferations e.g., cancer
• the compounds can be used as a dietary supplement (e.g., like a daily vitamin pill) to prevent cancer.
• the compounds can be applied topically, e.g., to a skin lesion characterized by undesirable cell proliferation, such as in psoriasis
• Fig. 1 is a line graph of concentration of various compounds versus cell number.
• Fig. 2 is a bar graph of ajulemic acid concentration versus cell number.
• Fig. 3 is a line graph of concentration of various compounds versus neutral lipids per million cells.
• Fig. 4 is a line graph of days post-inoculation versus tumor diameter.
• the invention relates to methods of decreasing cell proliferation (e.g., cancer treatment) in a mammal by administering a THC derivative to the mammal.
• THC derivatives e.g., the compounds defined by Formulas I, II and III
• Such THC derivatives are known and can be synthesized (see, e.g., U.S. Patent No. 5,338,753: Burstein et al., J. Medicinal Chem. 35:3185-3141, 1992; and Burstein, Pharmacol. Ther. 82:87-96, 1999).
• the THC derivative can be administered via any appropriate route, e.g.
• a solvent e.g., water or physiological saline
• solubilizing agent e.g., ethanol, Polysorbates, or Cremophor EL7
• agent for making isotonicity preservative, antioxidizing agent, excipient (e.g., lactose, starch, crystalline cellulose, mannitol, maltose, calcium hydrogen phosphate, light silicic acid anhydride, or calcium carbonate)
• binder e.g., starch, polyvinylpyrrolidone, hydroxypropyl cellulose, ethyl cellulose, carboxy methyl cellulose, or gum arabic
• lubricant e.g., magnesium stearate, talc, or hardened oils
• stabilizer e.g., lactose, mannitol, maltose, polysorbates, macrogols, or polyoxyethylene hardened castor oils
• glycerin, dimethylacetamide, 70% sodium lactate, a surfactant, or a basic substance such as sodium hydroxide, ethylenediamine, ethanolamine, sodium bicarbonate, arginine, meglumine, or trisaminomethane is added.
• Pharmaceutical preparations such as solutions, tablets granules or capsules can be formed with these components.
• Compositions for slow release of the compound can be formed as described in U.S. Patent No. 4,880,830.
• the dose of the compounds of the present invention is determined in consideration of the results of animal experiments and various conditions.
• THC derivatives can be tested for biological activity (i.e., ability to decrease cell proliferation) both in vitro or in vivo. In vitro testing can be performed as described in the example below, a well as described in Marshall et al., Growth Reg. 5:69-84, 1995. In vivo animal models for tumor growth are well known, such as described in Nagane et al., Cancer Res. 60:847-53, 2000; and Price et al., Clin. Cancer Res. 5:845-54, 1999.
• C6 glioma and U87 glioma cells were obtained from ATCC
• THC and THC-11-oic acid were supplied by ⁇ IDA.
• Ajulemic acid was synthesized as described in Burstein et al., J. Medicinal Chem. 35:3185-3141, 1992.
• Cell proliferation assays In vitro changes in the number of cells were measured using the MTT assay as described in Marshall et al., Growth Reg. 5:69-84, 1995.
• Flow cytometry/cell cycle analysis For flow cytometry, cells were grown in low serum (0.5%) for two days to synchronize cells in G0/G1, after which they were placed in high serum (10%) for two days. The cells were then labeled with propidium iodide and fixed in 4% paraformaldehyde. Cells were examined using a MoFlo Facs sorter for DNA content.
• Lipid incorporation assay Cells were treated as follows. Monolayers of C-6 cells were prepared in 24 well culture dishes as described above. Carboxy labelled l C- arachidonic acid (150,000 dpm/well) obtained from ARC, St. Louis. MO (specific activity of 55 mCi/mmol) was added to each monolayer and incubated for 2 hours. Treatment with the indicated cannabinoid was initiated by the addition of the drug in 10
• the media were removed and discarded.
• the cellular lipids were extracted for 1 hour with 0.5 ml of absolute ethanol at room temperature. All treatments were performed in quadruplicate. Controls cells were treated identically, except that no cannabinoid was present.
• the lipid samples were lyophilized. Prior to evaporation under vacuum, 14 C-cholesterol (50,000 dpm) was added as a recovery marker (ARC, St. Louis MO; specific activity of 50 mCi/mmol).
• sample residues were then dissolved in 30 ⁇ l of methanol containing 10 ⁇ g each of
• Labelled lipids were quantitated as follows. The zones of radioactivity were detected by exposure of the plates to X-ray film for 48 hours. A TIFF computer file of the fim was generated using the Fluor-S System (Biorad). The chromatograms were quantified using NIH Image software. Peak height values of the display were used, since all labelled components resided in narrow, sharp peaks on the chromatograms. Each component value was adjusted for recovery using the individual cholesterol standard values for each zone. The values obtained were then divided by the numbers of cells in each well and the results expressed as an index per million cells.
• PKC Protein kinase C
• trypsinized 5 x 10 6 trypsinized cells were assayed for PKC activity using a kit (Calbiochem, cat. no. 53984).
• ajulemic acid inhibited cell proliferation better than either THC or THC-11-oic
• THC ⁇ - or ⁇ -THC.
• ajulemic acid was significantly more effective (p ⁇ 0.05) at this dosage in six of the ten lines tested.
• the three cannabinoids also inhibited the normal rat fibroblast cell line WI38.
• ajulemic acid inhibited the proliferation of WI38 cells less than the proliferation of C6 glioma cells.
• a preparation 95%o enriched in the D-isomer of ajulemic acid was used to examine the stereospecificity
• ajulemic acid's antitumor effect was the appearance of refractile bodies that could be easily visualized with phase microscopy. Both the number of cells that had refractile bodies as well as the number of refractile bodies/cell increased over time. After 48 hours, 83% of ajulemic acid-treated C6 cells had one or more refractile bodies compared to 27%) to THC-treated cells (p ⁇ 0.001, Chi- square analysis). The mean number of refractile bodies per cell was also much higher for ajulemic acid-treated cells compared to THC-treated cells (1.78 ⁇ 1.6 vs. 0.22 ⁇ 0.5 per cell, pO.OOl, t-test). Interestingly, no refractile bodies were noted in either WI38 cells treated for this length of time at this dosage of ajulemic acid or in C6 glioma cells treated
• DAG diacyl glycerol
• Whether ajulemic acid has in vivo antitumor activity was determined using a nude mouse tumor model.
• the growth of the human glioma cell line U87 injected subcutaneously in nude mice was assessed with and without ajulemic acid administration.
• ajulemic acid treatment was initiated two days after inoculation of 10 6 tumor cells in the mice. A delay in both the appearance and size of tumors were seen for the group receiving 0.1 mg/kg ajulemic acid thrice weekly (Fig. 4).

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