%0 Journal Article
%A Oesch, Susanne
%A Walter, Dagmar
%A Wachtel, Marco
%A Pretre, Kathya
%A Salazar Roa, María
%A Guzmán Pastor, Manuel
%A Velasco Díez, Guillermo
%A Schäfer, Beat 
%T Cannabinoid receptor 1 is a potential drug target for treatment of translocation-positive rhabdomyosarcoma
%D 2009
%@ 1535-7163
%U https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/97650
%X Gene expression profiling has revealed that the gene coding for cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1) is highly up-regulated in rhabdomyosarcoma biopsies bearing the typical chromosomal translocations PAX3/FKHR or PAX7/FKHR. Because cannabinoid receptor agonists are capable of reducing proliferation and inducing apoptosis in diverse cancer cells such as glioma, breast cancer, and melanoma, we evaluated whether CB1 is a potential drug target in rhabdomyosarcoma. Our study shows that treatment with the cannabinoid receptor agonists HU210 and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol lowers the viability of translocation-positive rhabdomyosarcoma cells through the induction of apoptosis. This effect relies on inhibition of AKT signaling and induction of the stress-associated transcription factor p8 because small interfering RNA–mediated down-regulation of p8 rescued cell viability upon cannabinoid treatment. Finally, treatment of xenografts with HU210 led to a significant suppression of tumor growth in vivo. These results support the notion that cannabinoid receptor agonists could represent a novel targeted approach for treatment of translocation-positive rhabdomyosarcoma
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