A breakthrough in breast cancer treatment using THC has just been patented (US Pat. 10,753,935) by Zelda Therapeutics Operations Pty, now known as Zelira Therapeutics.
At the end of 2019, Zelda Therapeutics announced that they will be merging with Ilera Therapeutics to expand their medicinal cannabis offerings, especially focusing on cannabinoids for treating insomnia, autism, and cancer.
Patent ‘935 discloses treating breast cancer subtype HER2+ using adequate concentrations of delta9-THC. HER2+ breast cancer is characterized by overexpression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) as well as overexpression of cannabinoid receptor CB2. CB2 promotes tumor generation through activation of HER2 pro-oncogenic signaling and by forming heteromers with HER2, which is characteristic of patients with low prognosis.
The inventors discovered that administering delta9-THC in anti-tumor amounts to HER2+ breast cancer cells dissociates the HER2/CB2 heteromer, and they confirmed this in two cell lines (BT474 and HCC1954).
Together with its four partners, Aunt Zelda’s, Curtin University, Telethon Kids Institute, and Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Zelira Therapeutics will push their cancer treatment cannabinoids through their product pipeline. Currently, Zelira’s cancer treatment research remains in preclinical trials, with treatments for insomnia at the furthest stage in the pipeline.
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