Searching for new cannabinoid CB1 receptor-interacting proteins

Extracts from the plant Cannabis sativa have been used for millennia for medicinal, religious or recreative purposes, among others. The plant’s main psychoactive component, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), exerts its actions through the activation of the CB1 receptor (CB1R), a G-protein coupled receptor very abundant in the central nervous system (CNS). The therapeutic potential of THC, and other plant molecules, has been extensively studied in the last years, which has led to the regulation of medicinal and recreational cannabis in numerous countries, as well as the generation of drugs based on cannabinoids to treat various pathologies, such as spasticity associated to multiple sclerosis, childhood refractory epilepsy, neuropathic pain, or as antiemetic and appetite modulator in AIDS and chemotherapy-treated cancer patients. However, one of the major setbacks that withdraw the use of these compounds is the onset of side-effects. Nowadays, the molecular mechanisms underlying CB1R that give rise to beneficial and deleterious effects have not been elucidated in detail. CB1R-induced signal transduction is highly pleiotropic and relies on both the cell type and physiopathological state of the tissue or organism where CB1R molecules are located, as well as the chemical nature of the activating ligand..