# Cannabidiol-induced cellular and matrix-associated responses in primary equine sarcoid cells

## TL;DR

This study explores how cannabidiol (CBD) affects equine sarcoid cells, showing it can reduce cell viability and matrix metalloproteinase levels, which may help in treating these tumors.

## Contribution

The study provides new evidence on CBD's effects on equine sarcoid cells, including apoptosis and matrix modulation, relevant to veterinary oncology.

## Key findings

- CBD treatment significantly increased apoptosis in equine sarcoid cells up to 75% at 72 hours.
- CBD reduced concentrations of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP-1, MMP-2, and MMP-9) in the culture medium.
- CBD decreased cell viability and induced cytotoxicity, with over 96% cytotoxicity observed at 72 hours.

## Abstract

Sarcoids are locally invasive skin tumors in equids, associated with bovine papillomavirus.

Address potential applications of cannabidiol (CBD) in veterinary medicine. We evaluated the response of equine sarcoid cells to CBD in vitro, focusing on viability, invasiveness, and matrix remodeling.

Three primary sarcoid cell lines.

Cells were treated with CBD (20, 6.75, 2.25, 0.75 μM) and incubated for 6, 24, 48, 72 hours. Cell viability, cytotoxicity, and apoptosis were assessed using the ApoTox-Glo Assay. Based on these results, further analyses were performed for selected conditions only, including the assessment of cell invasiveness using the ECMatrix™ Cell Invasion Assay and the quantification of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1, -2, and -9 in the culture medium by ELISA.

Treatment with CBD affected cell viability, cytotoxicity, and apoptosis. At 48 hours, apoptosis (measured as caspase 3/7 activity) reached 49.5% and further increased to 75% at 72 hours. Marked cytotoxicity (>96%) and decreased viability were observed at 72 hours. Cannabidiol also significantly decreased MMP-1 concentration by 48.9% at 24 hours and MMP-2 concentrations by 84% at 6 hours. Concentrations of MMP-9 also decreased by 37.2% and 45.3% at 6 and 48 hours, respectively, after treatment with 20 μM. Despite observed decreases in cell invasiveness ranging from 34% to 59% after 24 hours, these changes were not significant.

Our findings support further investigation of CBD’s role in extracellular matrix modulation in sarcoid tumors.