Cannabis extracts may reduce the risk of death from Covid-19 by preventing the immune system from attacking itself
- Canadian researchers have tested seven cannabis extracts for cytokine levels
- Cytokines are naturally produced by the immune system in response to infection
- But in Covid-19 patients, their immune system makes too many cytokines
- This so-called ‘cytokine storm’ can be deadly and is inhibited by three of the tested cannabis extracts
Some cannabis extracts may lower the risk of death from Covid-19 by preventing a patient’s malfunctioning immune system from attacking itself, research suggests.
A ‘cytokine storm’ is a process by which the immune system becomes confused and attacks healthy tissue instead of just the virus.
In many severe Covid cases, this is proving fatal, and finding a way to dampen this process has been a priority for doctors.
Now researchers at the University of Lethbridge have investigated how extracts from Cannabis sativa plants interact with cytokines.
They found three strains that are very effective in lowering the levels of two of the chemicals that play integral roles in the cytokine storm.
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Specific cannabis extracts can reduce the risk of death from Covid-19 by preventing the faulty immune system from harming (stock)
The researchers have more than 200 varieties of cannabis in their collection and have narrowed it down to seven for their study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed and published as a preprint on Research Square.
In this study, we identified three extracts that are very, very good strains; some strains identified in previous studies were also quite good, ”said Dr. Olga Kovalchuk, study co-author.
The varieties are known only as numbers four, eight and 14.
Stopping the cytokine storm has been a priority for researchers since it was first identified in the early days of the pandemic.
It persists even after the virus is eradicated from the body and leads to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which can be a fatal condition.
This can also cause pulmonary fibrosis, where lung tissue becomes damaged and scarred and therefore cannot function properly.
The study used professionally grown cannabis plants that were carefully extracted and applied to models, and the researchers say their findings do not mean that smoking marijuana or using CBD oil provides any protection against Covid-19 (stock)
This is a debilitating condition that is difficult to treat, with only a lung transplant providing a cure for patients.
“When we started reading the literature about what drives ARDS, it is very clear that it is powered by the same molecules that are involved in many auto-inflammatory and autoimmune diseases,” says Dr. Kovalchuk.
“One is interleukin-6 (IL-6) and the other is called tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a).”
In experiments with a ‘3D model of human skin tissue’ designed to mimic the human body, the researchers found three cannabis extracts that lowered levels of IL-6 and TNF-a.
The study used professionally grown cannabis plants that were carefully extracted and applied to models, and the researchers say their findings do not mean that smoking marijuana or using CBD oil provides any protection against Covid-19.
Dr. Kovalchuk and her team previously found that cannabis chemicals could potentially prevent SARS-CoV-2 from infecting human cells.
The next step for the research is to get cannabis-based treatments into clinical trials to see if they are effective in treating severe Covid-19 patients in intensive care.
Earlier this month, data was released showing that two anti-inflammatory drugs already being used to treat arthritis are effective at stopping the cytokine rush.
In one of the pandemic’s biggest medical breakthroughs, scientists found that the drugs could increase the survival chances of patients already taking dexamethasone, a steroid that British scientists found could reduce the deaths of the sickest Covid patients in the summer.
Matt Hancock also described the discovery as “another milestone in finding a way out of this pandemic.”
The results come from the REMAP-CAP study involving 3,900 people with severe Covid in 15 countries. The drugs, marketed under the brand names Actemra and Kevzara, are given by intravenous infusion over an hour.
Nearly two-thirds of people in their mid-twenties have used illegal drugs in their lifetime
Nearly two-thirds of young adults in Britain have used an illegal drug at least once in their life, according to new research.
This figure is 22.2 percent higher than the official data from the Crime Survey England and Wales, which supports government policy.
Authors of the new analysis, from Bristol and Public Health England, say the illegality of illegal drug use means that measuring actual use is difficult and leads to underestimations.
Amphetamine is the most underreported drug, with the new study finding that nearly one in three (32.9 percent) of 24-year-olds have used the illegal drug.
This is a fourfold increase from the prevalence in the crime survey, which records only 8.1 percent.
Amphetamine was defined as including MDMA, but not ecstasy, which is itself taken by one in nine (11.1 percent) people in their mid-twenties.
Cannabis has been ingested by 60.5 percent of people, significantly higher than the lower estimate of 37.3 percent, the study found.
Data also shows that powdered cocaine was ingested by 30.8 percent of people, as opposed to the 13.9 percent touted by the Crime Survey.
Use of crack cocaine is the same for both studies, in only one percent of the population, while use of hallucinogens is up 11.3 percent to 18.1 percent of people in the Bristol study.
Opioid use was statistically higher and was taken by one in 20 people, while sedatives or tranquilizers were used by 11.6 percent of young adults, an increase from 8.1 percent.
Pictured: The percentage of Bristol survey respondents looking at how many people have ever used illegal drugs in their lifetime