Cannabis extracts can reduce the risk of dying from Covid-19 by letting the immune system attack itself
- Canadian researchers tested seven cannabis extracts at cytokine levels
- Cytokines are produced naturally by the immune system in response to infection
- But in patients with Covid-19 their immune system produces too much cytokines
- This so-called “cytokine storm” can be fatal and is what inhibits three of the cannabis extracts tested.
Some cannabis extracts may reduce the risk of dying from Covid-19 by preventing a malfunctioning immune system from attacking itself, research suggests.
A “cytokine storm” is a process by which the immune system bypasses and attacks healthy tissues instead of the virus.
In many severe cases of Covid, this is fatal, and finding a way to cushion this process has been a priority for doctors.
Now, researchers at Lethbridge University have investigated how cannabis sativa plant extracts interact with cytokines.
They found three strains that are very effective in reducing the levels of two of the chemicals that play an integral role in the cytokine storm.
Scroll down to see the video
Specific cannabis extracts may reduce the risk of dying from Covid-19 by preventing the malfunctioning immune system from damaging (stocks).
Researchers have more than 200 cannabis variants in their collection and reduced it to seven for their study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed and is published as a prepress in Research Square.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,” says Dr. Olga Kovalchuk, co-author of the study.
The strains are only known 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 when the virus has been eradicated from the body and leads to Acute Respiratory Disorder Syndrome (SRAD) which can be a fatal disease.
This can also cause pulmonary fibrosis, which is when the lung tissue is damaged and scarred and therefore cannot function properly.
The study used professionally grown cannabis plants that were carefully extracted and applied to the models and researchers say their findings do not mean smoking marijuana or using CBD oil offers no protection against Covid-19 (broth)
It is a debilitating condition that is difficult to treat, as only a lung transplant offers a cure for patients.
“When we started reading in the literature about what drives ARDS, it is very clear that it is driven by the same molecules that are involved in many autoinflammatory and autoimmune diseases,” Dr. Kovalchuk said.
“One of them is interleukin-6 (IL-6) and the other is called tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-a).”
In experiments done with a “3D human skin tissue model,” designed to mimic the human body, the researchers found three cannabis extracts that reduced IL-6 and TNF-α levels.
The study used professionally grown cannabis plants that were extracted and carefully applied to the models and the researchers said their findings do not mean smoking marijuana or using CBD oil offers no protection against Covid-19.
Dr. Kovalchuk and her team previously found that cannabis chemicals could prevent SARS-CoV-2 from infecting human cells.
The next step for research is to get cannabis-based treatments in clinical trials to see if they are effective in treating severe Covid-19 patients in intensive care.
Earlier this month, data were released that found that two anti-inflammatory drugs already used to treat arthritis are effective in stopping the cytokine storm.
In one of the biggest medical advances in the pandemic, scientists found that drugs could increase the chances of survival for patients already taking dexamethasone, a steroid that British scientists discovered could reduce the death of patients with sicker covid during the summer.
Matt Hancock also described the discovery as “another iconic fact to find a way out of this pandemic.”
The results come from the REMAP-CAP trial which involved 3,900 people with severe Covid in 15 countries. The drugs, marketed under the Actemra and Kevzara brands, are administered by intravenous drip for one hour.
Nearly two-thirds of people in their early twenties have used illegal drugs during their lifetime
According to new research, almost two-thirds of young adults in Britain have taken an illegal drug at least once in their lifetime.
This figure is 22.2% higher than official Crime Survey, England and Wales data, which reports on government policy.
The authors of the new analysis, from Bristol and Public Health England, say the illegality of illicit drug use means it is difficult to assess actual use and causes underestimation.
Amphetamine is the least reported drug, as the new study found that nearly one in three (32.9%) of 24-year-olds took the drug illegally.
This is a four-fold increase in the prevalence observed in the Crime Survey, which is only 8.1%.
Amphetamine was defined as including MDMA, but not ecstasy, which has been taken by one in nine people (11.1%) in the middle of the 20s.
The study finds that 60.5% of people have taken cannabis above the lowest estimates of 37.3%.
The data also reveals that 30.8% of people have taken cocaine powder, as opposed to the 13.9% figure collected by the crime survey.
Crack cocaine use is the same for both surveys, with only 1% of the population, while hallucinogens increase by 11.3% to 18.1% 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% of young adults, 8.1% more.
In the picture, the percentage of respondents in the Bristol study that analyzes how many people have taken illicit drugs at some point in their lives