Marijuana shows potential in treating
autoimmune disease
A
team of University of South Carolina researchers led by Mitzi Nagarkatti,
Prakash Nagarkatti and Xiaoming Yang have discovered a novel pathway through
which marijuana's main active constituent, THC, can suppress the body's immune
functions.
Their
research has been published online in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
Marijuana
is the most frequently used illicit drug in the United States, but as more
states legalize the drug for medical and even recreational purposes, research
studies like this one are discovering new and innovative potential health
applications for the federal Schedule I drug.
The
university study has uncovered yet another potential application for marijuana,
in the suppression of immune response to treat autoimmune diseases. The work
builds on recent scientific discoveries that the environment in which humans
live can actually trigger changes that occur outside of human DNA, but
nevertheless can cause alterations to the function of genes controlled by DNA.
These outside molecules that have the ability to alter DNA function are known
collectively as the epigenome. In this study, the investigators wanted to find
out if the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) found in marijuana has the capacity to
affect DNA expression through epigenetic pathways outside of the DNA itself.
The
recent findings show that THC can change critical molecules of epigenome called
histones, leading to suppression of inflammation. These results suggest that
one potential negative impact of marijuana smoking could be suppression of
beneficial inflammation in the body.
But they also suggest that, because of its
epigenetic influence toward inflammation suppression, marijuana use could be
efficacious in the treatment of autoimmune diseases such as arthritis, lupus,
colitis, multiple sclerosis and the like, in which chronic inflammation plays a
central role.
Story Source:
The
above story is based on materials provided by University
of South Carolina.Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Journal Reference:
1.
X. Yang, V. L. Hegde,
R. Rao, J. Zhang, P. S. Nagarkatti, M. Nagarkatti. Histone
modifications are associated with Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol-mediated
alterations in antigen-specific T cell responses. Journal of
Biological Chemistry, 2014; DOI: 10.1074/jbc.M113.545210
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University of South Carolina. "Marijuana shows potential in
treating autoimmune disease." Science Daily, 2 June 2014.
<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140602150914.htm>.