tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
Br J Pharmacol
. 2020 Jun 10.
doi: 10.1111/bph.15157. Online ahead of print.
The Potential of Cannabidiol in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Hypothesis Letter
Giuseppe Esposito[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Marcella Pesce[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Luisa Seguella[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Walter Sanseverino[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Jie Lu[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Chiara Corpetti[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Giovanni Sarnelli[SUP] 2 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Abstract
Identifying candidate drugs effective in the new coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is crucial, pending a vaccine against SARS-CoV2. We suggest the hypothesis that Cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychotropic phytocannabinoid, has the potential to limit the severity and progression of the disease for several reasons: 1) High-CBD Cannabis Sativa extracts are able to downregulate the expression of the two key receptors for SARS-CoV2 in several models of human epithelia 2) CBD exerts a wide range of immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory effects and it can mitigate the uncontrolled cytokine production featuring Acute Lung Injury 3) Being a PPARγ agonist, it can display a direct antiviral activity 4) PPARγ agonists are regulators of fibroblast/myofibroblast activation and can inhibit the development of pulmonary fibrosis, thus ameliorating lung function in recovered patients. We hope our hypothesis, corroborated by several preclinical evidence, will inspire further targeted studies to test CBD as a support drug against the COVID-19 pandemic.
. 2020 Jun 10.
doi: 10.1111/bph.15157. Online ahead of print.
The Potential of Cannabidiol in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Hypothesis Letter
Giuseppe Esposito[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Marcella Pesce[SUP] 2 [/SUP], Luisa Seguella[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Walter Sanseverino[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Jie Lu[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Chiara Corpetti[SUP] 1 [/SUP], Giovanni Sarnelli[SUP] 2 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 32519753
- DOI: 10.1111/bph.15157
Abstract
Identifying candidate drugs effective in the new coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is crucial, pending a vaccine against SARS-CoV2. We suggest the hypothesis that Cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychotropic phytocannabinoid, has the potential to limit the severity and progression of the disease for several reasons: 1) High-CBD Cannabis Sativa extracts are able to downregulate the expression of the two key receptors for SARS-CoV2 in several models of human epithelia 2) CBD exerts a wide range of immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory effects and it can mitigate the uncontrolled cytokine production featuring Acute Lung Injury 3) Being a PPARγ agonist, it can display a direct antiviral activity 4) PPARγ agonists are regulators of fibroblast/myofibroblast activation and can inhibit the development of pulmonary fibrosis, thus ameliorating lung function in recovered patients. We hope our hypothesis, corroborated by several preclinical evidence, will inspire further targeted studies to test CBD as a support drug against the COVID-19 pandemic.