In a new study, researchers found cannabidiol, or CBD, may help reduce the cytokine storm and excessive lung inflammation that is killing many patients with COVID-19.
The study shows early evidence it could help patients showing signs of respiratory distress avoid extreme interventions like mechanical ventilation as well as death from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
More work, including clinical trials to determine optimal dosage and timing, is needed before CBD becomes part of the treatment for COVID-19.
The research was conducted by a team at the Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University.
ARDS is a major killer in severe cases of some respiratory viral infections, including severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and scientists have an urgent need for better intervention and treatment strategies.
In the study, the team found pure CBD could help the lungs recover from the overwhelming inflammation, or cytokine storm, caused by the COVID-19 virus, and restore healthier oxygen levels in the body.
Their CBD findings were enabled by their additional finding of a safe and relatively inexpensive model to duplicate the lung damage caused by ARDS.
Work on the virus itself is limited to a handful of labs in the nation that can safely manage the highly contagious virus, and their newly reported approach opens more doors for studying SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, and similar virus-induced conditions.
Their model, which takes advantage of the large, unique genetic structure of the novel coronavirus, produced classic symptoms of ARDS like the overwhelming, destructive immune response.
Then the team found CBD strongly downregulated classic indicators of the excess, like inflammation-promoting cytokines as it improved oxygen levels in the blood and enabled the lungs to recover from the structural damage.
In fact, both clinical symptoms and physical lung changes resulting from ARDS were reversed with CBD treatment.
CBD is available without a prescription and is used to treat problems like seizures as well as Parkinson’s, Crohn’s, and other conditions where pain and/or inflammation are a major factor.
It’s derived from the hemp and cannabis plant, which are essentially the same although hemp has a much lower concentration of the “high” producing THC.
Other studies have shown the calming effect of CBD, for example, can block IL-6 in other models of inflammatory disease.
One author of the study is Dr. Babak Baban, an immunologist and interim associate dean for research at DCG.
The study is published in Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research.
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