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CBD AND TRYPTOPHAN

Scientists from Innsbruck have found a new mechanism of action for ingredients of the hemp plant for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. Researchers led by Prof. Dietmar Fuchs and Dr. Marcel Jenny of the Innsbruck Biocenter were able to show that cannabinoids inhibit tryptophan degradation and could thus improve the quality of life of patients with a wide range of diseases.

Researchers have studied the effects of cannabinoids from hemp in cell cultures. In the process, they analyzed and compared THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) and CBD (cannabidiol). Due to the classification of THC, CBD became the focus of research.

Improve patients' quality of life

The results presented by the Innsbruck researchers demonstrate that CBD inhibits, among other things, the tryptophan-degrading enzyme indoleamine-2, 3-dioxygenase (IDO) in stimulated immune cells. Tryptophan is an amino acid that can only be absorbed through food and that serves in the body, among other things, as a precursor for various messenger substances. The inhibition of immunologically induced tryptophan degradation by cannabinoids suggests a new aspect of their neurological effects: Increased availability of tryptophan in patients under therapy with CBD could benefit serotonin formation and thus the serotonergic system. The effect of CBD is two to four times stronger than THC. This finding is closely related to the observed inhibition of T-cell activability and thus the anti-inflammatory capacity of these agents. Inhibition of tryptophan degradation by cannabinoids could therefore improve quality of life in patients with a wide variety of chronic immunopathologies and associated neuropsychiatric symptoms, Prof. Fuchs is convinced.

Application possibility extended

The promising results could significantly expand the therapeutic applications of cannabinoids, Fuchs says. Their use could be considered in a wide variety of diseases associated with a chronically activated immune response, such as infectious diseases, sepsis, autoimmunity syndromes and malignant tumors, but also in neurodegenerative diseases. In these diseases, increased tryptophan depletion usually correlates with the extent and activity of the disease and with the patient’s quality of life. The new mechanism of action for ingredients of cannabis discovered by Dr. Marcel Jenny in the team of Prof. Fuchs and his colleagues was recently published in the Journal of Neuroimmunology. The research was funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) as part of the BRIDGE bridge-building program.

Follow up project already approved

The research group of Prof. Dietmar Fuchs at the Section of Biological Chemistry has been working for many years on biochemical changes induced during an immune response and their diagnostic and pathogenetic significance, especially in chronic diseases such as HIV-1 infection and malignant tumors. The focus is on neopterin and tryptophan metabolism and their contribution to the development of immunodeficiency, anemia, cachexia, and neuropsychiatric changes in chronic inflammatory processes. These relationships are mainly investigated in the context of clinical cooperation projects with institutes abroad. In addition, an analogous, in vitro approach has also been established for the study of immunomodulatory properties of drugs, food ingredients, and plant compounds. With regard to the mechanism now discovered, the scientists are particularly interested in the influence of the serotonergic system. In a second BRIDGE project, already approved by the FFG, Prof. Fuchs and his colleagues now want to investigate the effect of cannabinoids on serotonergic signal transduction in intestinal Caco-2 cells next.

Source: Medical University of Innsbruck