Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Table of Contents

Buy this book.


TABLE 2.7 Effects of Cannabinoids on the Immune System


Drug Tested Type of Animal Experiment Cell Types Tested or Concentration* Drug Result Reference
THC, 2-AG, 11-OH-THC, CBN Lymphocytes and splenocytes in vitro 0.1—30 µM Higher doses suppressed T cell proliferation Luo, 1992; Pross, 1992;b Klein, 1985;c Specter, 1990;d Lee, 1995;a Herring, 1998
THC, 2-AG Lymphocytes and splenocytes 0.1—25 µM Lower doses increased T cell proliferation in vitro Luo, 1992; Lee, 1995;a Pross, 1992b
Anandamide Splenocytes in vitro 1—25 µM Little or no effect on T cell proliferation Lee, 1995;a Devane, 1992
THC, 11-OH-THC, 2-AG Splenocytes in vitro 3—30 µM Decreased B cell proliferation Klein, 1985;c Lee, 1995a
THC, CP 55,940, WIN 55,212-2 Lymphocytes in vitro 0.1—100 nM (0.0001—0.1 µM) Increased B cell proliferation Derocq, 1995
THC Drug injected into mice >5 mg/kg Antibody production suppressed Baczynsky, 1983; Schatz, 1993
HU-210 Drug injected into mice >0.05 mg/kg Antibody production suppressed Titishov, 1989
THC, 11-OH-THC, CBD, CP 55,940, CBN Splenocytes in vitro 1—30 µM Antibody production suppressed Klein, 1990; Baczynsky, 1983; Kaminski, 1992, 1994; Herring, 1998
THC Drug injected into rodents 3 mg/kg per day for 25 days, 40 mg/kg per day for 2 days Repeated low doses or a high dose of THC suppressed the activity of natural killer cells Patel, 1985; Klein, 1987
THC, 11-OH-THC Natural killer cells in vitro 0.1—32 µM Doses of >=10 µM suppressed natural killer cell cytolytic activity; doses <10 µM produced no effect Klein, 1987; Luo, 1989
THC Peritoneal macrophages and monocytes 3—30 µM Variable doses of THC suppressed macophage functions in vitro Lopez-Cepero, 1986; Specter, 1991; Tang, 1992
THC, CBD Drug injected into mice; in one case, in vitro tests done on spleens 4 days or 50 mg/kg every 5 days for up to 8 weeks >5 mg/kg per day for THC suppressed normal immune response; interferons failed to increase when exposed to cytokine inducer; CBD had no suppressive effect Cabral, 1986; Blanchard, 1986
THC, CBD Peripheral blood mononuclear cells in vitro <0.1 µM 30 µM Increased interferon production Decreased interferon production Watzl, 1991
THC, CBD Splenocytes and T cells in vitro 10 µM Both THC and CBD suppressed interleukin-2 secretion and number of interleukin-2 transcripts Condie, 1996
THC Phorbol myristate acetate- differentiated macrophage in vitro 10—20 µM Increased tumor necrosis factor production and interleukin-1 supernatant bioactivity Shivers, 1994
THC Endotoxin-activated macrophages in vitro 10—30 µM Increased processing and release of interleukin-1 rather than cellular production of interleukin-1 Zhu, 1994
THC Peritoneal macrophages in vitro 10—30 µM Increased interleukin-1 bioactivity Klein, 1990
THC Drug and sublethal or lethal dose of Legionella pneumophilia injected in mice 8 mg/kg before and after bacterial infection Cytokine-mediated septic shock and death occurred with exposure to sublethal dose of bacteria Klein, 1993, 1994; Newton, 1994
    <5 mg/kg doses or one 8 mg/kg or 4 mg/kg dose before bacteria infection Survival occurred, but with greater susceptiblity to infection when challenged with bacteria and death when challenged with a lethal dose of bacteria  
THC Drug and herpes simplex virus injected in immunodeficient mice 100 mg/kg before and after viral infection Two high doses of THC potentiated the effects of herpes simplex and enhanced the progression of death Specter, 1991
    100 mg/kg before virual infection Single dose did not promote death  


    aCell density dependent.

    bMitogen dependent.

    cDependent on serum concentration in cell culture medium.

    dDependent on timing of drug exposure relative to mitogen exposure.

    *Drug concentrations are given in the standard format of molarity (M). A 1-M solution is the molecular weight of the compound (in grams) in 1 liter (L) of solution. The molecular weight of THC is 314, so a 1-M solution would be 314 g of THC in 1 L of solution, and a 10-µM solution would be 3.14 mg THC/L.

    A 1- to 10-µM concentration will generally elicit a physiologically relevant response in immune cell cultures. Higher doses are often suspected of not being biologically meaningful because they are much larger than would ever be achieved in the body. The doses listed in this table are, for the most part, very high. See text for further discussion.