Myocarditis is a major cause of heart failure and sudden cardiac death in young adults and adolescents, with many cases of myocarditis associated with autoimmune processes. Now, a new study^[1] published this month by the journal Molecular Medicine, has found that the cannabis compound cannabidiol is an effective treatment option for autoimmune myocarditis and potentially other autoimmune disorders.

Conventional immunosuppressive therapies often provide unsatisfactory results and are “associated with adverse toxicities during the treatment of autoimmune myocarditis”, states the study’s abstract. Cannabidiol (CBD), howevever, is a “non-psychoactive constituent of Marijuana which exerts antiinflammatory effects independent from classical cannabinoid receptors”.

According to researchers; “Recently 80 clinical trials have been reported investigating the effects of CBD in various diseases from inflammatory bowel disease to graft-versus-host disease. CBD-based formulations are used for the management of multiple sclerosis in numerous countries, and CBD also received FDA approval for the treatment of refractory childhood epilepsy and glioblastoma multiforme.”

For the study, researchers used a “well-established mouse model of experimental autoimmune myocarditis (EAM) induced by immunization with cardiac myosin emmulsified in adjuvant resulting in T cell-mediated inflammation, cardiomyocyte cell death, fibrosis and myocardial dysfunction, we studied the potential beneficial effects of CBD.”

Researchers found that ‘Chronic treatment with CBD largely attenuated the CD3+ and CD4+ mediated inflammatory response and injury, myocardial fibrosis and cardiac dysfunction in mice.”

They conclude: “CBD may represent a promising novel treatment for management of autoimmune myocarditis and possibly other autoimmune disorders, and organ transplantation.”

The full study can be found by clicking here^[2].

– TheJointBlog

References

1. ^{^} a new study (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
2. ^{^} clicking here (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)