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Cannabis Campaigners' Guide News Database result:
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UK: Cannabis hope for bowel disease
Sam Lister, Health Correspondent The Times
Monday 01 Aug 2005 CANNABIS-BASED drugs could be used to treat thousands of patients suffering from inflammatory bowel disease in the future, researchers say. Medicines derived from the Class C drug have already been developed for the treatment of multiple sclerosis in Canada, although they have yet to be licensed in Britain. Now researchers have turned their attention to how cannabis could be used to treat conditions such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, which affect between 90,000 and 180,000 people in Britain. Both are bowel conditions which cause the immune system to go into overdrive, producing inflammation in different parts of the gastrointestinal tract. This causes pain, diarrhoea, severe tiredness and weight loss. The conditions are most commonly diagnosed in people aged 15 to 25. A team from the University of Bath and the Royal United Hospital in Bath say that cannabis-based drugs may help to heal the lining of the gut. The researchers, writing in the journal Gastroenterology, said that patients with inflammatory bowel disease who were also cannabis users often reported that their symptoms improved after using the drug. This suggested that the gut was able to respond to some of the molecules found in cannabis. The researchers looked at the interaction of cannabis with specific molecules, known as receptors, found on the surface of cells in the gut. They looked at gut samples from both healthy people and IBD patients, focussing on two receptors called CB1 and CB2, which are known to be activated by the presence of molecules found in cannabis. The researchers found that while CB1 was present in healthy people, the presence of CB2 increased in IBD patients as their disease progressed. They said that they believed that the presence of the CB2 receptor only during disease may be linked to its known role in the suppression of the immune system. This means it is part of the body's natural mechanisms that attempt to restore the normal healthy state of the gut. If this is the case, the receptor is an ideal candidate for the development of new cannabis-derived drugs. The researchers also found that CB1 helped to promote wound healing in the lining of the gut. Dr Karen Wright, from the university's Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, said: "This gives us the first evidence that very selective cannabis-derived treatments may be useful as future therapeutic strategies in the treatment of Crohn's and ulcerative colitis. "This is because some extracts from cannabis, known as cannabinoids, closely resemble molecules that occur naturally in our body, and by developing treatments that target this system, we can help the body recover from some of the effects of these diseases." Dr Wright said that while research showed that cannabis use may have some benefits for patients with IBD, the effect of the drug on the brain and the legal implications linked with herbal cannabis made it unsuitable for treatment. She said: "Targeting drug development to components of the in-built cannabinoid system could be the way forward." -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.10.1/64 - Release Date: 04/08/2005
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