Cannabis Compound Inhibits COVID-19 Replication in Human Lung Cells, Study Says

In a peer-reviewed study, the CBD compound in cannabis was found to stop the replication of COVID-19 in lung epithelial cells, suggesting that plant medicine has another amazing quality.

Additionally, observational data from patients who were taking CBD before being tested for the coronavirus showed that its use was associated with a significantly lower incidence rate of infection than those not taking CBD.

Measured together with its metabolite 7-OH-CBD, cannabidiol (CBD) inhibited the expression of certain genes within viral cells and reversed the changes in gene expression within lung cells resulting from the presence of COVID-19; in other words, it had a protective and therapeutic role.

It was also found to block the expression of viral RNA, including encoding the spike protein, the tool with which the virus enters our cells.

Another crucial finding was that CBD “effectively reversed”The triggering of a hyper-inflammatory response, the so-called“ cytokine storm ”caused by the presence of the virus, restores the cells not to a previous level of inflation, but to a state as if the cells had been treated with CBD alone.

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Cytokine storm is one of the leading causes of death as a result of a COVID-19 infection.

A variety of other cannabinoids were also tested, but at the end of the trial it was found that only CBD had any effect on COVID-19 infected cells.

“We advocate carefully designed placebo-controlled clinical trials with known concentrations and highly characterized formulations to define the role of CBD in the prevention and treatment of early SARS-CoV-2 infection,” the authors recommend.

A preprint of the study is available In the diary Bio RXIV while undergoing peer review.

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CBD is legally available, in various forms and in various forms, in Alaska, Maine, Colorado, California, Washington State, Oregon, Massachusetts, Vermont, Michigan, Nevada, and the District of Columbia.

Featured Image: Martin Vincente, CC license

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