12 ms·
Cannabinoids Block Cellular Entry of SARS-CoV-2 and the Emerging Variants
- fer 5y agoYesterday's discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29901799 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29901799
- zbjornson 5y agoThey're showing inhibition at 100 ug/ml, but it looks like high doses result in serum CBDA concentrations in the low 100s of ng/ml [1]. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7498943/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7498943/
- bitxbitxbitcoin 5y agoNote that they are talking about CBGa and CBDa. While these are present in whole flower and some concentrates, heating it up for vaporization or combustion leads to decarboxylation meaning you’ll be ingesting CBD and CBG. Can’t wait for more research. Anyone wanting to act on this should go for non baked edibles such as tinctures. Since 2018, a lot of these products are actually legally available online in most of the States. Check the Certificate of Authenticity to see the tested levels of CBDa and CBGa.
- cannaceo 5y agoYou need to consume CBD crude oil as an edible here. You won’t find CBG crude in any commercial products. CBG is almost exclusively converted to isolate or distillate prior to sale.
- CheatModeON 5y agoNow South Park makes sense.
- jonnycomputer 5y agoI did't know anything about the journal. I must admit, that something titled "Journal of Natural Products" didn't inspire much confidence. But it does look like it has been around for quite a long while, and has a respectable impact factor for a specialized journal too.
- cstross 5y agoIt's a pharmacognosy journal: not crank/fringe at all. (Pharmacognosy is the study of drugs of natural origin -- about half our small molecule pharmaceuticals are either extracted from or synthetic but based on modifications of drugs of botanic origin.)
- RC_ITR 5y agoClassic example of scientific terms overlapping with common terms and confusing the hell out of lay people. People hate when scientists use jargon (often with good reason), but how many times will I have to listen to the 'all food is organic, it was once alive' joke?
- gpcr1949 5y agoJournal of Natural Products is a great journal when it comes to natural products, for example when you elucidate the structure of a complex novel natural product this is a good journal to publish it in (alternatives being eg organic letters). I follow natural products chemistry and together with nat prod rep this is one of the journals where I will make sure to not miss any abstract, this is a top of the line journal in it;s niche. However in natural products chemistry there is the tendency to inflate the importance of measured biological activity, often you will see it reported this or that new compound is cytotoxic against some random cancer cell line but when you read the fine print the compounds are weak and/or not selective. Often this later can prove as the justification of a total synthesis attempt or as the starting point for optimization into an actually potent drug (which does not succeed that often).
- sonofhans 5y agoThis reminds me of William S Burrough’s “Cities of the Red Night,” in which a deadly plague appears suddenly. The character Dr. Pierson is a heroin addict, and helps discover that heroin is prophylactic against the fever: “A top government official bluntly warned: ‘Virus B-23 now loose in our overcrowded cities, is an agent that produces biologic changes in those affected – fatal in many cases, permanent and hereditary in those who survive and become carriers for that strain, which as a matter of survival they will spread as far and fast as possible to destroy enemies and quite literally make friends.’ Junkies, however, are only lightly affected by the virus and remain characteristically unchanged. … “He recovers in the fear because of his addiction, and the word went out that the junk was the only insurance against the fever. No stemming the black market the Government concedes and legalises. Now begins a deadly war to extermination between the junkies and the fever-freaks.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cities_of_the_Red_Night https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cities_of_the_Red_Night
- mrmikardo 5y agoThank you for remdinding me of this fantastic book! One of my favourites.
- sonofhans 5y agoThen you’ll love this — https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOa8I7vJJec https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOa8I7vJJec I first heard it in this collection, which I bought 20+ years ago — https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/721207 https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/721207. I can’t recommend it enough; Burroughs is fantastic at reading his own work, even blind drunk as he clearly was in some of these recordings.
- loeg 5y agoSimilarly, Fiend by Stenson. Meth prevents zombification but introduces plenty of other disfunction.
- propagadnadz 5y ago
- fghorow 5y agoI sense a new startup opportunity: Pizza-as-a-Service.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- hammock 5y agoToo many "promising" studies like cannabis, vitamin D, chloroquine, ivermectin, etc have been later fact-checked by the CDC as bad science, to rely on anything but the CDC's word (or Fauci). Until the CDC says so I won't believe it. Right now it seems like mass vaccination is our only way out of this pandemic and back to normal.
- MikeKusold 5y agoThe American Chemical Society is a pretty reputable source.
- mikeyouse 5y agoEdit: Thanks jinto36 -- I was wrong on JNP -- ACS is actually a co-publisher. More to the point -- the dose always seems to be the issue -- no affect until you're past 10 micrograms/mL (https://pubs.acs.org/na101/home/literatum/publisher/achs/journals/content/jnprdf/0/jnprdf.ahead-of-print/acs.jnatprod.1c00946/20220112/images/large/np1c00946_0003.jpeg https://pubs.acs.org/na101/home/literatum/publisher/achs/jou...) but that's hundreds of times higher concentration than almost any available method of consuming CBD (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2018.01365/full https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2018.0136...). Doesn't seem too useful unfortunately. Original Comment started with this: Its just a link on the ACS website -- it was actually published in the Journal of Natural Products.
- jinto36 5y agoACS is the parent/publisher of the journal.
- tradesurplus 5y agoEvaluate the methodology first, then the authors, then the publication source; scoring accordingly.
- aaomidi 5y agoI would not listen to a federal govt source's opinions on weed, tbh.
- mountainriver 5y agoTotally anecdotal but my girlfriend and I recently went to wedding and even with pre testing and everyone vaccinated, a lot of people got Covid. I was super high that night (as most nights) and walked away unscathed. Obviously this could be due to a lot of things but that hasn’t stopped me from rubbing it in all my friends faces. It’s been of the few times in my life where my weed habit looks smart, and I’m loving every minute of it.
- cbsks 5y agoA year ago my wife got Covid. She isolated in our bedroom and I was quarantined in the rest of the house. I spent my time getting high and watching movies. I took multiple PCR tests and an antibody test and they were all negative. > It’s been of the few times in my life where my weed habit looks smart, and I’m loving every minute of it. Indeed :)
- selectodude 5y agoThere were some early studies that showed that nicotine had a higher affinity for ACE2 than SARS-CoV-2 and that smokers had a lower risk of catching covid. I told everybody that while ripping my camels.
- pille 5y agoWorth repeating that this study was retracted. Authors failed to disclose a conflict of interest in their funding from the tobacco industry: https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/57/3/2002144 https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/57/3/2002144
- selectodude 5y agoIn fairness, the study was retracted not due to the data but because "The European Respiratory Society, as a leading medical organisation in the respiratory field whose mission is to promote lung health and alleviate suffering from respiratory disease, has bylaws in place that do not permit individuals with ongoing relationships with the tobacco industry to participate in its activities" and in other situations, "The journal editors acknowledge that COPE (Committee on Publication Ethics) guidelines state that failure to disclose a potential conflict of interest is not normally sufficient grounds for retraction of a published article." I understand the journal's actions but I'd hesitate to say the study is wrong or has been retracted for anything beyond politics.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- AzzieElbab 5y agoOh yeah? Why are there any infections at all in British Columbia?
- tradesurplus 5y agoBecause Bonnie Henry more than make up for any pre-existing cultural countermeasures like weed smoking prevalence.
- onychomys 5y agoObligatory XKCD: https://xkcd.com/1217/ https://xkcd.com/1217/
- jacquesm 5y ago> Obligatory XKCD It isn't.
- tradesurplus 5y agoOff-target XKCD
- steve76 5y ago
- stadium 5y ago"Our infection inhibition assay results clearly indicate that CBDA and CBGA are both able to block cell entry by SARS-CoV-2. The concentrations needed to block infection by 50% of viruses is high but might be clinically achievable. For example, CBDA administered orally to human volunteers at 0.063 mg/kg showed greater bioavailability than CBD and produced maximum plasma concentrations of 0.21 μM. (32) In beagle dogs, oral administration of CBDA at 1 mg/kg was well tolerated, was 2-fold more bioavailable than CBD, and produced serum levels up to 1.42 μM. (41) Although no data on the bioavailability of CBGA are yet available, the data for CBDA suggest that μM plasma and serum concentrations for CBGA should also be possible."
- oxymoran 5y agoAnecdote: Wife has had very mild covid for 5-6 days now. Been sharing a bong with her and I have no symptoms. I smoke much more than she does. She is boosted. I stopped after the second dose. Also, I heard somewhere, and I forget where now, that hot smoke could play a role in this, but this study seemed to indicate it was orally bioactive as well. I would assume the in-vivo test wasn’t blowing hot smoke in a test tube but rather bathing in a cannabinoid solution?
- edmundsauto 5y agoAs another comment mentioned, this was with non carboxylated cannabinoids. If you’re smoking the leaves then it doesn’t really apply to you.
- somesortofsystm 5y agoNot all cannabinoids in the smoke are carboxylated, or at least lets agree that the efficiency of your average conversion is not 100%. Some degree of non-carboxylated cannabinoids can ride those particles too .. for example at the beginning of a joint, the smoke is being drawn through THC fields which have not yet been burned, but may be dislodged and part of the draw as the heated substrate is pulled into the lungs ..
- edmundsauto 5y agoAgreed, there may be some applicability of this study on smokers (albeit at a reduced effect size). Worth betting on it being protective? Or just a rationalization?
- somesortofsystm 5y agoI don't know if its protective or not, but I do believe its worth finding out. Wouldn't it be strange if, indeed, weed was the answer to everything.
- tedivm 5y agoIt's important to note that the chemicals they tested with were the cannabinoid acids (CBDA, THCA). When smoking or cooking those acids are converted via decarboxylation. These final chemicals were not part of this study. In other words, this study only tested people eating raw uncooked cannabis. It does not tell you much about whether any benefits will be provided to your average smoker.
- stadium 5y agoTinctures are an option too. And a lot of edibles like chocolates and gummies wouldn't hit decarboxylation temp. https://wayofleaf.com/education/decarboxylation https://wayofleaf.com/education/decarboxylation
- ac29 5y agoAs your article mentions, decarboxylation is a required step for cannabis extracts to have any psychoactive effects. So, presumably commercially marketed edibles are decarboxylated.
- radlad 5y agoI've always been a little fuzzy on this and would love for someone else to chime in. It's my understanding that raw marijuana contains both psychoactive cannabinoids as well as precursors which require decarboxylation. If that's the case, I am not sure that decarboxylation is _required_ - however it is recommended as it increases the _amount_ of bioavailable cannabinoids (i.e. best bang for your buck.)
- hunterb123 5y agoIt's unlikely for cannabinoids other than THC to bind to the CB1 receptor strong enough to cause the psychoactive effect. Only THC binds very well to the CB1 receptor. THCA does not bind well to either receptor. Cannabinoids that bind to CB2 receptors in the immune and gastrointestinal systems affect inflammatory and immune responses.
- 5y ago
- xer0x 5y agoI've been ignoring the weed freaks spouting off about this. Great to see they were talking about something sorta science based at least.
- smm11 5y agoIt might be even simpler - reducing inflammation lessens the effects of Covid.
- aleksandarbos 5y agoXmas special [1] [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6-shclv2wE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r6-shclv2wE
- tommek4077 5y agoToo much to read dude, should I get stoned now or not?
- knuthsat 5y agoAny idea if amount of cannabinoids produced by our own body is high enough?
- sAbakumoff 5y agoGood idea. Right-wing lunatics, QAnaon believers, anti-vax crusaders should get high and fcking relax already.
- doingtheiroming 5y agoSurprisingly high number of happily married stoners in here.
- Tostino 5y agoHelps when it's destigmatized/decriminalized a bit.
- zach_garwood 5y ago> Surprisingly high ;)
- drno123 5y agoCannabis mandates now!
- lgats 5y agosee also, Cannabidiol Inhibits SARS-CoV-2 Replication and Promotes the Host Innate Immune Response Preprint. 2021 Mar 10. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7987002/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7987002/
- trenchgun 5y agohttps://xkcd.com/1217/ https://xkcd.com/1217/
- gpcr1949 5y agoThe IC50(reported as 24 μg/mL for CBDA against wild type in the live virus assay or 76 μM in more typical units) is far too high to have a relevant effect, you would probably have to use infeasibly large amounts of hemp products (orders of magnitude higher ones). I would not count on cannabinoids to help with preventing or treating sars-cov-2 infections. I expect some pushback against this result in a few days.
- mettamage 5y agoNote that [1] > Even when smoked, THCA-A is only partially transformed to THC. The conversion rates during smoking range from a maximum of 70% under optimized analytical conditions (temperatures higher than 140°C) to simulated smoking processes, where only 30% of the spiked THCA-A was recovered as THC. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5549534/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5549534/