Short-term effects of cannabinoids in patients with HIV-1 infection
- The effects of cannabis were tested in 67 HIV-1 infected patients for a short time.
- Unfortunately, the study showed rather negative results.
Use
The use of cannabinoid could potentially alter HIV RNA levels by two mechanisms: immune modulation or cannabinoid protease interaction (since both share the cytochrome P-450 pathways).
Target
Determination of short-term effects of marijuana smoking on viral load in HIV infected patients.
Metody
A randomized placebo-controlled 21-day intervention study.
Place of exploration
Bed General Clinical Research Center in San Francisco, General Hospital, San Francisco, California
Participants
67 patients with HIV-1 infection
Intervention
3.95% of the tetrahydrocannabinol marijuana cigarette, 2.5 mg dronabinol (delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol) or placebo capsule, three times daily before meals, were randomly assigned to participants.
Measurement
Levels of HIV RNA, CD4 and CD8 subset of cells and pharmacokinetic analysis of protease inhibitors.
Results
62 study participants were eligible for primary outcome (marijuana group, 20 patients, dronabinol group, 22 patients and placebo, 20 patients). The baseline HIV RNA was less than 50 copies / ml for 36 participants (58%), the cell number was 340,109 cells / l.
Adjusted for baseline variables, the estimated mean effect versus placebo on log10 viral load change from baseline to day 21 was 0.07 (95% CI, 0.30 to 0.13) for marijuana and 0.04 (Cl, 0, 20 to 0.01) 0.14) for dronabinol.
Adjusted mean changes in viral load in 2009 of marijuana and dronabinol compared to placebo were 15% (CI, 50% to 34%) and 8% (CI, 37% to 37%).
Conclusion
Smoking and oral cannabinoid use appear to be dangerous in people with HIV infection with regard to HIV RNA, CD4 and CD8 cell counts or protease inhibitor levels within 21 days.