Intraperitoneal delivery of cannabidiol (CBD) and Δ 9 -tetrahydocannabinol (THC) promotes papillomavirus infections in athymic nude mice

• Published in: Tumour virus research 2024-12, p.200307
• Main Authors: Brendle, Sarah A, Li, Jingwei, Sun, Dongxiao, Zhu, Junjia, Henderson-Redmond, Angela N, Morgan, Daniel J, Balogh, Karla K, Covington, Danielle, Shearer, Debra A, Hu, Jiafen
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2666-6790

We used our mouse papillomavirus (MmuPV1) model to test the hypothesis that two primary psychoactive ingredients of marijuana, Δ -tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), promote papillomavirus persistence in the oral mucosa of infected mice. We conducted intraperitoneal (ip) injections of a moderate dose (3 mg/kg) of either CBD and/or THC in both male and female athymic nude mice and followed the mice up to 20 weeks post-infection. These doses are comparable to what is estimated for human conventional cannabis consumption. All mice were infected with MmuPV1 in the oral cavity at week 4 post-ip delivery of CBD, THC, or a combination of THC and CBD (T+C). THC and CBD were detected in the blood of treated mice for up to 72 hours after ip injection. Significantly higher levels of viral DNA were detected in males from both CBD and T+C-treated groups compared to those in the control group at 9- 10-and 12-weeks post infection. A marginally increased viral RNA was also detected in the infected tongues of males in all tested groups compared to that in males in the vehicle control group; the opposite was observed in females. We detected significantly higher levels of dermal dendritic cells (CD205 CD11c ), granulocytes (Ly6G ), but macrophages (F4-80+) recruited to the infected tongues of CBD-treated females. Our findings suggest that CBD may play a role in promoting MmuPV1 persistence in the oral cavity.