A study from Oregon State University in the United States revealed that acids from the cannabis plant could help keep the virus that causes Covid-19 from entering human cells.
The scientific work was published in the Journal of Natural Products, where it is mentioned that “as a complement to vaccines, small-molecule therapeutic agents are needed to treat or prevent infections by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its variants, causing Covid-19”.
And it is that according to the study, cannabinoids block the cellular entry of SARS-CoV-2 and emerging variants. As a complement to vaccines, they point out, small-molecule therapeutic agents are needed to treat or prevent infections by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and its variants, which cause Covid-19.
Avoiding entry into the cell
“Cannabinoid acids from hemp (Cannabis sativa) were found to be allosteric and orthosteric ligands with micromolar affinity for the spike protein. In follow-up virus neutralization assays, cannabigerolic acid and cannabidiolic acid prevented infection of human epithelial cells by a pseudovirus expressing the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 and prevented entry of live SARS-CoV-2 into cells”.
The study highlights that cannabigerolic acid and cannabidiolic acid were equally effective against the alpha variant B.1.1.7 of SARS-CoV-2 and the beta variant B.1.351.
Orally bioavailable and with a long history of safe human use, these cannabinoids, isolated or in hemp extracts, have the potential to prevent and treat SARS-CoV-2 infection.
