Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P21554 (cannabinoid receptor)
 3,582 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

How cannabinoids influence immune function has been examined extensively in the last 30 years. Studies on drug-abusing humans and animals, as well as in vitro models employing immune cell cultures, have shown that marijuana, natural and endogenous cannabinoid compounds are immunomodulators. These substances modulate host resistance to bacterial, protozoan and viral infections as well as they can profoundly affect the Th1/Th2 response. Recently, two types of cannabinoid receptor, CB1 and CB2, have been discovered. While CB1 is expressed primarily in the brain, CB2 is peculiar of the immune cells. Cannabinoid receptors have been shown to be involved in some but not all of immune effects. Nevertheless, their identification provides a specific mechanism of action in the attempting to find out how exogenous cannabinoids and endogenous cannabinoid system affect the immune apparatus, strengthen the hypothesis of cannabinoids as immunomodulators. As support to this theory, enough evidence exists to suggest that the cannabinoid system significantly affects almost every component of the immune response machinery and impacts the functioning also of the cytokine network. The evaluation of the biological consequences of these drug-induced cytokine changes has also dramatically become important considering not only the impact of cytokines on immune system per se but also envisaging their influence in cancer, inflammation, autoimmune disease, brain injury, hematopoietic colony formation in which cannabinoids have demonstrated a clear role as important modulators.
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PMID:Cannabinoids, immune system and cytokine network. 1691 39

Immune thrombocytopenic purpura is an acquired autoimmune disorder that is the most common cause of thrombocytopenia in children. The endocannabinoid system is involved in immune regulation. We evaluated a common missense variant (CAA/CGG; Q63R) of the gene encoding the cannabinoid receptor type 2 (GeneID 1269) in 190 children with immune thrombocytopenic purpura and 600 healthy controls. The allelic frequencies and genotype distribution of the polymorphism in the patients were significant compared to control samples (P=0.006 and P=0.0001, respectively). Interestingly, when acute and chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura patients were analyzed separately with respect to controls, a significant overrepresentation of the RR genotype and of the R allele was observed only for the chronic form (P=0.00021 and P=0.011, respectively). The relative odds ratio suggested the risk of developing chronic form was more than double in immune thrombocytopenic purpura children homozygous for the variant (odds ratio=2.349, 95% CI: 1.544-3.573; P<0.001).
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PMID:CNR2 functional variant (Q63R) influences childhood immune thrombocytopenic purpura. 2214 71

Immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is a heterogeneous autoimmune disorder characterized by thrombocytopenia with or without mucocutaneous bleeding manifestations. ITP patients have significant defects in immune self-tolerance: autoreactive T-lymphocyte clones are capable of directly damaging platelets and possibly megakaryocytes and are likely to proliferate under the influence of Th lymphocytes. The CB2 receptor is thought to be the principal cannabinoid receptor that mediates immune modulation by endocannabinoid. The later has shown a complex range of immunomodulatory effects, primarily suppressive effects on leukocytes and immune functions, including modulation of Th cell development, chemotaxis and cytokine secretion. In this study, we investigated the association between cannabinoid CB2 receptor gene (CNR2) Q63R polymorphism and the susceptibility to childhood ITP in Egyptian population. CNR2 genotyping in ITP patients revealed that 41% of patients had the QR(AA/GG) heterotype and 49% had the RR(AA/AA) homotype. There was a significantly higher frequency of homomutant genotype (RR) in ITP patients than in controls, which conferred more than two-fold increased risk of ITP among Egyptian children [odds ratio (OR) 2.352, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.313-4.215]. There was a significant statistical difference in the distribution of CNR2 Q63R genotypes between chronic ITP patients group and the control groups. The homomutant genotype carried nearly three-fold increased risk for chronic ITP (OR 2.701, 95% CI 1.462-5.009). In conclusion, CNR2 Q63R polymorphism may represent a novel genetic risk factor in the pathophysiology of chronicity development of ITP in Egyptian children.
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PMID:Cannabinoid CB2 receptor gene (CNR2) polymorphism is associated with chronic childhood immune thrombocytopenia in Egypt. 2340 60