“In SIV-infected macaques, chronic administration of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), inhibited viral replication, intestinal inflammation and slowed disease progression.

Persistent gastrointestinal disease/inflammation has been proposed to facilitate microbial translocation, systemic immune activation and promote disease progression. Cannabinoids including Δ9-THC attenuated intestinal inflammation in mouse colitis models and SIV-infected rhesus macaques…

Gastrointestinal tract (GI) disease/inflammation is a hallmark of HIV/SIV infection. Previously, we showed that chronic treatment of SIV-infected macaques with Δ9 tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) increased survival and decreased viral replication and infection induced gastrointestinal inflammation.

Here, we show that chronic THC administration to SIV-infected macaques induced an anti-inflammatory microRNA expression profile…

Overall, our results show that selective upregulation of anti-inflammatory miRNA expression, contributes to THC-mediated suppression of gastrointestinal inflammation and maintenance of intestinal homeostasis.”