Table 1.

Cannabinoid Mechanisms of Immune Suppression

Targets	Mechanism of Action	In vivo	In vitro	References
PBMCs	Decreasing levels of cytokines TNF-a, IFN-y, and IL-1a. Increasing apoptosis		√	Watzl B et al57 Watzl B et al58 Nichols JM et al59 Wu HY et al.60 Jenny M et al.61
T lymphocytes	Influencing the balance of inflammatory Th17 and regulatory T-cells by inducing a regulatory phenotype. Decreasing T cell infiltration and proliferation by down-regulating IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, TNFα, IFN-γ, and IL-17 production, and IL-17A mRNA transcripts	√	√	Almogi-Hazan O et al.18 Kozela E et al.62 Jan TR et al.63 Chen W et al.64 Devinsky O et al.65 Elliott DM et al.66 Selvi E et al67 Kinsey SG et al.68 Gentili M et al.69 Malfait AM et al.70
B lymphocytes	Increasing antibody responses	√		Shapiro CM et al.71
Neutrophils	Reducing the stimulation of neutrophil degranulation, chemotaxis, and mast cell/basophil activation.		√	McHugh D et al.72 Walter L et al.73 Giudice ED et al.74 Cassol OJ Jr et al75

Note: √ Indicates the presence of either in vitro or in vivo studies, or both.

Abbreviations: PBMCs, peripheral blood mononuclear cells; TNF-α, tumour necrosis factor-alpha, IFN- γ, interferon-gamma.