Cannabis Influences the Putative Cytokines-Related Pathway of Epilepsy among Egyptian Epileptic Patients
by
Yasmeen M. Taalab 1,2
, Wessam Fathi Mohammed 3, Manar A. Helmy 1, Alyaa A.A. Othman 1, Mohamed Darwish 4, Ibrahim Hassan 5,* and Mohammed Abbas 3
Yasmeen M. Taalab 1,2, Wessam Fathi Mohammed 3, Manar A. Helmy 1, Alyaa A.A. Othman 1, Mohamed Darwish 4, Ibrahim Hassan 5,* and Mohammed Abbas 3
1
Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, El-Mansoura 35516, Egypt
2
Institute of Forensic and Traffic Medicine, University of Heidelberg, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany
3
Neurology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, El-Mansoura 35516, Egypt
4
Clinical Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Mansoura University, El-Mansoura 35516, Egypt
5
Movement and Training Science Department, Institute of Sports Sciences, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, 55128 Mainz, Germany
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Brain Sci. 2019, 9(12), 332; https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci9120332
Received: 21 October 2019 / Revised: 11 November 2019 / Accepted: 18 November 2019 / Published: 20 November 2019
(This article belongs to the Collection Collection on Clinical Neuroscience)
The study aims to investigate: (1) the prevalence of cannabis among epileptic patients seen at Mansoura University Hospital, (2) serum levels and gene expression of cytokines in epilepsy patients and the controls. and (3) the possibility that cannabis use affects the cytokine levels in epilepsy patients, triggering its future use in treatment. We recruited 440 epilepsy patients and 200 controls matched for age, gender, and ethnicity. Of the epileptic patients, 37.5% demonstrated lifetime cannabis use with a mean duration of 15 ± 73 years. Serum levels of interleukin IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), were analyzed and gene expression analysis was conducted only for those cytokines that were different between groups in the serum analysis. The “Epilepsy-only” patients had significantly higher serum and mRNA levels of IL-1α, β, IL-2,6,8, and TNF-α compared to the controls and the “Cannabis+Epilepsy” group (p = 0.0001). IL-10 showed significantly lower levels in the “Epilepsy-only” patients compared to the controls and “Cannabis+Epilepsy” (p = 0.0001). Cannabis use is prevalent among epilepsy patients. Epilepsy is characterized by a pro-inflammatory state supported by high serum and gene expression levels. Cannabis users demonstrated significantly lower levels of inflammatory cytokines compared to epilepsy non-cannabis users which might contribute to its use in the treatment of resistant epilepsy.
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Keywords:
cannabis; purified cannabidiol (CBD); tetrahydrocannabinol (THC); epilepsy; inflammatory cytokines; seizures; treatment-resistant epilepsy; anticonvulsant drugs
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Taalab, Y.M.; Fathi Mohammed, W.; Helmy, M.A.; Othman, A.A.; Darwish, M.; Hassan, I.; Abbas, M. Cannabis Influences the Putative Cytokines-Related Pathway of Epilepsy among Egyptian Epileptic Patients. Brain Sci. 2019, 9, 332.
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