Chronic intestinal inflammation characterizes inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), which consist mainly of Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The exact etiology is unknown for both diseases and therapeutic attempts aimed at down-regulating intestinal inflammation use both mediator-specific and nonspecific immune suppression. These attempts cause considerable side effects. Also, IBD patients are different in their genetic background and pathology. It was previously shown that products based on marijuana (Cannabis sativa) produce beneficial effects for patients with IBD, and medical cannabis-based products were formerly proven to have anti-inflammatory activity in laboratory experiments and in clinical tests. However, it is unknown how C. sativa-based medical products exert their effect in IBD and additional research and development should be done. One issue to be resolved in the process of medicalization of C. sativa is the base for the differences in patient response to different C. sativa lines, in order to fine-tune C. sativa -based treatment to IBD patients.
For this aim of fine-tuning C. sativa -based treatment to IBD patients, we characterized the chemical composition of different C. sativa lines and their anti-inflammatory activities on colon cells lines. Extracts of C. sativa lines were prepared using various methods and cannabinoids and terpenoids profile was determined by chemical analysis. We found that different compounds have different effects on inflamed colon cell lines, leading to changes in interleukin secretion, inflammation markers and gene expression in the treated colon cells. In addition, we have developed a unique system relevant for personalized medicine in IBD. This system allows a patient-specific determination of the effect of C. sativa -based treatment. Following, clinical tests will be conducted aiming to develop cannabis-based products from different C. sativa lines, with anti-inflammatory activity that is effective and optimized for the different IBD patients.