Anti-inflammatory effects of cannabidiol to modulate induced inflammation on gingival-keratinocytes.

Objectives: Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting oral tissues characterised by a destructive inflammatory process affecting tooth-supporting tissues. It can result in periodontal pocket formation, alveolar bone resorption and, eventually, tooth loss. The continuous challenge of host immune and resident cells and their virulence factors, such as lipopolysaccharide (LPS), results in enhanced and uncontrolled secretion of cytokines. Recently, cannabinoids have been discussed widely due to their therapeutic properties showing promising results in the treatment of various chronic inflammatory diseases.
To evaluate the capacity of cannabinoids CBD to influence the secretion of inflammatory mediators in telomerase-immortalized human gingival epithelial (TIGK) cells induced by lipopolysaccharides (LPS) and flagellin.
Methods: The effect of different concentrations of CBD on the viability of TIGK cells was evaluated. TIGK cells were treated with various determined non cytotoxic concentrations of CBD prior to being stimulated or not stimulated with LPS or Flagellin. The ability of CBD to modulate the release of interleukin (IL)-8 in TIGK cells was then evaluated at mRNA and protein level.
Results: The results obtained showed that CBD was cytotoxic at concentration 100 µM but not cytotoxic at concentrations below 10 µM on TIGK cells. CBD was able to modulate the expression and production of pro-inflammatory cytokine IL8 induced by LPS/flagellin; it decreased the expression of IL-8 by 325 times at mRNA and by 60-70 % at protein level.
Conclusions: The ability of CBD to determine immunomodulatory effects could provide possible therapeutic applications in the field of periodontal research.