Support Medical Research on Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

Support Dr Karen Wright's research on the actions of non-psychoactive cannabis extract Cannabidiol, on inflammatory processes of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases

The Problem

Medical research

When people have Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis - collectively known as inflammatory bowel disease or IBD - their immune system goes into overdrive, producing inflammation in different areas of the digestive tract. This causes symptoms such as pain and urgent diarrhoea. The causes of IBD are complex and remain unclear. It is thought that faulty recognition and processing of normal gut microbial species, coupled with increased gut "leakiness, contributes to the initiation and maintenance of gut inflammation seen in IBD.

Treatments are not always successful and there is currently no cure. Sufferers have long-term cycles of relapse and remission, with the pain, discomfort and inconvenience of symptoms making their everyday lives difficult. Unfortunately, the very nature of the disease makes it difficult to talk about.

There is increasing evidence that cannabis-derived treatments may be useful as future therapeutic strategies in the treatment of Crohn's and ulcerative colitis. As Dr Wright says, "This is because some extracts from cannabis, known as cannabinoids, closely resemble molecules that occur naturally in our body, and by developing treatments that target this system, we may help the body recover from some of the effects of these diseases."
Unfortunately the psychoactive effects and the legal implications associated with herbal cannabis use make it unsuitable as a treatment. However, it might be possible to make a synthetic cannabis-like drug that has all of the therapeutic benefits and none of the other actions of cannabis or to test whether non-psychoactive cannabis components, such as cannabidiol, have potential therapeutic effects.

The Question

Can the medicinal use of Cannabidiol be proven to be a viable option for the treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases?

The Principal Researcher

Dr Karen Wright

Dr Karen Wright is the Principal Investigator of this research programme, based in the School of Health and Medicine, Division of Biomedical and Life Sciences (BLS) at Lancaster University. Dr Wright has experience in cellular and molecular biology, particularly related to gut inflammatory processes.
"The use of human gut tissue in my research is tremendously valuable in understanding our biology in health and disease. This research programme will focus on the functional outcomes of the non-psychoactive Cannabis-derived compound, cannabidiol, as well as synthetic and naturally-occurring cannabinoid molecules on human gut cells and tissue. This means that experiments will be undertaken to determine the impact of these compounds on inflammatory processes that are thought to be involved in these chronic diseases."
Details about specific projects currently ongoing in the lab can be found on her research pages.

Twitter |

The Research

Medical research

Here at Lancaster University, we are developing a gut model that utilises human cells and tissue (unlike the sterile gut models currently in use) to better reproduce the environment within the human intestines. Using this model, cannabidiol (and other cannabinoids) will be tested for their ability to modify how gut cells work.

"For this project, I am particularly interested in confirming earlier evidence for the role of cannabidiol in normalising gut 'leakiness' to normal microbes resident in the gut, under inflammatory conditions. In this way, it is hoped that significant preclinical evidence can be completed to justify the start of human trials of cannabidiol for the treatment and management of IBD".

We are engaged in all stages of the research process:

conducting basic research on gut biology to identify new targets for understanding disease;
developing better models of intestinal tissue culture that will mimic more accurately the gut environment;
and undertaking pre-clinical studies to confirm the potential of cannabinoids as medicines in intestinal diseases.

This research relies heavily on the generosity of patients who donate intestinal tissue removed during routine surgeries or diagnostic procedures; plus physicians, surgeons and pathologists at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary.

How you can help

Tissue donations
The use of human tissue for research purposes is essential for targeted drug development. Obtaining ethically approved human tissue for research purposes requires NHS collaboration and patients' consent. Blood as well as intestinal tissue taken during surgery and routine diagnostic procedures can be used for research.

Please ask your doctor whether any research projects are taking place either locally or nationally and tell your GP and/or hospital doctor if you are willing to give your consent for any tissue or blood taken during a routine diagnostic procedure to be used for research. This adds impetus to the routine procurement of tissue and blood within the NHS for research purposes and raises awareness of this important issue.
Financial donations
Research costs money, but even modest amounts can make a big difference to our research. For example, £5 pays for the gases required to maintain tissue cultures for 2 months, £10 pays for a bottle of medium that keeps tissues alive and £100 pays for the inflammatory proteins needed to mimic the inflammatory setting. Bigger contributions such as £300 pays for a kit (100 tests) that can detect inflammatory mediators secreted by tissues or £1000 pays for a kit (1000 tests) that quantifies changes in gene expression during tissue treatments.

Financial donations contributing to the direct costs of this research project may qualify for Government-matched funding in addition to GiftAid (if you are a UK taxpayer), increasing your donation by up to 127% at no extra cost to you.

Thank you for your interest and consideration. These contributions will be acknowledged in any publication and, if you would like to find out how this research is progressing, please sign up to the newsletter.
Please direct any further queries you may have in the first instance to Christine Parker.