A new study has shown that chronic intake of THC the primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana can protect critical immune tissue in the gut from the damaging effects of HIV infection. Patricia Molina and coauthors from Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans report that chronic THC administration was associated with greater survival of T cell populations and reduced overall cell death in the gut in monkeys which is known to be a key target for simian immunodeficiency virus (HIV) replication and infection-related inflammation. 'To better treat HIV infection we need a better understanding of how it causes the
