(P23-008-23) Cannabis Use Is Associated With Reduced Inflammatory Biomarker IL-8 in People Living With HIV (PLWH) From the Miami Adult Studies on HIV Cohort

Objectives: People living with HIV (PLWH) have persistently elevated levels of inflammatory markers, even with antiretroviral suppression, associated with adverse clinical outcomes. PLWH are 2-3 times more likely to use cannabis than people living without HIV. While the literature shows that cannabis has anti-inflammatory properties, the mechanisms of action have been controversial. We investigated the association between the use of cannabis among PLWH in the Miami Adult Studies on HIV (MASH) cohort and the inflammatory interleukins.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 236 participants from the ongoing MASH cohort. Self-reported cannabis use was confirmed via urine drug urinalysis (American Bio Medica Corp, Kinderhook, NY). HIV seropositivity, HIV viral load (VL, copies/mL), and CD4⁺ count (cells/mL) were abstracted from medical records. Participants were selected if they used cannabis only or did not use any illicit drugs. Informed consent and all data were collected by trained personnel. Interleukins were determined with a bead-based Luminex immunoassay (EMD Millipore, Burlington, MA). SPSS 26 was used to conduct descriptive statistics, and linear and logistic regression examined the association between interleukins among cannabis using and non-using groups.

Results: Participants were 55.1% male, 60.2% non-Hispanic Black, and mean age of 53.5 ± 8.0 years. Virally suppressed participants accounted for 86.4% of the sample, and 36.4% of the study population were cannabis users. There was no significant difference in CD4⁺ cell count and VL between cannabis users and non-users (p >0.05). Cannabis users had significantly lower levels of the inflammatory interleukin IL-8 compared to non-users (13.0 ± 15.0; 22.1 ± 32.8, respectively; p< 0.01). Cannabis use was associated with lower IL-8 levels after adjusting for age, sex, race, ethnicity, and BMI (β= -9.3 SE= 4.3, p=0.03). No other interleukins were significantly different between cannabis users and non-users.

Conclusions: Cannabis users had significantly lower IL-8 levels compared to non-users, and cannabis use was associated with lower IL-8. Adverse effects of cannabis on VL and CD4⁺ count were reported previously, but were not evident in this study. Research is needed to further explore the potential beneficial effects of cannabis on inflammation.

Funding Sources: National Institute on Drug Abuse