The Endocannabinoid System in Local and Systemic Inflammation

This book focuses on the role of the endocannabinoid system in local and systemic inflammation, with individual chapters written by experts in the field of cannabinoid research and medicine. The topics explore the actions of the endocannabinoid system on the immune system, including neuroinflammation in autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis, and in neurodegenerative disorders such as Huntington's and Alzheimer's, as well as local and systemic inflammatory conditions affecting organs including the eye (uveitis and corneal inflammation), the bladder (interstitial cystitis), pancreas (diabetes), cardiovascular system (stroke), joints (arthritis), and sepsis. The objective of this book is to provide knowledge transfer on the use of cannabinoids in inflammatory disease by critically examining preclinical and clinical research on the immunomodulatory actions of the endocannabinoid system, with specific emphasis on the actions of cannabinoids in diseases where inflammation is a prominent component. By drawing these results together, we seek to provide further understanding of the complexities of endocannabinoid system modulation of immune function and identify potential uses and limitations for cannabinoid-based therapeutics.

Melanie E.M. Kelly, Ph.D., is Professor of Pharmacology, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, and Anesthesia, Perioperative Medicine and Pain Management at Dalhousie University. Professor Kelly received her B.Sc. (Hons) in Physiology and Pharmacology from Southampton University, UK, in 1981 and, in 1984, completed a Ph.D. in Neurophysiology at Southampton University. Professor Kelly's research is in molecular and translational pharmacology, with expertise in G protein coupled receptors and ocular and vascular pharmacology. During the last decade, her research has centered on the pharmacology of the endocannabinoid system. Her laboratory, together with collaborators, has published ground breaking research on the role of the endocannabinoid system in ocular disease and the therapeutic potential of cannabinoid-based drugs. Professor Kelly is actively engaged in bench to bedside research to identify novel drug targets and bring new cannabinoid-based medications to the clinic to treat human disease. She has published over 120 scientific peer-reviewed papers, reviews, book chapters, and books, and is an inventor on patents to use cannabinoid-based drugs to treat inflammatory disease and neuropathic pain. Professor Kelly's research is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the National Institutes of Health, USA. Professor Kelly is also one of the founders of a Nova Scotia-based biopharmaceutical company that is developing phytocannabinoid therapies to treat human inflammation and chronic pain and she is on the Executive Board of the Canadian Consortium for the Investigation of Cannabinoids (CCIC). She is a licensed National Pro-rally Codriver and enjoys running and hiking the beautiful Nova Scotia Coast.

Dr. Christian Lehmann is Professor of Anesthesia, Pharmacology, Microbiology and Immunology, and Physiology and Biophysics at Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada. He is also Staff Anesthesiologist in the Department of Anesthesia, Nova Scotia Health Authority, Halifax. Dr. Lehmann has 25 years of experience in experimental and clinical inflammation research. He established experimental intravital imaging laboratories in Berlin and Greifswald, Germany. His focus of research is the microcirculation, i.e., capillary blood flow, cell-cell-interactions, and endothelial pathology. He participated in diverse German and international clinical multicenter trials, e.g., in sepsis. He joined Dalhousie University in 2007 and currently supervises research in three laboratories with modern equipment to study the microcirculation under various conditions experimentally and clinically. He is the author of more than 150 original publications, 13 book chapters and almost 200 published abstracts. He is a member of the Dalhousie Inflammation Group (DIG), the Microcirculation Diagnostics and Applied Studies (MiDAS) research group and the Cystic Fibrosis Translational Research (CFTR) group. In 2009, he founded the RESIST (Research in the Endocannabinoid System in Inflammation, Sepsis and Trauma) group with Dr. Melanie Kelly and others at Dalhousie University.

Dr. Juan Zhou is Associate Professor of Anaesthesia, Pain Management, and Perioperative Medicine at Dalhousie University. She received her M.D. from Xian Medical University in 1986, and practiced as an ophthalmologist at the Shaanxi Provincial Hospital in China. After moving to Canada, Dr. Zhou obtained her M.Sc. in Biology in 1993 and her Ph.D. in Immunology in 2001 from Dalhousie University. Dr. Zhou's principal research interests are in immunomodulation in transplantation tolerance and inflammation. Her current research focus is investigating the role of the endocannabinoid system in inflammatory disorders including experimental sepsis, central nerve system injury-induced immunosuppression, and interstitial cystitis. Dr. Zhou has over 60 peer-reviewed scientific journal publications, books, and book chapters. She is an avid badminton player, and she enjoys canoeing through the lakes of Nova Scotia.