“During human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, alcohol has been known to induce inflammation while cannabinoids have been shown to have an anti-inflammatory role.
For instance cannabinoids have been shown to reduce susceptibility to HIV-1 infection and attenuate HIV replication in macrophages.
Recently, we demonstrated that alcohol induces cannabinoid receptors and regulates cytokine production by monocyte-derived dendritic cells (MDDC).
Our results show a differential effect of alcohol and cannabinoids, which may provide insights into the divergent inflammatory role of alcohol and cannabinoids to modulate MDDC function in the context of HIV infection.”