“Because many chronic inflammatory and allergic disorders are intimately linked to excessive mast cell (MC) numbers and activation, it is clinically important to understand the physiologic mechanisms preventing excess MC accumulation/degranulation in normal human tissues.
Because endocannabinoids are increasingly recognized as neuroendocrine regulators of MC biology, we investigated how cannabinoid receptor (CB) 1 signaling affects human mucosal-type mast cells (hMMCs).
In human airway mucosa hMMC activation and maturation are subject to a potent inhibitory endocannabinoid tone through CB1 stimulation.
This invites one to target the endocannabinoid system in human airway mucosa as a novel strategy in the future management of allergic diseases.”