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Allergic contact dermatitis affects about 5% of men and 11%of women in industrialized countries and is one of the leadingcauses for occupational diseases. In an animal model for cutaneouscontact hypersensitivity, we show that mice lacking both knowncannabinoid receptors display exacerbated allergic inflammation.In contrast, fatty acid amide hydrolase–deficient mice,which have increased levels of the endocannabinoid anandamide,displayed reduced allergic responses in the skin. Cannabinoidreceptor antagonists exacerbated allergic inflammation, whereasreceptor agonists attenuated inflammation. These results demonstratea protective role of the endocannabinoid system in contact allergyin the skin and suggest a target for therapeutic intervention.
1 Department of Molecular Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Germany. 2 Laboratory of Experimental Dermatology, Department of Dermatology, University of Bonn, Germany. 3 Life & Brain GmbH, Bonn, Germany. 4 Endocannabinoid Research Group, Institute of Biomolecular Chemistry, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Pozzuoli (Napoli), Italy. 5 Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Bonn, Germany. 6 The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology and Departments of Cell Biology and Chemistry, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA. 7 Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Natural Products, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel. 8 Department of Pathology, University of Bonn, Germany. 9 Institute of Cell Biology, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, Zurich, Switzerland.
* These authors contributed equally to this work.
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: a.zimmer{at}uni-bonn.de (A.Z.); thomas.tueting{at}ukb.unibonn.de (T.T.)
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