EITS Alumnus Isha Khan Investigates How CBD and THC Influence Developing Immune Cells
October 6, 2026
Dr. Isha Khan, EITS alumnus and current postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Dr. Norbert Kaminski, recently published a paper on how CBD and THC can alter the normal balance of developing immune cell precursors. Khan, along with Kaminski and lab manager Robert Crawford published, “Cannabidiol and Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol alter human hematopoiesis by enhancing B cell lineage commitment,” in the journal Toxicology.
Khan’s research interests encompass blood and immune system toxicology, and he is specifically interested in understanding how cannabinoids modulate cells of the developing human hematopoietic system. Cannabis-derived compounds such as the cannabinoids, CBD and THC, are widely being used at increasingly higher concentrations due to legalization across many states. Yet, little is known about how these compounds influence different human physiological systems, specifically the stem cells that produce blood and immune cells. Cross-sectional survey-based studies have shown that pregnant women may consume CBD-containing products at a higher rate than non-pregnant women and knowledge about potential implications for the developing immune system of newborn babies who have been exposed to the major cannabinoids through their mothers is lacking.
To understand how CBD and THC may directly affect human hematopoietic stem cells, Khan studied the effects of these compounds, at different concentrations, on differentiation of human cord-blood derived hematopoietic stem cells in the laboratory over a 28-day period. Khan and his team observed that CBD and THC altered the lineage composition of early hematopoietic progenitor cells at different stages of development. Overall, both compounds seemed to accelerate the differentiation of the stem cells towards more differentiated progenitor cells, with increases in percentage of monocytes at earlier stages and an increased number of early B cell progenitors at later stages. This study demonstrated, for the first time, that CBD and THC alter human HSPC differentiation in a largely similar manner, and also identified differential effects that each compound has on hematopoietic lineage development in vitro. These results support the need for more investigation to determine the safety of cannabis and cannabinoid product use from the perspective of immune cell development.
Khan’s next goal is to approach the problem mechanistically from multiple aspects that include the study of transcriptional and epigenetic changes and cellular signaling changes at the protein level in hematopoietic cells in the presence of the cannabinoids. Other goals include identifying the developmental stages or time-points when the precursors are the most sensitive to cannabinoids and the functional consequences for some of the observed changes. Future investigations will yield critical insights into the fundamental mechanisms of human hematopoietic stem cell differentiation. Understanding how similar compounds modulate this process may ultimately reveal significant therapeutic and commercial opportunities.