Victims of the 1918 influenza housed in Camp Funston, KansasWIKIMEDIA COMMONS, US ARMY PHOTOGRAPHER
Researchers have identified a receptor that can block the flooding of immune cells into infected tissue that causes deadly bouts of the flu. The findings, published today (September 15) in Cell, could one day be used to develop treatments for people who are vulnerable to getting very sick from the flu.
“This was a hugely complex and very complete study,” said Herbert “Skip” Virgin, a viral immunologist at Washington University Medical School in St. Louis, who was not involved in the study. What’s exciting is that “there’s a specific pharmacologic inhibitor molecule that can be targeted to improve clinical outcome in influenza.” The new approach is unique, he added, because it targets the reaction of the host, rather than characteristics of the virus, which can ...
