Scientists identified protein help to survive in flu

Overview

• Post By : Kumar Jeetendra


• Source: ANI


• Date: 08 Feb,2018

Researcher from Penn State identified a protein compound while working with lung function of mice with influenza, compound named GM-CSF – a protein that modifies the immune response to the flu, may also help reduce lung inflammation and improve survival during influenza.

Researcher E. Scott Halstead said that the results suggested that the GM-CSF could be a potential therapeutic strategy for treating the flu.

“Influenza can be bad, which this flu season is kind of showing, so we're always trying to find new strategies to deal with it,” Halstead said.

He further noted, “Previous research has shown that mice with naturally higher levels of GM-CSF might be protected from the flu. But in this study, we gave the mice GM-CSF after they got the flu, which is more similar to when a patient gets sick and then you do something to help them. Even after they got the virus, it still helped”

He further noted, “Previous research has shown that mice with naturally higher levels of GM-CSF might be protected from the flu. But in this study, we gave the mice GM-CSF after they got the flu, which is more similar to when a patient gets sick and then you do something to help them. Even after they got the virus, it still helped”.

In the study, the researchers used mice born with a special gene that allows them to create GM-CSF in their lungs when given the antibiotic doxycycline. Three days after giving them influenza, the researchers gave the mice a dose of doxycycline, triggering the production of GM-CSF in the mice's lungs.

At 13 days post-infection, 90 percent of the mice with GM-CSF were still alive versus 50 percent of the mice without.

The study recently published in Journal of Respiratory Research

News Source/Credit: ANI