Posted on 12/15/2009, 3:35:59 PM by decimon
An international team of Canadian and Spanish scientists have found the first potential immunological clue of why some people develop severe pneumonia when infected by the pandemic H1N1 virus.
The study analyzed different levels of regulating molecules for 20 hospitalized patients, 15 outpatients and 15 control subjects in 10 Spanish hospitals during the first pandemic wave in July and August 2009. Researchers from the Hospital Clinico Universitario de Valladolid in Spain and the University Health Network found high levels of a molecule called interleukin 17 in the blood of severe H1N1 patients, and low levels in patients with the mild form of the disease.
Interleukin 17 is produced by the body and is important in the normal regulation of white blood cells which fight infection and disease. In certain circumstances, the molecule becomes "out of control", leading to inflammation and autoimmune diseases. The research paper titled, "Th1 and Th17 hypercytokinemia as early host response signature in severe pandemic influenza" is published in the December issue of the Journal of Critical Care.
"In rare cases, the virus causes lung infections requiring patients to be treated in hospital. By targeting or blocking TH17 in the future, we could potentially reduce the amount of inflammation in the lungs and speed up recovery," says Dr. David Kelvin, the leader of the Canadian team, Head of the Experimental Therapeutics Division, Toronto General Hospital Research Institute, University Health Network and Professor of Immunology, University of Toronto. Dr. Kelvin added that the clinical applications of this work is still many years away.
Dr. Kelvin did note, however, that a test to determine who has high levels of the molecule is possible in the near future. "A diagnostic test could let us know early who is at risk for the severe form of this illness quickly," he said, adding that high levels would indicate a failure of the immune system to eliminate the virus, similar to what happened during the 1918 Spanish flu when huge numbers of deaths occurred due to a deadly influenza A virus strain of subtype H1N1.
Dr. Jesus Bermejo-Martin, the coordinator of the Spanish team, thinks that identifying drugs able to regulate the activity of IL-17 may provide alternative treatments for patients with severe H1N1.
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About University Health Network:
University Health Network consists of Toronto General, Toronto Western and Princess Margaret Hospitals. The scope of research and complexity of cases at University Health Network has made it a national and international source for discovery, education and patient care. It has the largest hospital-based research program in Canada, with major research in cardiology, transplantation, infectious diseases, neurosciences, oncology, surgical innovation, and genomic medicine. The Toronto General Research Institute has more than 350 scientists, students and support staff, more than $65 million in external funding, and its staff is published in more than 600 publications a year. University Health Network is a research and teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Toronto.
very interesting article.....
The interluken17 factor is really amazng and can be essential to killing cancers etc..but this autoimmune response for H1N1 may have to be regulated when a patient is getting worse in hospital - It makes sense...fascinating
I’d have to do some checking, but I think interferons might modulate interleukins.
I must have Interleukin 17. After 4 days with H1N1 I was losing consciousness and had 102 fevers and pneumonia. And I was in great shape and perfectly healthy before the flu.
I was taking, for weeks now, either 3000 or 4000 units of D3 a day, along with all kind of other healthful vitamins and supplements.
I just learned about this Interleukin 17 now. So I will dare to say that the Vitamin D3 is not enough to save you. I hope it did help. I'm still alive! :)
GET MEDICAL HELP if you are hit by this flu, especially if you are hit hard. Don't wait 4 days like I did.
Yes. Absolutely.
I was thinking of vitamin D as a long-term 'conditioner' and not as a short-term cure.
Smokin’ Joe I pinged your list and some other freepers to a very interesting H1N1 article thread !
( First immunological clue to why some H1N1 patients get very ill or die (Interleukin 17))
Thanks Again , freeper decimon for the Head’s Up :)
The "cocktail" is a pretty broad brush. Seeing more specific detail identifying interleukin 17 as specifically implicated might allow a more targeted treatment instead of firing a broadside at the whole immune response.
Thanks, DVDMom.
I would advise great caution at this point. With the immune system, you seldom have a “good/bad” situation with any particular. Even a cursory read at the Wiki for Interleukin 17 shows that it is more appropriate to think of *them* as a “class” or “family”.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interleukin_17
Various levels of various kinds of IL-17 constantly change in response to a vast number of other interactive chemicals in the system.
While I wouldn’t expect anyone to actually read this interactive chart of biochemical pathways, it is a good indicator of the complexity of the system:
http://www.expasy.ch/cgi-bin/show_thumbnails.pl
And thanks for the tip that the vitamins and supplements aren't always enough -- I'd been kind of relying on them.
Cheers!
Brumuy, I hate to call you out, but I think you made a mistake. /sarc>
That last link is the newest version of the Senate Healthcare plan! :-)
Cheers!
Since Tylenol was making the fever go down a whole degree, and Advil wasn’t, I really didn’t use ibuprofin during the acute influenza. I didn’t know about Benedryl or I would have tried it. Actually, I should probably have gone on Tamiflu, but I thought it really only cut symptom duration by one day, plus it has a side effect of insomnia and I needed sleep! Awake was torture.
I love this new study. What our kids and grandparents will be able to do when they are sick: get a cheek swab and get targeted medicine, just for their DNA. (Unless we pass this stupid bill.)
I thought the same. I assume they made things better than they would have been otherwise. Not giving up my vities.
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