Taking flu by storm
Professor Tracy Hussell and her team at Imperial College London are working on a novel way of combating flu symptoms. They found that death and disease due to infection is partly caused by a rush of immune cells into the lungs, which blocks air spaces and reduces the amount of oxygen. Their new therapies decrease inflammation and so diminish this response. A new company has been set up, StormBio Inc, which is working with the team on early clinical trials.
Professor Hussell said: “Flu remains a major health concern – there have been three pandemics in the last century. We currently use vaccination and reagents that interrupt virus division to prevent infection but influenza becomes resistant to these by mutating. This is an alternative strategy that does not target the virus but reduces the host’s reaction to it. This prevents illness and death.”
European Journal of Immunology 2006; 36: 2928-2938