Nasal aerosol flu treatment 'shows promise'

[tetano]

Inhaling a protein that boosts the immune system could help in the fight against flu, tests on mice suggest.

US experts found it reduced symptoms and prevented death despite "lethal" doses of flu.

Writing in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, they say the nasal aerosol treatment has "great potential".

A UK flu expert said the work could be useful in directing research, even if it was not directly transferable.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says there are three to five million cases of flu worldwide each year, and it is linked to 250,000 to 500,000 deaths annually.

Every year a vaccine is produced to act against the most commonly circulating types of flu.

But the researchers say vaccines are "variably effective", largely because of the way viruses change.

...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13157274

 

[tetano]

Re: Nasal aerosol flu treatment 'shows promise'

GM-CSF IN THE LUNG PROTECTS AGAINST LETHAL INFLUENZA INFECTION

American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine


1Fang-Fang Huang, 1Peter F. Barnes, 1Yan Feng, 2Ruben Donis, 3Zissis C. Chroneos, 3Steven
Idell, 4Timothy Allen 5Daniel R. Perez, 6Jeffrey A. Whitsett, 7Kyri Dunussi-Joannopoulos and
1,*Homayoun Shams
1 Center for Pulmonary and Infectious Disease Control, 3Center for Biomedical Research,
4Department of pathology, University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler, Texas, 2 Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, 5 VA-MD Regional College of Veterinary
Medicine, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 6 Cincinnatti Children’s Hospital,
Cincinnatti, Ohio, 7Pfizer Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts
*Corresponding author: H. Shams, UTHSCT, US Hwy 271, Tyler, TX 75708, 903-877-2837,
homayoun.shams@uthct.edu
FH, PB, and HS were involved in conception, hypotheses delineation, and design of the study.
FH, PB, YF, RD, ZC, SI, TA and HS participated in acquisition, analysis or interpretation of the
data. Transgenic mice expressing GM-CSF were designed and produced by JW. FH, YF, PB and
HS contributed to writing the article; FH, PB, YF, RD, ZC, SI, TA, DP, JW, KD and HS were
substantially involved in the revision of manuscript prior to submission.

ABSTRACT
Rationale: Alveolar macrophages contribute to host defenses against influenza in animal models.
Enhancing alveolar macrophage function may contribute to protection against influenza
Objective: To determine if increased expression of granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating
factor in the lung increases resistance to influenza
Methods: Wild-type mice and transgenic mice that expressed granulocyte macrophage-colony
stimulating factor in the lung were infected with influenza virus, and lung pathology, weight loss
and mortality were measured. We also administered granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating
factor to the lungs of wild-type mice that were infected with influenza virus.
Measurements and Main Results: Wild-type mice all died after infection with different strains
of influenza virus, but all transgenic mice expressing granulocyte-macrophage colony
stimulating factor in the lungs survived. The latter also had greatly reduced weight loss and lung
injury, and showed histologic evidence of a rapid host inflammatory response that controlled
infection. The resistance of transgenic mice to influenza was abrogated by elimination of
alveolar phagocytes, but not by depletion of T-cells, B-cells or neutrophils. Transgenic mice had
far more alveolar macrophages than wild-type mice, and they were more resistant to influenzainduced
apoptosis. Delivery of intranasal granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor to
wild-type mice also conferred resistance to influenza.
Conclusions: Granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor confers resistance to influenza
by enhancing innate immune mechanisms that depend on alveolar macrophages. Pulmonary
delivery of this cytokine has the potential to reduce the morbidity and mortality due to influenza
virus.

http://www.thoracic.org/media/press-releases/resources/shams-gm-scf.pdf