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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | Next >> "Memory" T-cells are a subset of T lymphocytes. They are "good" in that they can fight off an invading virus, but "bad" because they can also contribute to a hyperactive immune system that can lead to more illness and even death.
When a person becomes infected with a flu virus, the immune system dispatches these white blood cells to the lungs to get rid of the virus. But, if the cells don't know when to stop, they can cause tissue damage in the lungs, pneumonia and even death, Farber said.
"About half of your T-cells are memory T-cells. They persist and remember that you've seen a pathogen," she explained. "A response [to infection with the influenza virus] is likely to include some contribution of memory T-cells."
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"With a lot of influenza, especially these pandemic strains, what really makes you sick and causes pneumonia is your immune response," Farber added.
The researchers injected mice with memory T-cells that had been programmed to react to an H1N1 strain of influenza A virus (the same "subtype" as the currently circulating swine flu) and then infected them with either a sub-lethal or lethal dose of the actual virus. In addition, at the start of infection, before the mice actually fell ill, half were given Orencia while the remaining half were left untreated.
In both sets of mice, those that had received Orencia cleared the virus quicker, got less sick and recovered faster than mice in the control group. The drug also tempered the immune response of the memory T-cells, the researchers found.
"It didn't dampen the immune response so much that it wasn't able to get rid of the virus but it tempered down the immune response," Farber said. "The mice didn't get as sick, they recovered a lot better and the lungs looked a lot healthier."
Orencia and similar drugs would have the added advantage of being effective against different strains of the flu virus because they're targeting the immune system, not the virus. The annual vaccine, on the other hand, is only effective against specific viral strains, the researchers said.
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