Foreign
RESEARCHERS in Australia have identified a way to improve the immune response in the face of severe viral infections.
A team from the Peter Doherty Institute of Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute) led by University of Melbourne’s Dr Sarah Gabriel, Dr Daniel Utzschneider and Prof. Axel Kallies also identified why immune exhaustion occurs and how this may be overcome.
The research, revealed by the institute explained that immune “exhaustion’’ is a process whereby viral infections and cancer cause impairments to the immune system, including impairments of T cells which are a part of the immune system.
The report also demonstrated that the preservation of cellular metabolism allows Tpex cells to retain long-term functionality to sustain T cell responses during chronic infection,Overcoming exhaustion and make T cells better is at the heart of immunotherapy.
The team had previously identified that while some T cells lost their function and became exhausted within days, but Tpex cells were able to maintain their function for a long period of time.
Researchers said that they found that activity of mTOR, a nutrient sensor that coordinates cellular energy production and expenditure, is reduced in Tpex cells compared to those which were becoming exhausted.
They explained that this means Tpex cells were able to dampen their activity so they could remain functional longer; it’s like going slower to have the endurance to run a marathon instead of a sprint at full speed.
Dr Utzschneider, one of the lead researchers of the team, stressed that flicking this switch to the immune system is a balancing act.
“You don’t want to dampen the response too much to the point the response becomes ineffective, you don’t want to be left walking the race,’’ Utzschneider said.
Researchers also said they were able to use this discovery to improve the immune response to severe viral infection.
“When we treated mice with an mTOR inhibitor early, this resulted in a better immune response later during the infection,’’ Dr Sarah Gabriel from University of Melbourne said.
“In addition, mice that had been treated with the mTOR inhibitor responded better to checkpoint inhibition, a therapy widely used in cancer patients.’’
Researchers said the discovery has the potential to improve the success rate of immunotherapy.
“The next step was finding the mechanism which was enabling this,’’ Utzschneider said.
“We discovered that Tpex cells were exposed to increased amounts of an immunosuppressive molecule, TGFb, early on in an infection.
“This molecule essentially acts as a brake, reducing the activity of mTOR and thereby dampening the immune response.’’ (Xinhua/NAN)
– July 7, 2021 @ 10:33 GMT |
Tags: Researchers discover way to improve immune response
