Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
FluTrackers.com Inc. does not provide medical advice. Information on this web site is collected from various internet resources, and the FluTrackers board of directors makes no warranty to the safety, efficacy, correctness or completeness of the information posted on this site by any author or poster.
The information collated here is for instructional and/or discussion purposes only and is NOT intended to diagnose or treat any disease, illness, or other medical condition. Every individual reader or poster should seek advice from their personal physician/healthcare practitioner before considering or using any interventions that are discussed on this website.
By continuing to access this website you agree to consult your personal physican before using any interventions posted on this website, and you agree to hold harmless FluTrackers.com Inc., the board of directors, the members, and all authors and posters for any effects from use of any medication, supplement, vitamin or other substance, device, intervention, etc. mentioned in posts on this website, or other internet venues referenced in posts on this website.
We are not asking for any donations. Do not donate to any entity who says they are raising funds for us.
A new understanding of a certain cell in the immune system may help guide scientists in creating better flu vaccines, report researchers from the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine and the Immune Disease Institute at Children's Hospital Boston (PCMM/IDI). Reporting online March 21 in Nature Immunology, they show, for the first time, that white blood cells known as resident dendritic cells (DCs) capture flu viruses and show them to B-lymphocytes, another white blood cell that recognizes germs and launches an antibody attack. Harnessing this previously unknown function could help activate the immune system more effectively against the flu virus.
There is worldwide concern that the avian influenza H5N1 virus, with a mortality rate of >50%, might cause the next influenza pandemic. Unlike most other influenza infections, H5N1 infection causes a systemic disease. The underlying mechanisms for this effect are still unclear. In this study, we investigate the interplay between avian influenza H5N1 and human dendritic cells (DC). We showed that H5N1 virus can infect and replicate in monocyte-derived and blood myeloid DC, leading to cell death. These results suggest that H5N1 escapes viral-specific immunity, and could disseminate via DC. In contrast, blood pDC were resistant to infection and produced high amounts of IFN-. Addition of this cytokine to monocyte-derived DC or pretreatment with TLR ligands protected against infection and the cytopathic effects of H5N1 virus.
