Giuseppe
Emeritus
[Source: Nature, full text: (LINK). Abstract, edited.]
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Immunology
Calming the cytokine storm
Journal name: Nature - Volume: 477, Page: 373 - Date published: (22 September 2011) - DOI: doi:10.1038/477373d - Published online 21 September 2011
Some people can fend off influenza infection; others have a severe, sometimes fatal, inflammatory reaction. Researchers in La Jolla, California, have pinpointed a cellular mechanism that prompts this 'cytokine storm'. Inflammation is triggered by immune-signalling proteins called cytokines. Michael Oldstone and Hugh Rosen at the Scripps Research Institute and their teams had previously shown that stimulating cell receptors for a lipid signalling molecule called S1P dampens the cytokine storm. The current study reports that, in mice, this is mediated by a specific receptor, S1P<SUB>1</SUB>, that is expressed in the cells lining the blood vessels of the lungs. Treating flu-infected mice with an S1P<SUB>1</SUB>-stimulating molecule decreased both their cytokine production and the number of inflammatory cells migrating into their lungs, and improved their survival.
-Calming the cytokine storm
Journal name: Nature - Volume: 477, Page: 373 - Date published: (22 September 2011) - DOI: doi:10.1038/477373d - Published online 21 September 2011
Some people can fend off influenza infection; others have a severe, sometimes fatal, inflammatory reaction. Researchers in La Jolla, California, have pinpointed a cellular mechanism that prompts this 'cytokine storm'. Inflammation is triggered by immune-signalling proteins called cytokines. Michael Oldstone and Hugh Rosen at the Scripps Research Institute and their teams had previously shown that stimulating cell receptors for a lipid signalling molecule called S1P dampens the cytokine storm. The current study reports that, in mice, this is mediated by a specific receptor, S1P<SUB>1</SUB>, that is expressed in the cells lining the blood vessels of the lungs. Treating flu-infected mice with an S1P<SUB>1</SUB>-stimulating molecule decreased both their cytokine production and the number of inflammatory cells migrating into their lungs, and improved their survival.
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