via Medical News Today
Failure of the immune system during blood poisoning (sepsis) can be reversed by a specific sugar. This restores the ability of immune cells to respond effectively to infections.
This week, researchers from Radboud University and Radboudumc published an article on this topic in Cell. These insights can lead to improved treatment of sepsis.
Sepsis is a life threatening complication during infections that occurs when the immune system is unable to gain control of the infection-causing microorganism. Afterwards, the immune system of many sepsis patients (30%-40%) becomes compromised. This can continue for several weeks to several months. As a result, the immune system can no longer respond to new infections, and sepsis patients have a high risk of additional complications and death due to a second infection.
In an article that was published on 17 November in the journal Cell, the molecular biologist Henk Stunnenberg of Radboud University, in cooperation with internist-infectiologist Mihai Netea and other colleagues at Radboudumc, shows that this immune paralysis can be reversed. This is good news for sepsis patients, for whom treatments are currently lacking in efficiency.
In developed countries, each year approximately 2 to 30 people in every 10000 get sepsis. In the Netherlands, an estimated annual 9000 patients are admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) with severe sepsis. Sepsis can lead to serious, permanent complications, and 20% of the sepsis patients die in the ICU.
The role of sugars
In the bloodstream, monocytes – a type of white blood cell – play a key role in the defense against infections. Monocytes can become macrophages, which remove harmful invaders. In 2014, the Nijmegen researchers showed that differentiation of monocytes into macrophages can be controlled by the environment. Monocytes that are exposed to a lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a molecule from the outer cell membrane of specific bacteria, mature into macrophages with a greatly reduced capacity to fend off foreign cells. This reflects sepsis-induced immunosuppression. The opposite occurs upon exposure to beta glucan, a sugar found in fungal cell walls.
At the molecular level, Stunnenberg then looked at the epigenetic setting of these different types of macrophages. The epigenome is involved in regulating gene expression; it varies by cell type and person and can change due to nutrition, stress and illness.
As a result, he discovered one of the “control switches” of the immune system that is driven by a sugar, beta-glucan. “By adding beta-glucan to blood samples of trial subjects with a disabled immune system, the macrophages were re-activated”.
Time for a clinical trial
Stunnenberg tested the effects of beta glucan in blood in the laboratory. “A clinical trial with patients is an obvious step for the near future. We could begin with blood samples of people who have been admitted to the ICU with sepsis” says Mihai Netea.
Prospects
Now that the researchers have an indication of how they can reactivate a disabled immune system, they also hope to determine how they can temper an overactive system. Autoimmune diseases such as rheumatism, or inflammatory disorders such as Crohn’s disease, are the result of an overactive immune system.
Learn more: Compromised immune system can be re-activated
The Latest on: Compromised immune system
via Google News
The Latest on: Compromised immune system
- Special train rides for kids with compromised immune systemson December 12, 2019 at 11:12 pm
CARSON CITY, Nev. (KOLO)--The Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City is offering special train rides for children battling cancer or who have compromised immune systems. Santa’s Pajama Express ...
- Cowpox not deadly – and you can’t get it from cows, or from eating beefon December 12, 2019 at 11:05 pm
Cowpox was “not maintained in cattle”, an expert said. It may be transmitted from cats and rodents to people. It was only life-threatening to people with compromised immune systems. The expert added ...
- Does the 'Stomach Flu' Vaccine Prevent Type I Diabetes?on December 12, 2019 at 9:22 am
Although in adults rotavirus infection mostly remains asymptomatic, it can be fatal in infants, younger children, elderly people, and patients with a compromised immune system. Since there is no ...
- Systemic inhibition of tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase alters the brain-immune axis in experimental sepsison December 11, 2019 at 2:23 am
Tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNAP) is a ubiquitous enzyme present in many cells and tissues, including the central nervous system. Yet its functions at the brain-immune axis remain unclear ...
- EXPOSED TO MOULD? Parents of Alta Vista school boy with weakened immune system worriedon November 28, 2019 at 7:32 am
The parents of a boy who has a compromised immune system are upset their son might have been exposed to mould after officials at Alta Vista Public School asked him to help clear out a music room while ...
- How immune system gets charged while fighting food poisoning decodedon November 12, 2019 at 2:00 am
and people with compromised immune systems. They tried to understand how blood stem cells acquired the energy they needed to mount an immune response to infection. As part of the study, they ...
- Are Probiotics Safe for Your Immune System?on November 8, 2019 at 1:02 pm
Noreen emailed to ask “Could you do a podcast on probiotic foods that one should avoid if one has a compromised immune system? Is commercial yogurt ok since it’s pasteurized? What about kombucha?
- Measles Can Cause 'Immune Amnesia' According to New Studies—Here's What That Meanson November 1, 2019 at 2:16 pm
The infectious viral disease itself, which manifests as a rash of red spots, fever, cough, and watery eyes, can cause long-term disabilities and can even be fatal, especially in cases of individuals ...
- Dealing With Rain Rot in Horseson October 28, 2019 at 5:00 pm
Any horse can get rain rot, but horses with compromised immune systems from systemic disease or malnutrition are most likely to be affected. Learn how to prevent and treat this frustrating skin ...
via Bing News