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Home > Archive > Pathology > October 2006 > Novel antioxidant approach for respiratory tract infection
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Novel antioxidant approach for respiratory tract infection
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| ironjustice@aol.com 2006-10-18, 8:32 am |
| Public release date: 16-Oct-2006
New treatment approach holds promise for children infected by dangerous
respiratory virus
GALVESTON, Texas--When a child under the age of 2 contracts a
respiratory tract infection requiring hospitalization, odds are that
the cause is respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
One of the world's most common and dangerous early-childhood
infections, RSV puts more than 100,000 children a year in the hospital
in the U.S. alone; the infection may also increase the chances that a
child will develop asthma.
Currently, neither a safe vaccine nor an effective therapy for RSV
exists. Now, however, university of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
(UTMB) researchers have taken an important step toward developing a
therapy for RSV.
Working with laboratory mice, the scientists have shown for the first
time that RSV does its dirty work by causing cells to produce highly
damaging molecules known as reactive oxygen species (ROS). These
molecules prompt cells to produce signals that send the immune system
into overdrive, creating an inflammatory response that actually does
more damage than the virus itself and closely resembles the one seen in
an asthma attack.
The researchers found that this effect, known as oxidative stress, can
be substantially reduced by treating the mice with an antioxidant
chemical. The treatment also lowers the asthma-like symptoms of "airway
hyperreactivity" seen in RSV-infected mice even after the mice have
recovered from the virus.
"We really need a good therapy for RSV," said UTMB associate professor
of pediatric infectious diseases Antonella Casola, senior author of a
paper on the research published online by the American Journal of
Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, which will publish the paper in
an upcoming printed edition. "What we'd like to have is a safe therapy
that could be given to a child as soon as he or she develops the
initial upper respiratory symptoms of RSV infection. If we can treat
children with RSV before a lower respiratory tract infection
occurs--that is, before the virus gets into the lungs--we believe we
can keep those children from developing the serious infections that
require hospital care."
In their experiments, the Texas scientists initially checked for and
found biochemical signs of oxidative stress in the lungs of mice
infected by RSV. Recent studies have linked such stress to the
development of such lung disorders as acute respiratory distress,
asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
The UTMB researchers divided mice infected with RSV into two groups,
one of which was also fed an antioxidant compound called butylated
hydroxyanisole (BHA), a food preservative. The scientists found that
the BHA-treated mice showed far fewer outward clinical indicators of
acute RSV infection. Detailed study of the animals' lung cells revealed
that BHA substantially diminished the harmful inflammation associated
with RSV without hampering the immune response necessary to eradicate
the virus. Biochemical analysis of lung contents showed that BHA
blocked the production of molecules associated with RSV-induced ROS
production, known as lipid peroxidation products, as well as
significantly reducing the explosion of pro-inflammatory molecules
produced by lung cells that is normally associated with severe RSV
infection.
"We see this as the proof of concept for a novel antioxidant approach
to RSV therapy," Casola said. "Hopefully, in the future an antioxidant
treatment can be developed that could be given orally and used before
inflammatory symptoms appear in the lungs."
###
UTMB graduate student Shawn Castro was the lead author of the paper,
titled "Antioxidant Treatment Ameliorates Respiratory Syncytial
Virus-Induced Disease and Lung Inflammation." Co-authors include
postdoctoral fellow Antonieta Guerrera-Plata, graduate student Giovanni
Suarez-Real, associate professor Patrick A. Adegboyega and professor
Roberto Garofalo of UTMB, as well as university of Texas Health Science
Center-Houston professor Giuseppe Colasurdo and associate professor
Amir Khan.
The university of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
Public Affairs Office
www.utmb.edu
Contact: Jim Kelly
jpkelly@utmb.edu
409-772-8791
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Who loves ya.
Tom
Jesus Was A Vegetarian!
http://jesuswasavegetarian.7h.com
Man Is A Herbivore!
http://tinyurl.com/a3cc3
DEAD PEOPLE WALKING
http://tinyurl.com/zk9fk
| |
| Roman Bystrianyk 2006-10-18, 8:32 am |
| >From 2000 to 2003, pneumonia caused 2 million of 10.6 million deaths
among children younger than 5 years worldwide. Diarrhoea causes a
further 1.9 million deaths in this group annually. Daily regimens of
zinc have been reported to prevent acute lower respiratory tract
infection and diarrhoea, and reduce child mortality.
Abdullah Brooks (International Centre for Diarrhoea Disease Research,
Dhaka, Bangladesh) and colleagues looked at whether giving children
zinc weekly could prevent clinical pneumonia* and diarrhoea in children
younger than two years. Between April 1999 and August 2000 the
investigators recruited 1621 children aged 2-12 months from Kamalapur,
Bangladesh. Half the children were assigned to a weekly 70mg dose of
zinc and half to placebo. The investigators found mortality was reduced
by 85% in the group assigned zinc. Children younger than 12 months in
this group also had less pneumonia and diarrhoea than those on placebo.
Children younger than 6 months who took zinc had these benefits and
less severe pneumonia.
Dr Brooks states: "Zinc substantially reduced the incidence of
pneumonia and other upper and lower respiratory tract disease, and
modestly reduced that of diarrhoea. However, the effect of zinc on
mortality was strong...Zinc might be progressively protective against
more invasive and severe disease, leading to an 85% reduction in
overall mortality, primarily owing to pneumonia."
- The Lancet
ironjustice@aol.com wrote:
> Public release date: 16-Oct-2006
>
> New treatment approach holds promise for children infected by dangerous
> respiratory virus
> GALVESTON, Texas--When a child under the age of 2 contracts a
> respiratory tract infection requiring hospitalization, odds are that
> the cause is respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
>
> One of the world's most common and dangerous early-childhood
> infections, RSV puts more than 100,000 children a year in the hospital
> in the U.S. alone; the infection may also increase the chances that a
> child will develop asthma.
>
> Currently, neither a safe vaccine nor an effective therapy for RSV
> exists. Now, however, university of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
> (UTMB) researchers have taken an important step toward developing a
> therapy for RSV.
>
> Working with laboratory mice, the scientists have shown for the first
> time that RSV does its dirty work by causing cells to produce highly
> damaging molecules known as reactive oxygen species (ROS). These
> molecules prompt cells to produce signals that send the immune system
> into overdrive, creating an inflammatory response that actually does
> more damage than the virus itself and closely resembles the one seen in
> an asthma attack.
>
> The researchers found that this effect, known as oxidative stress, can
> be substantially reduced by treating the mice with an antioxidant
> chemical. The treatment also lowers the asthma-like symptoms of "airway
> hyperreactivity" seen in RSV-infected mice even after the mice have
> recovered from the virus.
>
> "We really need a good therapy for RSV," said UTMB associate professor
> of pediatric infectious diseases Antonella Casola, senior author of a
> paper on the research published online by the American Journal of
> Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, which will publish the paper in
> an upcoming printed edition. "What we'd like to have is a safe therapy
> that could be given to a child as soon as he or she develops the
> initial upper respiratory symptoms of RSV infection. If we can treat
> children with RSV before a lower respiratory tract infection
> occurs--that is, before the virus gets into the lungs--we believe we
> can keep those children from developing the serious infections that
> require hospital care."
>
> In their experiments, the Texas scientists initially checked for and
> found biochemical signs of oxidative stress in the lungs of mice
> infected by RSV. Recent studies have linked such stress to the
> development of such lung disorders as acute respiratory distress,
> asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
>
> The UTMB researchers divided mice infected with RSV into two groups,
> one of which was also fed an antioxidant compound called butylated
> hydroxyanisole (BHA), a food preservative. The scientists found that
> the BHA-treated mice showed far fewer outward clinical indicators of
> acute RSV infection. Detailed study of the animals' lung cells revealed
> that BHA substantially diminished the harmful inflammation associated
> with RSV without hampering the immune response necessary to eradicate
> the virus. Biochemical analysis of lung contents showed that BHA
> blocked the production of molecules associated with RSV-induced ROS
> production, known as lipid peroxidation products, as well as
> significantly reducing the explosion of pro-inflammatory molecules
> produced by lung cells that is normally associated with severe RSV
> infection.
>
> "We see this as the proof of concept for a novel antioxidant approach
> to RSV therapy," Casola said. "Hopefully, in the future an antioxidant
> treatment can be developed that could be given orally and used before
> inflammatory symptoms appear in the lungs."
>
>
> ###
> UTMB graduate student Shawn Castro was the lead author of the paper,
> titled "Antioxidant Treatment Ameliorates Respiratory Syncytial
> Virus-Induced Disease and Lung Inflammation." Co-authors include
> postdoctoral fellow Antonieta Guerrera-Plata, graduate student Giovanni
> Suarez-Real, associate professor Patrick A. Adegboyega and professor
> Roberto Garofalo of UTMB, as well as university of Texas Health Science
> Center-Houston professor Giuseppe Colasurdo and associate professor
> Amir Khan.
>
> The university of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
> Public Affairs Office
> www.utmb.edu
>
> Contact: Jim Kelly
> jpkelly@utmb.edu
> 409-772-8791
> university of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
> Who loves ya.
> Tom
>
>
> Jesus Was A Vegetarian!
> http://jesuswasavegetarian.7h.com
>
>
> Man Is A Herbivore!
> http://tinyurl.com/a3cc3
>
>
> DEAD PEOPLE WALKING
> http://tinyurl.com/zk9fk
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