New theory suggests treatment for Avian Influenza Infection

Chemotherapy for a disorder of the immune system may – at least in theory – be effective against severe human avian influenza infection, this suggest scientists at the Karolinska Institutet.

The Hypothesis is published on online by The Lancet. The authors suggest that although chemotherapy for avian influenza is a substantial jump in thinking, such therapy could still be reasonable, particularly since it has been shown to be very effective in decreasing mortality in an immune disorder called haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis disease (HLH), which may be associated with severe infection by the Epstein-Barr virus.

The mortality rate for avian influenza A virus subtype H5N1 infection is around 50 percent, according to the World Health Organization, WHO, and there is an urgent need for novel treatments. In their Hypothesis professor Jan-Inge Henter at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm and colleagues in Hong Kong state that patients with H5N1 infection have some symptoms and post-mortem features in common with people with the immune disorder HLH. Patients with HLH have too many infection-fighting white blood cells, which can accumulate in good tissue and cause damage to a variety of organs. One of the key treatments for HLH is the chemotherapy drug etoposide, which helps kill the excess of immune cells.

The scientists emphasize that their suggestion at present merely is a hypothesis, and that the treatment not yet has been tested in patients affected by avian influenza infection.

– We would welcome the WHO to consider a platform for the undertaking of clinical trials based on a modified HLH protocol. including etoposide and corticosteroids, in addition to supportive and antiviral therapy for patients infected by H5N1, says professor Jan-Inge Henter.

Media Contact

Gustav Loefgren alfa

All latest news from the category: Life Sciences and Chemistry

Articles and reports from the Life Sciences and chemistry area deal with applied and basic research into modern biology, chemistry and human medicine.

Valuable information can be found on a range of life sciences fields including bacteriology, biochemistry, bionics, bioinformatics, biophysics, biotechnology, genetics, geobotany, human biology, marine biology, microbiology, molecular biology, cellular biology, zoology, bioinorganic chemistry, microchemistry and environmental chemistry.

Back to home

Comments (0)

Write a comment

Newest articles

Lighting up the future

New multidisciplinary research from the University of St Andrews could lead to more efficient televisions, computer screens and lighting. Researchers at the Organic Semiconductor Centre in the School of Physics and…

Researchers crack sugarcane’s complex genetic code

Sweet success: Scientists created a highly accurate reference genome for one of the most important modern crops and found a rare example of how genes confer disease resistance in plants….

Evolution of the most powerful ocean current on Earth

The Antarctic Circumpolar Current plays an important part in global overturning circulation, the exchange of heat and CO2 between the ocean and atmosphere, and the stability of Antarctica’s ice sheets….

Partners & Sponsors