Drug Impedes Body’s Deadly Reaction to Flu Virus
HealthDay – FRIDAY, Jan. 23 (HealthDay News) — A drug may be able to dampen part of the body’s immune response so infections can be fought without a resulting overkill that may cause the person to perish, a new study says.
The compound sphingosine analog AAL-R, when administered directly into the lungs of mice, helped mitigate the cytokine response, a common immune reaction that can sometimes be so strong that it can harm as much as help, according to a report published in this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A severe “cytokine storm” can flood and clog the lung’s alveoli with infection-fighting cells, making it so oxygen can no longer be properly absorbed by the body.
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