
Queen’s University researchers have discovered an important link in combating inflammatory diseases and viral infections that include HIV.
The team determined that a protein secreted by immune system cells increases the inflammatory immunity response. Inflammation can often cause autoimmune diseases to worsen or degrade the immune system’s fight against microbial infection.
The IL-27 protein was first identified and described in 2002. In earlier research, the UNiversity’s research team discovered that HIV may suppress IL-27, an important development for treatment.
HIV patients often need to consume a cocktail of anti-retroviral drugs that target a variety of elements inherent to the virus. Researching proteins such as IL-27 can go on to increase the effectiveness of those drugs.
“We hope this means that eventually we could identify new markers of disease development that would help determine the severity of the disease or, conversely, how well the immune system is battling the infection,” said Dr. Katrina Gee, an assistant professor in the department of microbiology and immunology.
Queen’s PhD student Christina Guzzo is the lead author on the study, and its findings were recently published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
In the near future, the research team plans to characterize how IL-27 can instigate a pro-inflammatory response, and possibly increase the body’s response to viral infections.
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Photo courtesy Queen’s University News Centre.