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发表于 2001-12-9 19:25
Apoptotic Influenza Protein May Target Immune Cells
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WESTPORT, CT (Reuters) Dec 03 - A newly discovered protein, PB1-F2, encoded by influenza A virus, prompts apoptosis and may serve to kill immune cells, according to researchers in the US and Germany.
"We believe this is a groundbreaking finding, although we're not yet sure how deep the ground is," said senior author Dr. Jonathan W. Yewdell in a statement from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, Maryland. "This might be the 'grand canyon' of the flu, in terms of understanding this virus's virulence, or perhaps only a narrow side ravine."
In the December issue of Nature Medicine, Dr. Yewdell and colleagues point out that they "serendipitously discovered the new gene product in the course of a systematic search for potential antigenic peptides recognized by CD8+ T lymphocytes."
In a series of studies, the researchers showed that exposing cells to a synthetic version of PB1-F2 induced apoptosis. In addition, influenza viruses with mutations that interfered with PB1-F2 expression prompted less apoptosis in human monocytic cells than did those with intact PB1-F2.
The team thus proposes that " B1-F2 functions to kill host immune cells responding to influenza virus infection."
Dr. Robert A. Lamb of Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, co-author of an accompanying commentary on the findings, told Reuters Health that they are important "because it is necessary to catalogue the proteins synthesized by influenza virus in a cell so that the players involved in pathogenicity can be evaluated."
The present work, "is a very nice study that marries immunology with virology. It shows the power of cross-disciplinary research." However, he added, any discussion of clinical applications currently could not go beyond "rampant speculation."
Nat Med 2001;7:1286-1288, 1306-1312.
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