System Boost

Almost all of us were infected by parainfluenza viruses (PIVs) before the age of five. These respiratory viruses don’t usually cause severe problems, except in people with weakened immune systems. To emulate this, researchers gave mice drugs to suppress their immune systems and examined how they responded to a PIV called Sendai virus. On the left is the nasal cavity from a mouse not treated with immunosuppressants, and shows gaps in the top layer where infected cells have deliberately self-destructed to eliminate the virus. The right sample is from a treated mouse, which doesn’t have this protective response. These immunosuppressants are used in chemotherapy, so patients receiving them are more vulnerable to infection. It was found that types of white blood cells called T and NK cells are responsible for clearing the PIV infection, so in future doctors may be able to give vulnerable patients medication to boost these.

Written by Esther Redhouse White

Esther Redhouse White

Writer

A recent Biochemistry graduate from York, Esther has worked on bacterial killing proteins and genetic switches in worms. In her spare time she likes visiting museums full of skeletons.

• Images from work by Heba H. Mostafa and colleagues
• St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA
• Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)
• Published in PLOS Pathogens, September 2016