PGE2 as a baddie during influenza infection

One of the things that bugs me a lot, in an entirely geeky way, is when people tell me they have the flu - most of the time, they really just have a cold, caused by a completely different pathogen. Influenza, the real cause of flu, can actually cause very serious disease, much more debilitating than a cold virus, and can even lead to death. Case in point: the Spanish flu is thought to have killed more than 20 million people during the first world war, many believe that was responsible for more deaths than the war itself.

Villains
Image from
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kaptainkobold/6900425981/

But I digress. The rant was triggered by a very interesting paper that I spotted in this week's Immunity, which identified a new potential therapeutic target for influenza A: a group of molecules known as prostaglandins.

An involvement for prostaglandins, a group of lipid molecules with many roles including inflammation and immunity, in influenza infection is not new. A quick search in PubMed revealed that members of the prostaglandin family have previously been shown to block influenza replication and limit inflammation, and deficiency in the enzymes responsible for generating the prostaglandin PGE2 (COX1 and COX2) has revealed conflicting results.

Dipping my toe with an immunology blast from the past

You may not know this, but this owlette is a (reformed) scientist. As I have missed looking through cool papers and writing about them, I have decided to take a stab at writing a little science blog here (I have yet to decide on the tone, perhaps it will depend on the paper).

And what best way to start than with a paper from my former lab that I saw this morning in Nature Communications. I realise that I am probably shooting myself in the foot, as this is quite a complicated paper on immunology, a discipline that everyone seems to be scared of and find incredibly confusing. But I never said I didn't like jumping in the deep end! I promise, it is a cool story and I will try and keep it simple.

The immune system is actually a beautifully complicated network of cells (including various types of T cells, B cells, dendritic cells etc) that travel around the highways of the blood stream and lymphatic system to fight infection. It is true, through the years it has become increasingly complicated with the different cell types discovered (bordering on the ridiculous now, I have lost track). But ask any immunologist and they will declare their undying love for their favourite cell type.

How could you not love this T cell beauty? Image from NIAID (https://www.flickr.com/photos/niaid/5950870236/)