The Battle Between Influenza and the Innate Immune Response in the Human Respiratory Tract

Nicholls, John M

Finally, since there is evidence that severe influenza caused by certain influenza viruses such as H5N1 trigger an exaggerated innate immune response, are there therapeutic options in addition to antiviral therapy that may be utilized to "buy time" before the acquired immune response takes over? The use of immunmodulatory agents such as steroids has been discouraged by the WHO. Statin therapy has been advocated by a number of individuals and reviewed in a number of publications, with claimed evidence that there was a 66% reduction in mortality (reviewed by Fedson [81] ) but no effect on viral clearance in infected mice [82] . One research group has used palmidronate to stimulate Vγ9Vδ2 T-cells to kill infected cells [83] . An NF-κβ inhibitor SC75741 was shown to block H5N1 virus propagation in vitro and vivo and consequent overproduction of cytokines and chemokines in the lungs of mice after infection with H5N1 (Reiling SJ, unpublished observations). Evidence for a role for IFN in anti-influenza virus response has been shown through the use of IFNα/β receptor deficient mice [84] .