Cancer discovery may lead to flu treatment

A discovery made during cancer research may help reduce deaths from flu.

Scientists in Oxford discovered cells involved in the body’s immune response to cancer are also found in influenza patients and could be targeted in new flu vaccines.

Researchers at the Medical Research Council Human Immunology Unit believe this discovery could help stop the inflammation that causes the worst flu symptoms and clear the infection faster.

In a paper published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the scientists claim beneficial immune cells called monocytes, which may also cause inflammation and suppress normal immune responses in cancer patients, are also found in high numbers in blood samples from flu patients.

In addition, activation of another type of immune cell – invariant NKT (iNKT) – with a prototype drug compound reduces the number of monocytes and cancels out their effects.

Professor Vincenzo Cerundolo, associate director of the MRC human immunology unit and corresponding author, said: “This finding could lead to an effective therapeutic treatment for acute influenza that can be prepared in advance of a pandemic and distributed quickly where it is needed most.

The news comes as researchers at the Medical Research Council Human Immunology Unit also found that a drug used to treat high blood pressure and heart failure reduces the symptoms of multiple sclerosis in mice.