ScienceDaily (May 26, 2009) — Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have found that an approved drug for treating rheumatoid arthritis reduces severe illness and death in mice exposed to the Influenza A virus. Their findings suggest that tempering the response of the body's immune system to influenza infection may alleviate some of the more severe symptoms and even reduce mortality from this virus.
The scientists report in the June 1 edition of The Journal of Immunology, which is now available online, that mice infected with the Influenza A virus responded favorably to a drug called Abatacept (Orencia) , which is commonly used to treat people with rheumatoid arthritis. The mice had been given "memory" T-cells, or white blood cells that have been primed to fight the invading virus as the result of previous exposure to Influenza A.
"We found that treating the mice with Abatacept minimized tissue damage caused by the immune response, but still enabled the body to rid itself of the virus. The mice didn't become as sick, recovered much faster and had much less damage to the lungs, compared to mice that weren't given the drug," says Donna L. Farber, Ph.D., a professor of surgery and microbiology and immunology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the study's senior author.
"Moreover, treatment with Abatacept significantly improved survival for mice infected with a lethal dose of influenza virus," Dr. Farber says. "The survival rate for the treated mice was 80 percent, compared to 50 percent for the mice that weren't treated."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090526114803.htm Cool! Very interesting! Very cool indeed! I have to say, I have not had a case of the flu (knocking on wood here) since I have had RA. Granted, most years I have had a flu shot, but still maybe it has to do with the drugs???? An expensive biologic medication such as Orencia may be a bit overkill for the flu. Hopefully they found someting out about the mechanisms because Orencia will never be used to treat the flu and if they didn't find something out about the treatment mechanisms then it was a waste of research dollarsInteresting, but where do they go from there? Ltruly buckeye.. it's like killing a fly with a sledge hammer.. but the potentials of possibly helping with even worse viral infections is very cool.....