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R_www.sciencedaily.com 2015 13123.txt.txt

#How anesthesia may fight lung infections: Mouse study The Johns Hopkins and University of Buffalo research team built its experiments on previous research showing that children with upper viral respiratory tract infections who were exposed to the anesthetic halothane during minor surgical procedures had significantly less respiratory symptoms and a shorter duration of symptoms compared with children who did not receive halothane during surgeries. Arraythe team discovered that giving the animals volatile anesthetics, such as halothane, led to decreased bacterial burden and lung injury following infection. The researchers report that the anesthetics augmented the antibacterial immune response after influenza viral infection by blocking chemical signaling that involves type I interferon a group of proteins that help regulate the activity of the immune system. Using a combination of genetic, molecular, and knockout animal techniques, the researchers found that animals that were exposed to halothane had 450-fold less viable bacteria compared with non-halothane exposed animals with respect to the initial inoculum dose, and astoundingly, treatment made it as if the animals were infected never with a prior influenza virus. Array"Our study is giving us more information about how volatile anesthetics work with respect to the immune system, "says Chakravarthy.""Given that these drugs are the most common anesthetics used in the operating room, "there is a serious need to understand how they work and how we can use their immune effects to our advantage, "he adds. The findings, he says, suggest that volatile anesthetics may someday be helpful for combatting seasonal and pandemic influenza, particularly when there are flu vaccine shortages or limitations.""A therapy based on these inhaled drugs may help deal with new viral and bacterial strains that are resistant to conventional vaccines and treatments and could be a game changer in terms of our preparedness for future pandemics and seasonal flu outbreaks because it's focusing on host immunity, "says Chakravarthy.""We hope our study opens the door to the development of new drugs and therapies that could change the infectious disease landscape.""The investigators say they are currently testing an oral small molecule immune modulator in phase 2 clinical trials that acts like volatile anesthetics to help reduce secondary infections after someone becomes sick with the flu u

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