Recent research highlights how the influenza virus might penetrate the brain, causing severe influenza-associated encephalopathy . This study suggests that the virus targets endothelial cells forming the brain’s protective barrier, and that antivirals inhibiting viral protein processes could be effective treatments. Credit: SciTechDaily.
Although IAE is increasingly common, surprisingly little is known about how the influenza virus actually gets into the brain and causes symptoms of encephalopathy . Notably, a definitive treatment for IAE remains lacking, something that researchers from Osaka University wanted to address. “In the human brains, the virus-injected mice, and the cultured cells, the influenza virus tended to accumulate in endothelial cells,” explains lead author of the study Shihoko Kimura-Ohba. “These cells create a barrier between the blood and the brain, and are important for protecting the brain from harmful substances.”
Accordingly, in both the human brains and the mouse model, the barrier between the blood and the brain was compromised. Furthermore, the researchers noticed that the virus wasn’t actually reproducing within these endothelial cells—but there were a lot of proteins made by the virus.