A groundbreaking study led by Maziar Divangahi, a professor at McGill University’s Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, has revealed that a component found in fungi, beta-glucan, could offer a protective shield against severe lung damage caused by the flu virus.
In research published in Nature Immunology, the team demonstrated that administering beta-glucan to mice before exposure to the influenza virus significantly reduced lung damage, improved lung function, and lowered the risk of severe illness or death. This discovery highlights a novel approach in combating the flu by focusing on regulating the body’s immune response rather than simply preventing viral replication.
Beta-glucan is a polysaccharide found in fungi, including mushrooms and yeast, and also in grains like oats and barley. The McGill team found that a unique structure of beta-glucan can enhance the body’s defense mechanisms against pathogens. This differs from traditional approaches that primarily target the virus itself.
Instead, the researchers focused on the concept of “disease tolerance,” aiming to modulate the immune system’s response to the virus, rather than suppressing the virus’s ability to replicate. By doing so, they found that beta-glucan could significantly boost survival rates in flu-infected mice by reducing severe lung inflammation—a leading cause of death in influenza patients.
“We’ve seen how beta-glucan can reprogram immune cells, particularly neutrophils, to control excessive inflammation in the lungs,” said Nargis Khan, the study’s first author and an assistant professor at the University of Calgary. Traditionally, neutrophils are known to trigger inflammation, but beta-glucan appears to shift their role, helping to mitigate it instead.
Researchers pointed out that flu-related deaths are often not caused by the virus itself, but by an overreaction of the immune system. This underscores the critical need to understand and regulate immune responses, a process that remains poorly understood in many respiratory diseases.
The findings could have broader implications, especially with the ongoing flu season and concerns about the potential spread of bird flu (H5N1). The team emphasized that beta-glucan holds promise not only for treating influenza but also for combating other emerging viral pathogens.
This research was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, with future studies aimed at determining whether these findings can be applied to human health.
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