Tag : Unearth

    Scientists Unearth Potential Viral Resistance Mechanism

    Unearth Potential Viral
    Inam Ansari
    November7/ 2022

    Dublin (Ireland): After screening the immune systems of women who were exposed to hepatitis C (HCV) through contaminated anti-D transfusions given more than 40 years ago in Ireland, researchers from Trinity College Dublin have discovered a secret that may help to explain why some people are able to resist viral infections. The groundbreaking research, which was just published in the prestigious journal Cell Reports Medicine, has numerous ramifications, ranging from advancing our fundamental understanding of viral resistance to the potential development of treatments for the treatment of infected individuals. Several thousand women in Ireland were infected with the hepatitis C virus between 1977 and 1979 as a result of tainted anti-D, a drug administered to Rhesus-negative pregnant women carrying Rhesus-positive foetuses that are manufactured from plasma from donated blood. The drug stops the production of potentially harmful antibodies that could arise during later pregnancies. Some of the anti-D used between 1977 and 1979 had hepatitis C contamination. Three distinct populations emerged from this outbreak: those with a chronic infection, those who were cured of the infection by an antibody response, and those who appeared immune to infection without producing antibodies against hepatitis C. Cliona O'Farrelly, Professor of Comparative Immunology at Trinity's School of Biochemistry and Immunology, is the senior author of the research article. Cliona, who is based at the Trinity Biomedical Sciences Institute, said: "We hypothesised that women who seemed to resist HCV infection must have an enhanced innate immune response, which is the ancient part of the immune system that acts as the first line of defence. "To test this we needed ...

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