Synchronized medicine
Understanding how the immune system responds to multiple infections may lead to more effective, coordinated immunotherapy, according to Dr Georgia Perona-Wright, a professor in the UBC Department of Microbiology and Immunology. Dr Perona-Wright is researching ways to manipulate the body’s immune system and boost its natural defences. Specifically, Dr Perona-Wright is studying how instructions are sent between cytokines—different infections cause cells to release different types of cytokines. Until recently, it was believed that cytokines released by one cell would only activate the cells next to it. Dr Perona-Wright discovered that cytokines leak out beyond their local environment, influencing cells much further afield.
The antibiotics, antivirals, and antiparasite drugs that have been used for the past 70 years to deal with infections have been wildly successful, but the incidence of antibiotic resistant bacteria is increasing. Dr Perona-Wright hopes that studying how far and how fast cytokines spread will lead to a better understanding of how to control the body’s response to infection and even to multiple infections at once, offering new weaponry that could be used in combination with currently available drugs. For more information, e-mail the UBC Public Affairs department at public.affairs@ubc.ca.