Expert Q&A
Over the last few years, there has been an increase in new mosquito-borne viruses. Douglas Durrant, professor of biological sciences, is working to understand how immune responses to those types of viruses are regulated within the central nervous system.
Zika, West Nile, Mosquitos, Oh My!
The brain is fascinating. Its immune response to an invading pathogen is different than the immune response in the rest of the body. We’re looking at infected brain tissue samples and comparing samples where we’ve eliminated a specific type of immune cell to normal samples. We want to know how much virus is there, what type of immune cells are involved, the number of immune cells, their activity level and whether they are providing protection or causing more damage. Our key question is what is causing the neurons to die. Is it the viral infection itself or is it the immune response to the viral infection, or is it a mixture of both? We are particularly interested in the role of dendritic cells in regulating this delicate balance between viral clearance and neuronal protection within the brain.
If we can figure out which cells are controlling the immune response so that it effectively kills the virus while simultaneously protects the neurons, then that information could lead to the development of treatments or therapeutics to harness that or to mimic that ability.
However, our immune system is incredibly effective at keeping these emerging diseases under control. Even though a population might come into contact with a new viral infection, that population will eventually gain immunity.