Harvard Medical School other research news

University researchers reported that mice with a targeted deletion of the gene for the C5a receptor mount an inflammatory response against lung infection by Pseudomonas. But the animals cannot clear the microbes and in fact develop superinfections with additional bacterial species. This closely parallels the situation in cystic fibrosis patients, the researchers point out in Nature.

The lungs of the mice were full of neutrophils, but the neutrophils seemed unable to fight the infection. C5a therefore may be priming the neutrophils for action rather than attracting them to the infection site, as previously believed, the authors reported. ...