February 2018: A defect has been detected that affects how white blood cells eat bad bacteria in the lungs A certain type of white blood cell, known as a macrophage, is generated by the body as part of the immune response: they are responsible for detecting, 'eating' and destroying bacteria or viruses. Macrophages that are present in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) do not eat bacteria in the way that they should, but why this is the case and what it means for treating the disease remains unknown. CIR researchers, led by Prof David Dockrell, have shown that COPD macrophages found inside the lungs have a specific defect in eating bacteria when coated with antibodies, which is confirmed by certain symptoms showing up in patients. COPD macrophages fail to engage a defence mechanism involving genes that protect against reactive oxygen species, which are generated in response to the bacteria but can harm the cell. Drugs can activate one factor, called Nrf2, that controls many of these anti-oxidant defences. This can reverse the defect in how macrophages eat bacteria COPD, and offers a potential therapeutic approach to correct the defect in how macrophages eat and remove bacteria from the lung. This could lead to a new approach to reduce bacterial infections in these patients. Links: Published article – American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine (external website) Prof David Dockrell – Research Profile British Lung Foundation – What is COPD? (external website) Wikipedia – Marcophages (external website) This article was published on 2024-09-10
