It’s known that low temperatures and colds often go hand in hand. But until now it was unknown how cold in the nasal cavity affected the immune response.
A new study published Tuesday in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, an American scientific journal specializing in allergies and immunology, details a new way in which the human body attacks intruders. And discover that it works best when it’s hot.
These findings could lead to development of new treatments for the common cold and other viruses, Mansoor Amiji, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston who co-led the research, told AFP.
The starting point is an earlier study from 2018, which found that cells in the nose release extracellular vesicles (EVs), a cloud of tiny particles that attack bacteria when inhaled.
“The best analogy is the hornet’s nest,” explains Amiji. Just as wasps defend their nest when attacked, EVs fly in swarms to kill off invaders.
In their research, the scientists asked two questions: are EVs also secreted in the presence of a virus? And if so, is your response affected by temperature?
To answer the first question, they used the volunteer nasal mucosa (who were undergoing surgery to remove polyps) and a substance that reproduced a viral infection.
They found that VEs were actually being produced that targeted the viruses.
To address the second question, they divided the nasal cell samples into two groups and cultured them in a laboratory, subjecting one set of samples to 37ºC and the other, to 32ºC.
These temperatures were chosen based on another separate test that found that the temperature inside the nose drops about 5°C when the outside air drops from 23°C to 4°C.
Under normal body temperature conditions, EVs were able to fight viruses by presenting them with “lures” that they latched on to, rather than the receptors on cells they would normally have targeted.
But at lower temperatures, VE production was less abundant. and they proved to be less effective against the viruses tested: two rhinoviruses and one coronavirus (not covid-19), common during the winter.
“There has never been a compelling reason why this clear increase in viral infectivity occurs during cold months,” said study co-author Benjamin Bleier, a surgeon at Harvard Medical School.
“This is the first quantitative and biologically plausible explanation that has been developed,” he added.
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According to Amiji, this study could lead to the development of treatments to stimulate the natural production of EV, in order to better combat colds, or even flu and cold. covid-19.
“This is a research area that interests us enormously, and we will certainly continue down this path,” he said.
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