Date: February 26, 2019
Source: Duke-NUS Medical School
An
international research team led by Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, has
identified molecular and genetic mechanisms that allow bats to stay healthy
while hosting viruses that kill other animals, according to a new study
published in the journal Nature Microbiology.
Bats live
very long and host numerous viruses, such as Ebola virus, Nipah virus, and
severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)
coronaviruses, that are extremely harmful when they infect humans and other
animals. Researchers at Duke-NUS Medical School and colleagues wanted to find
out how bats can harbour so many of these pathogens without suffering from
diseases.
The key,
they found, is in the bat's ability to limit inflammation. Bats do not react to
infection with the typical inflammatory response that often leads to
pathological damage. In humans, while the inflammatory response helps fight
infection when properly controlled, it has also been shown to contribute to the
damage caused by infectious diseases, as well as to aging and age-related
diseases when it goes into overdrive.
The
researchers found that the inflammation sensor that normally triggers the
body's response to fight off stress and infection, a protein called NLRP3,
barely reacts in bats compared to humans and mice, even in the presence of high
viral loads.
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