Researchers map effects of staph infections
Infectious disease specialists at Children's Medical Center and UT Southwestern Medical Center have mapped the gene profiles of children with severe staph infections, providing crucial insight into how the human immune system is programmed to respond to this pathogen and opening new doors for improved treatments.
Until recently, doctors weren't sure why some people developed more severe staph infections than others. By using gene expression profiling, a process that summarizes how individual genes are activated or suppressed in response to infection, UT Southwestern researchers pinpointed how a person's immune system responds to a staph infection at the genetic level.
"This study was able to use existing technology to understand what's going on in humans in a real clinical setting — not models, cells or mice," said Dr. Monica Ardura, an infectious disease expert at Children's, instructor of Pediatrics at UT Southwestern and lead author of the study. "We have provided the first description of a pattern of response within an individual's immune system that is very consistent, very reproducible and very intense."
The immune system has two parts: an innate system for immediate defense against infection, and an adaptive system with memory cells to fight off subsequent infections. The study showed that invasive staph infections overwhelmed the initial immune response while suppressing the adaptive immune system that would prevent infection later.
"Now that researchers know how the immune system responds, the question is whether this methodology can be used to predict patient outcomes or differentiate the sickest patients from the less sick ones and ultimately, how this knowledge can be used to develop better therapies," Dr. Ardura said.
The work was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Center for Lupus Research and the Baylor Health Care System Foundation. The study is available online in PLoS One, the Public Library of Science's online journal.
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