Autoimmune kidney disease

Monash researchers have solved a mystery, revealing how certain immune cells work together to instigate autoimmune kidney disease.The study, led by Professor Michael Hickey and Professor Richard Kitching from Monash University's Centre for Inflammatory Diseases. In glomerulonephritis, an immune disease of the kidney, rogue immune cells damage the kidney via a misdirected inflammatory attack.

Special cells called monocytes continuously patrol the glomeruli by crawling within its blood vessels. Monocytes are very good at 'picking up and removing rubbish' and being on the lookout for signs of infection and tissue injury. However in autoimmunity, some immune cells in the circulation are highly reactive to molecules picked up in the kidney.

Patrolling monocytes can display these molecules to the reactive immune cells in the bloodstream, resulting in the rogue cells remaining in the kidney and turning on an unnecessary and damaging inflammatory attack. This autoimmune damage to the kidney can severely impact on the normal function of the kidney, if left untreated.

 This damage occurs while the cells are moving around in the kidney blood vessels. This process, known as intravascular antigen recognition, has never been described before for the key helper T cells that direct and control the immune response.
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E-cigarettes flavours are toxic

Sugar and spice are not healthy when it comes to vaping or inhalation. Exposure to e-cigarette flavoring chemicals and liquids can cause significant inflammation to monocytes, a type of white blood cell and many flavoring compounds are also toxic, with cinnamon, vanilla and buttery flavors among the worst. That's the finding of new research published in open-access journal
Frontiers in Physiology, which also found that mixing e-cigarette flavors has a much worse effect than exposure to just one.

The use of e-cigarettes has exploded in the past decade as traditional cigarette consumption has declined. Vaping exposes the lungs to flavoring chemicals when the e-liquids are heated and inhaled. Since the flavoring chemicals are considered safe to eat, e-cigarettes are often considered and advertised as a healthier alternative to traditional cigarettes.

This new study, led by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Centre in the United States, wanted to test the assumption that vaping nicotine-free flavored e-liquids is safer than smoking conventional cigarettes. Previous studies show that flavors used in e-cigarettes cause inflammatory and oxidative stress responses in lung cells.

Users of e-cigarettes also show increased levels oxidative stress markers in the blood compared to non-smokers. The new study extends this to assess the effects of commonly used flavoring chemicals, as well as e-liquids without nicotine, directly on immune cells-a type of white blood cell called monocytes.

Exposure to the e-cigarette flavoring chemicals and e-liquids led to higher production of two well-established biomarkers for inflammation and tissue damage mediated by oxidative stress. Furthermore, many of the flavoring chemicals caused significant cell death with some flavors being more toxic than others.
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Aging impairs immune response to flu

Aging impairs the immune system's response to the flu virus in multiple ways, weakening resistance in older adults, researchers examined the innate immune response to the flu virus. They collected blood samples from healthy young adults and older adults.

They isolated monocytes, a type of white blood cell, from the samples and stimulated the monocytes with either flu virus or a mimic of the virus. The immune response in cells from older adults was severely impaired in critical ways, the researchers found.

To fight the flu virus, the body needs to activate potent antiviral proteins called interferons. But in older adults, this response is weakened by age-related damage to a molecule, TRAF3, that signals immune cells to make interferon. Without that signal, and another involving antiviral genes, resistance to flu falls short.
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