Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Nov;44(7):562-70.
doi: 10.3109/08916934.2011.592885. Epub 2011 Aug 24.

Inflammatory profiles in severe pneumonia associated with the pandemic influenza A/H1N1 virus isolated in Mexico City

Joaquín Zúñiga  1 , Martha Torres, Javier Romo, Diana Torres, Luis Jiménez, Gustavo Ramírez, Alfredo Cruz, Enrique Espinosa, Teresa Herrera, Ivette Buendía, Alejandra Ramírez-Venegas, Yolanda González, Karen Bobadilla, Fernando Hernández, Jorge García, Francisco Quiñones-Falconi, Eduardo Sada, María E Manjarrez, Carlos Cabello, Simón Kawa, Albert Zlotnik, Annie Pardo, Moisés Selman
Affiliations
Free article

Inflammatory profiles in severe pneumonia associated with the pandemic influenza A/H1N1 virus isolated in Mexico City

Joaquín Zúñiga et al. Autoimmunity. 2011 Nov.
Free article

Abstract

The immune mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of severe pneumonia associated with the A/H1N1 virus are not well known. The objective of this study was to determine whether severe A/H1N1-associated pneumonia can be explained by the emergence of particular T-cell subsets and the cytokines/chemokines they produced, as well as distinct responses to infection. T-cell subset distribution and cytokine/chemokine levels in peripheral blood and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) were determined in patients with severe A/H1N1 infection, asymptomatic household contacts, and healthy controls. Cytokine and chemokine production was also evaluated after in vitro infection with seasonal H1N1 and pandemic A/H1N1 strains. We found an increase in the frequency of peripheral Th2 and Tc2 cells in A/H1N1 patients. A trend toward increased Tc1 cells was observed in household contacts. Elevated serum levels of IL-6, CXCL8, and CCL2 were found in patients and a similar cytokine/chemokine profile was observed in BAL, in which CCL5 was also increased. Infection assays revealed that both strains induce the production of several cytokines/chemokines at 24 and 72 h, however, IL-6, CCL3, and CXCL8 were strongly up-regulated in 72-h cultures in presence of the A/H1N1 virus. Several inflammatory mediators are up-regulated in peripheral and lung samples from A/H1N1-infected patients who developed severe pneumonia. In addition, the A/H1N1 strain induces higher levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines than the seasonal H1N1 strain. These findings suggest that it is possible to identify biomarkers of severe pneumonia and also suggest the therapeutic use of immunomodulatory drugs in patients with severe pneumonia associated with A/H1N1 infection.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

Publication types

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources