Fever, cough, sore throat – symptoms in the spotlight in the era of COVID-19 – are just some of the tell-tale signs of our body’s immune system kicking into action against an unwanted intruder. Whether triggered by an infection, an allergen, or a vaccine, immune responses are driven by a complex array of cellular processes that can play out over several days or even weeks.
Research led by McGill University and Queen’s University Belfast has found that viruses can ‘hijack’ an existing molecular process in the cell in order to block the body’s antiviral immune response to a viral infection.
The results of the study have been published in the journal Molecular Cell.
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Published on: 17 Feb 2021
In many pathologies of the nervous system, there is a common event - cells called microglia are activated from surveillant watchmen into fighters. Microglia are the immune cells of the nervous system, ingesting and destroying pathogens and damaged nerve cells. Until now little was known about the molecular mechanisms of microglia activation despite this being a critical process in the body.
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Published on: 15 Oct 2012