Grant: CIHR New Investigator

Influenza virus remains a persistent threat to humans causing 3-5 million cases of severe illness and around 500,000 deaths during a non-pandemic year. However, during pandemic influenza virus-associated mortality is drastically increased. For instance, the 1918 "Spanish" influenza pandemic killed 40 million people in just one year, the single greatest loss of human life in history. Intriguingly, most influenza-related mortality results from the host immune response rather than influenza virus itself. This highlights the importance of immune regulation in determining who is protected from the consequences of influenza infection. We have recently demonstrated that lipids produced by the host play a critical regulatory role in pulmonary tuberculosis infection. In the present proposal, we aim to investigate the immune-regulatory mechanism of host lipid mediators during pulmonary influenza infection. Considering the availability of pharmacologic interventions to manipulate levels of these lipids, our findings can translate directly into clinical interventions to selectively modulate proinflammatory cascade and its associated pathology. This may potentially be important during the influenza outbreak as an adjunct to anti-viral therapy.