Dr. Maziar Divangahi was interviewed by CBC Homerun 88.5 FM about his latest research on the flu vaccine. His lab has taken on the challenge of trying to understand how the mechanisms of the immune system fight the flu in the hopes of finding new immunotherapies to combat the virus.
The discovery of the RIPK3 protein that is involved in the regulation of immune response to the flu means help may be on the horizon. Their findings were published in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens in 2017. (February 2018)
Full publication: RIPK3 interacts with MAVS to regulate type I IFN-mediated immunity to Influenza A virus infection. Downey J, Pernet E, Coulombe F, Allard B, Meunier I, Jaworska J, Qureshi S, Vinh DC, Martin JG, Joubert P, Divangahi M. PLoS Pathog. 2017 Apr 14;13(4):e1006326. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1006326. eCollection 2017 Apr. PMID: 28410401
View articles and interviews about this research:
- Meet RIPK3: Good Cop, Bad Cop, all in one. MUHC News Release. Feb 14, 2018.
- Meet RIPK3: a biological weapon to combat the flu. A biological weapon using our immune response to combat the flu. Posted on Tech Explorist. Feb 14, 2018.
- Meet RIPK3: Good Cop, Bad Cop, all in one: Canadian scientists develop a biological weapon using our immune response to combat the flu. McGill Health e-News. Feb 15, 2018.
- This protein keeps the flu from making more if itself. Posted on Futurity by Julie Robert. Feb 15, 2018.