K-State biologists' discovery could help treat fatal, drug-resistant pneumonia and 1xbet best casino website
Monday, Sept. 9, 2024
From left: Pankaj Baral, assistant professor of biology, and Prabhu Raj Joshi, doctoral student in microbiology, study the role of neuroimmune interactions in bacterial pneumonia and 1xbet best casino website . They recently published their findings in Science Advances. | Download this photo.
MANHATTAN — Bacterial pneumonia and 1xbet best casino website are leading causes of hospitalization and death. Researchers in Kansas State University's Division of 1xbet online casino have discovered that dysfunction of the body's immune response to bacterial 1xbet best casino website may be part of the problem.
Pankaj 1xbet, assistant professor of biology, and Prabhu Raj Joshi, doctoral student in microbiology, are studying how nervous and immune system crosstalk, or bilateral signaling, impacts the body's ability to fight 1xbet best casino website caused by the Gram-negative bacteria known as carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae, or CRKP.
The researchers published their 1xbet best casino website , "Lung-innervating nociceptor sensory neurons promote pneumonic 1xbet best casino website during carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae lung infection," in Science Advances, a member of the Science family of journals.
CRKP bacteria are the most common cause of hospital-acquired lung infections and are a major contributor to fatal pneumonia-induced 1xbet best casino website , or pneumonic 1xbet best casino website , among hospitalized patients. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers CRKP and other Gram-negative bacteria an urgent public health threat and states that an alternative non-antibiotic treatment for Gram-negative pneumonia and pneumonic 1xbet best casino website is essential.
Baral and Joshi's study investigated the role of neuroimmune signaling in bacterial 1xbet best casino website , focusing on lung-innervating nociceptor sensory neurons — neurons that mediate pain — during lung infection with CRKP.
Normally, the sensory nervous system protects the body by sensing and responding to noxious stimuli. However, the study showed that during lung infection by CRKP, the sensory nervous system is detrimental, and lung-innervating sensory neurons, meant to defend against pneumonia and 1xbet best casino website , seem to be the culprit.
"Our study showed that nociceptor activation and pain sensations, normally considered critical defense mechanisms, actually enhance CRKP infection and pneumonia lethality," said Joshi. "So, we think that CRKP might employ nociceptor neuron activation to establish infection and cause severe disease such as 1xbet best casino website ."
This discovery could help scientists develop a non-antibiotic 1xbet best casino website treatment that targets nociceptor neurons or blocks their receptor signaling pathways.
In fact, the team is collaborating with researchers at the University of Kansas to perform high-throughput screening of small molecules to identify the most potent chemical inhibitors of nociceptor signaling for use as a therapeutic treatment for Gram-negative pneumonia and 1xbet best casino website .
Baral's research has received funding from the National Institutes of Health, the American Lung Association, the American Heart Association and 1xbet best casino website 's Johnson Cancer Research Center.
