Preventing severe pneumonia after flu by protecting natural airway defences

Monica Bettencourt-Dias

Fundació Centre de Regulació Genòmica (CRG), Spain

Influenza can lead to severe bacterial pneumonia, but predicting which patients will develop this complication is difficult, which can delay treatment or contribute to unnecessary antibiotic use. Our airways rely on thousands of microscopic cilia to clear mucus, microbes and particles out of the lungs and to help coordinate tissue repair. Preliminary findings suggest that influenza disrupts these systems, potentially increasing the risk of secondary bacterial infection.

This project will determine when and how influenza damages cilia-dependent airway defence and repair, identify the viral and host mechanisms involved, and test whether preserving these functions reduces the risk of bacterial pneumonia. Using advanced imaging, molecular profiling, experimental models of influenza and bacterial superinfection, and patient samples, it will also investigate whether signatures of airway damage can identify high-risk patients.

The work could uncover an unexplored mechanism linking viral infection to secondary bacterial disease and improve care through two complementary routes: biomarkers that identify high-risk patients and therapies that protect or restore the lung’s own defences. The findings may also have implications for other respiratory viruses that target ciliated airway cells.

• Maria João Amorim, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Portugal

• Juan Pablo Horcajada, Fundació Institut Hospital del Mar d’Investigacions Mèdiques (IMIM), Spain

Viral Attack on the Lung’s First Line of Defense: Mechanisms of Cilia Destruction

€999,941.00