Alleviation of Influenza Induced Immunopathological Events Through Selective Suppression of Kinase Signalling Pathways

Influenza virus H3N2/Hong Kong/68 caused a pandemic infection which affected millions of people worldwide and caused significant mortality, specially among elderly patients. Using an experimental infection model in BALB/c mice with a mouse-adapted strain, derived from the above mentioned one, we have analyzed the immune response events that take place in the lungs of infected animals. Kinases are proteins whose activity plays a central role in different signaling cascades. We have determined the presence of increased activation levels of several pathways which participate in the activation and control of the immune and also might be critical for symptom development during the infection. Furthermore, we have identified a subset of kinases whose inhibition through specifically-targeted chemical inhibitors may have significant capacity to block the symptoms of the influenza infection. We propose to conduct a set of experiments in order to better profile the involvment of kinases in influenza infections. This study can help us to better understand the signaling pathways responsible for symptom onset in severe influenza infections and also might result in the development of new therapies.