Researchers identify cause for immunodeficiency after stroke and heart attack – healthcare-in-europe.com

A treatment that breaks down the NETs or even prevents them from forming in the first place could be a promising new approach to maintaining the immune defense in patients after a stroke or heart attack

To track down the mechanism behind the loss of antibodies and to improve the treatment of patients with these findings the researchers used disease mouse models. Mice also experienced a loss of IgA in their blood and stool after a stroke or heart attack. The researchers discovered that specialized DNA fibers released in blood are a factor in the loss of immune defense. These DNA fibers, known as neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), originate from the nuclei of another type of immune cell, neutrophils. NETs are released into the blood in large quantities by highly activated neutrophils after a stroke or heart attack and can directly kill plasma cells in the intestine. Probably an even more important effect of NETs is the formation of hundreds of small clots in the blood vessels that supply energy to plasma cells in the intestine. This results in a lack of nutrient and oxygen supply and the Ig-forming cells die off in large numbers.

The immunologists and their teams not only succeeded in proving a causal link between stroke, heart attack and immunodeficiency, but they were also able to demonstrate a new treatment approach: If the NETs were destroyed with the enzyme DNase or their release was prevented by a substance with a novel mode of action, the immune defense remained intact. The researchers were able to demonstrate this both in the mouse model and in the case of DNase in later clinical studies. "Until now, no therapeutic approaches could be developed because the cause of the immune deficiency was unclear. A treatment that breaks down the NETs or even prevents them from forming in the first place could be a promising new approach to maintaining the immune defense in patients after a stroke or heart attack. It may be possible to prevent serious secondary infectious diseases or even death," says Gunzer.

Source:Universitt Duisburg-Essen

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Researchers identify cause for immunodeficiency after stroke and heart attack - healthcare-in-europe.com