We’ve talked about cytomegalovirus as a dangerous teratogen
and opportunistic herpesvirus, but a recent study suggests that in many patients,
CMV might be an important calibrator of your immune system. The study,
conducted by Stanford researchers, found that young adults who are seropositive
for CMV develop better antibody responses to the seasonal influenza vaccine. They
didn’t find this affect in older adults, but they did find that a mouse model
confirmed their observation in human subjects.
The most striking serological difference they found in
children with latent CMV infections was an elevated level of circulating
interleukin-13 (IL-13) and IFN-γ cytokines. They also found that CMV+ patients
had higher CD8+ pSTAT1 and pSTAT3 responses to IL-6, especially
in the younger cohort, when compared to the CMV− subjects.
It’s possible that CMV also enhances immune response to
other vaccines as well: likely chickenpox (since they’re both herpesviruses).
--Joe
http://stm.sciencemag.org/content/7/281/281ra43
http://www.npr.org/blogs/goatsandsoda/2015/04/01/396397189/a-virus-in-your-mouth-helps-fight-the-flu
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