An important finding revealed by Israeli experts, according to them, may pave the way for tailored medicine in the treatment of infectious diseases.
When microorganisms like viruses, bacteria, or parasites enter the human body and multiply there, they cause cell damage and result in infectious diseases.
In the past, medical researchers have looked at the immune response to infectious diseases as a whole.
Although personalized medicine is already used in the treatment of some illnesses, such as cancer, its use in infectious diseases has been relatively sparse.
A study team from Tel Aviv University, however, coordinated by Professors Irit Gat-Viks and Eran Bacharach, has succeeded in classifying two essential elements of the immune response that take place during severe viral infections.
Combining experimental methods with computational tools, this categorization was made.
The research by the TAU team has been published in the peer-reviewed journal Cell Systems.
According to Gat-Viks, “people in the general population react to infections differently, so there is a need for medical tools to indicate how each person is expected to react to a specific infectious disease.
“Until now, there have only been very general indicators to characterize these diseases, such as inflammatory markers, fever, urine tests, etc.”
According to the new classification, she explained, assessments of the infection response, which at first looked to be rather consistent, may be split depending on these markers.
Elaborating, Bacharach said, “We were able to observe the response of the immune system with high resolution and identify two main types of responses: one, in which the immune system fights a pathogen that has entered the body, and the other type, in which the damage to the body ‘after the war’ with the pathogen is repaired.
In our research, we used disease models in animals, computational tools, and information collected from people with different markers in their bodies that are indicators of the type of response to the pathogen.”
The researchers are upbeat about the prospect of offering more individualized, effective treatments as a result of this new finding.
“Today, there is a lack of an acceptable medical response for people who have strong reactions to infection with microbes like viruses or bacteria.
We think that our research will help doctors diagnose patients’ conditions more accurately, which will enable them to treat them more successfully and raise their chances of recovery, said Gat-Vicks.
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