Mayo Clinic finds out why measles is spreading

Scientists of Mayo Clinic they announced that the virus of the measles uses a protein (called nectin 4 ) to infect the person who serves as a guest, and then spreads from its strategic location in the throat.


The virus attacks from the trachea of ​​the infected person, who causes coughing and fills the air with particles ready to infect the next victim. Studies could also help in the fight against ovarian cancer , mom Y lung


The results published in the November issue of the journal Nature They allowed scientists to understand why some respiratory viruses spread faster and easier than others.


Despite the development of the vaccine against measles , annually the virus continues to infect more than 10 million children and claims the lives of around 120 thousand worldwide.


In recent years, the dispersion of the virus increased due to the shortage of vaccinated people, being the measles still a major health problem in the United States.


Why is measles so contagious?

In this regard, the doctor Roberto Cattaneo , principal investigator of the study and Mayo Clinic molecular biologist notes: "The virus of measles He developed a strategy: first he kidnaps the immune cells that patrol the lungs, with the purpose of getting inside the victim who serves as his guest and then moves to other immune cells throughout the body. "


"However, the immune cells only deliver their viral load to the cells that express the protein nectin 4, which is the new receptor. It is important to note that these cells are located in the trachea, so that the virus arises from the exact point you need to facilitate the infection. "


Because the measles points diligently towards the nectin 4 , cancer therapy based on measles could be more successful among patients whose Cancer expresses nectin 4 . Many scientists believe that modified viruses can be a less toxic alternative to chemotherapy and the radiation .


The doctor Cattaneo worked with other colleagues of the Institute Paul Ehrlich of Germany, with doctors Mathieu Mateo and Chanakha Navaratnarajah of Mayo Clinic , as well as with other colleagues from the University of Iowa, of the Armand Frappier Institute of Montreal in Canada.

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Video Medicine: Vaccines and Preventing Side Effects-Mayo Clinic (March 2024).