Possible Target For Prevention And Treatment Of Pneumonia Identified

ScienceDaily (Feb. 12, 2008) — Researchers at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC have identified a key protein target that may be a crucial factor in the development of a vaccine to prevent and new therapies to treat pneumonia, the leading killer of children worldwide. Research led by Jay K. Kolls, MD, chief of the Division of Pediatric Pulmonary Medicine, Allergy and Immunology at Children's, identified for the first time the importance of a protein known as interleukin 22 (IL-22) in the immune response to a strain of bacterial pneumonia. In the laboratory, the researchers were able to effectively treat mice with pneumonia by using purified IL-22.