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Een beetje koorts kan goed zijn*
Uit een studie weliswaar met muizen blijkt dat een beetje koorts goed kan zijn. Al eeuwen wordt aangenomen dat een verhoogde lichaamstemperatuur het gevolg is van een infectie of ontsteking. Uit deze studie blijkt nu dat deze temperatuurverhoging bepaalde cellen van ons immuunsysteem activeert. Bij een kleine verhoging (in de studie was het 2 graden) worden de tot de subgroep van T-lymfocyten, de cytotoxische T-cellen ( CD8+ T cellen) geactiveerd. Deze cellen zijn in staat de dood in gang te zetten van door virussen of andere pathogenen geïnfecteerde cellen of tumorcellen onschadelijk te maken. Een beetje koorts kan vervelend zijn doch is nodig om het immuunsysteem goed zijn werk te laten doen, zo zeggen de onderzoekers. Alhoewel zeer hoge lichaamstemperaturen gevaarlijk kunnen zijn en natuurlijk wel een behandeling nodig hebben.
Elevated Body Temperature Helps Certain Types of Immune Cells to Work Better, Evidence Suggests
With cold and flu season almost here, the next time you're sick, you may want to thank your fever for helping fight off infection. That's because scientists have found more evidence that elevated body temperature helps certain types of immune cells to work better. This research is reported in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology.
"An increase in body temperature has been known since ancient times to be associated with infection and inflammation," said Elizabeth A. Repasky, Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Department of Immunology at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York. "Since a febrile response is highly conserved in nature (even so-called cold blooded animals move to warmer places when they become ill) it would seem important that we immunologists devote more attention to this interesting response."
Scientists found that the generation and differentiation of a particular kind of lymphocyte, known as a "CD8+ cytotoxic T-cell" (capable of destroying virus-infected cells and tumor cells) is enhanced by mild fever-range hyperthermia. Specifically, their research suggests that elevated body temperature changes the T-cells' membranes which may help mediate the effects of micro-environmental temperature on cell function. To test this, researchers injected two groups of mice with an antigen, and examined the activation of T-cells following the interaction with antigen presenting cells. Body temperature in half of the mice was raised by 2 degrees centigrade, while the other half maintained a normal core body temperature. In the warmed mice, results showed a greater number of the type of CD8 T-cells capable of destroying infected cells.
"Having a fever might be uncomfortable," said John Wherry, Ph.D., Deputy Editor of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, "but this research report and several others are showing that having a fever is part of an effective immune response. We had previously thought that the microbes that infect us simply can't replicate as well when we have fevers, but this new work also suggests that the immune system might be temporarily enhanced functionally when our temperatures rise with fever. Although very high body temperatures are dangerous and should be controlled, this study shows that we may need to reconsider how and when we treat most mild fevers." (Januari 2012)