Nasal cytokines as mediators of illness during the common cold

Abstract

Identification of a pharmacologically targeted mediator of the common cold is a desirable, but, to date, elusive goal of current research. The roles of various mediators, such as histamine, leukotrienes, bradykinin, and, more recently, chemokines and cytokines, in the pathophysiology and development of complications of the common cold are the subject of previous and current investigations. Establishing causality of a mediator in the common cold has been difficult for a number of reasons, including the limitations of our research tools and protocols and the complexity of the inflammatory and immune pathways that participate during the common cold. The available evidence for mediation of the common cold is the subject of this manuscript.

Infection-induced proinflammatory cytokines are associated with decreases in positive affect, but not increases in negative affect

“…Bacterial product challenges are known to greatly increase systemic cytokine levels (Krabbe et al, 2005;Schinkel et al, 2005). Finally, a multitude of host-produced chemicals exhibit potent immunomodulatory effects (e.g., cytokines, chemokines, histamine, leukotrienes, bradykinin) and few of these have been assayed in any given disease model (Doyle, Skoner, & Gentile, 2005). Thus the profile of cytokines and other biologically active host-derived chemicals (both measured and nonmeasured) may be quite different for the two model stimuli.…”

Use of diagnostic algorithms and new technologies to study the incidence and prevalence of viral upper respiratory tract infections and their complications in high risk populations

“…The elements included in the underlying SSCmap were shown to represent different illness dimensions [8 ], an important observation as best topographic representation is made when the elements are orthogonal such that each contributes independent data to illness state. Moreover, the assignment results for the algorithm correlate with those made using an algorithm that operates on more objective measures of illness that can be reliably obtained only in studies of experimental infections [47] and with the nasal lavage concentrations of host produced chemicals believed to participate in the local inflammatory response to infection [48 ]. Trivially, the frequency of algorithm diagnosed cold/flu is appropriately responsive to objectively documented infection and, significantly, to preexisting virus specific antibody titer among infected persons [42,49,50].…”

“…There is increasing evidence, however, that the component expressions of the SSC reflect pathologies that have measurable biochemical correlates [48 ]. Because this topic was reviewed by us recently, only the most relevant points are discussed here.…”

Acute Viral Rhinitis

“…If rSSC is present, it is typically delayed relative to viral exposure and this time period differs between virus types. This delay is about 48 h for rhinoviruses and about 7 days for RSV [14]. However, the resolution period is usually similar for all types of viruses and typically takes 4-10 days.…”