For the first time ever, researchers have been able to observe live, in real-time, how the human body responds to often lethal fungal blood infections in the lungs.
In the study, the fungal infection Candida albicans was introduced to mice or human models of the lung vasculature.
As blood was pumped over that system, researchers recorded what happened using highly sophisticated microscopes.
Immune cells rushed to the scene of the infection, which was expected. But then those cells swarmed, clustered and jammed up the blood vessels causing a potentially dangerous blockage.
The researchers, from the University of Calgary’s Cumming School of Medicine, said this was a revelation that could lead to new treatment options for the usually deadly incursions.
This clumping of immune cells was captured in high resolution for the research, which has been published in the journal Cell Host and Microbe.
