SYDNEY, May 12 (Xinhua) -- Australian researchers have worked out how to predict which patients will recover quickly from influenza (flu) and which will become severely ill from the infectious disease.

Their findings, based on four years of research, was published in Nature Communications on Tuesday.

Researchers from the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Alfred Health and Monash University said the studies also have implications for understanding how the immune system responds to COVID-19.

"This influenza study was the blueprint for our COVID-19 research," said Doherty Institute laboratory leader Katherine Kedzierska, who is a renowned influenza immunologist.

The scientists based their research on samples from flu patients both during their time in hospital and then 30 days after they were allowed home.

It enabled them to describe the specific roles of several types of immune cells, including killer and helper T cells, B cells and innate cells.

Two significant findings of the research include understanding the biomarkers that drive recovery and identifying four specific cytokines that cause serious inflammation during influenza virus infection.

"Cytokines are key molecules needed for a robust immune response," said Dr Oanh Nguyen of the Doherty Institute.

"However, too much of these cytokines can result in inflammation and in the case of influenza, much more serious infection."

The team also often noticed many cells, called T-follicular helper cells, working with antibody-secreting cells in patients at around three days prior to their recovery.

"These findings are the first to report the importance of T-follicular helper cells during acute influenza virus infection," Nguyen said.

"Signs of these cells could be used as a biomarker for recovery from influenza."

Monash University's Professor Allen Cheng said the research was a good example of "bedside to bench" science.

"The COVID-19 pandemic, and before this, the swine flu pandemic, has highlighted the importance of improving our understanding of respiratory viral infections to improve the identification of patients at risk of severe outcomes and potentially future treatments," Cheng said. Enditem

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