Nairrita Majumder, PhD

Pneumonia is a lung infection that causes the air sacs to fill with fluid and makes it hard to breathe. One million Americans are hospitalized each year due to bacterial lung infections. They are treated with oxygen and antibiotics, both of which can cause additional lung damage and harmful side effects in other organs. Hence, the development of new drugs to improve the outcomes of these patients is crucial. We discovered that bacterial pneumonia decreases the levels of a potassium channel, called TREK-1, in mouse and human lungs, resulting in further lung damage. Nevertheless, a few TREK-1 channels remain intact and we developed new compounds that can activate these channels to protect against the lung damage caused by bacterial infections and toxic oxygen levels. We will study this promising new approach using mouse models and human lung cells exposed to live bacteria and oxygen, and will treat them with these new compounds. We expect these compounds to reduce lung injury.

Update: Bacterial pneumonia causes approximately one million hospitalizations each year. The bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the most serious causes and can lead to severe illness and death, especially in hospitalized patients. This research studied a protein called TREK-1, which helps protect the lungs during infection. Using mice and human lung cells infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa, our team tested drugs that increase TREK-1 activity, as well as mice that were genetically engineered to lack the protein. We found that TREK-1 helps reduce lung damage caused by Pseudomonas infection, especially when patients also receive high levels of oxygen, which is a common treatment for severe pneumonia. The study also has shown that infection and oxygen therapy can disrupt the normal electrical activity of lung cells. This causes calcium to build up inside the cells, triggering the release of inflammatory molecules that can worsen lung injury. Our findings suggest that boosting TREK-1 activity may be a promising new way to reduce inflammation and protect the lungs in people with severe bacterial pneumonia.