Macrophage News and Research

RSS

A macrophage is a type of white blood cell that surrounds and kills microorganisms, removes dead cells, and stimulates the action of other immune system cells.

Nuclear receptor proteins could change anti-inflammatory treatments

Several nuclear receptor proteins appear to overlap in their ability to exert anti-inflammatory effects, according to new research by scientists at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).

12 Sep 2005

DNA research: learning the language of genes

Griffith University's Dr Christine Wells is one of just a handful of women scientists in the global FANTOM consortium which has announced a major breakthrough in unraveling the mammalian genome.

6 Sep 2005

Immune cells known as macrophages linked to growth of lymph vessels in eyes,

Scientists at Schepens Eye Research Institute have discovered that a particular immune cell contributes to the growth of new lymph vessels, which aid in healing. This cell, known as a macrophage, is called in by the body during the wound healing process.

6 Sep 2005

Macrophages kill bacteria - but not always

Macrophages are effective weapons used by our immune system to absorb and digest pathogenic intruders. Some bacteria, however, can subvert this defence mechanism and even multiply within the macrophages.

1 Sep 2005

Vitamin D puts a brake on activated macrophages - newly discovered mechanism keeps inflammation under control

When macrophages, the first line defender cells of the immune system become activated, they produce an inhibitor, which acts back on them to suppress their activity.

29 Aug 2005

Ways to avoid hazards of heart bypass under study

The heart-lung bypass machine that stills the heart while surgeons bypass an adult’s clogged arteries or repair a baby’s malformed heart can also trigger a potentially deadly inflammatory response.

28 Aug 2005

Non-invasive imaging may help predict type 1 diabetes and response to treatment in humans

A key obstacle to early detection of type 1 diabetes - as well as to rapid assessment of the effectiveness of therapeutic intervention - has been the lack of direct, non-invasive technologies to visualize inflammation in the pancreas, an early manifestation of disease.

22 Aug 2005

Fluorescence spectroscopy able to detect the presence of inflammatory cells that are associated with critical atherosclerotic plaques

Because atherosclerotic plaque typically builds up without symptoms and leads to more than 1 million deaths in America each year, the search is on to develop early detection devices that will enable physicians to offer treatment before the disease progresses to advanced stages.

13 Aug 2005

Successful visceral leishmaniasis vaccine trial in dog

Visceral leishmaniasis, which is the most severe form of that group of diseases, affects 500 000 people in the world each year. It is caused by a protozoan, Leishmania infantum, transmitted by sand fly bites.

2 Aug 2005

Two studies reveal how plague disables immune system

Two studies by researchers at the University of Chicago show how the bacteria that cause the plague manage to outsmart the immune system and how, by slightly altering one of the microbe's tools, the researchers produced what may be the first safe and effective vaccine.

1 Aug 2005

Complicated plasminogen system yields potential therapeutic target; Implications for aging and degenerative diseases

Skeletal muscles naturally repair themselves very efficiently after injury. But when they don’t, otherwise successful recovery following damage from overuse during exercise, surgery or trauma can be stymied. Furthermore, as we age, muscle repair slows noticeably, and in Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and other degenerative muscle diseases, normal repair functions can’t cope with disease progression.

14 Jul 2005

White blood cell called a neutrophil appears to be crucial to abdominal aortic aneurysm formation

Each year, 200,000 Americans find out that the largest blood vessel in their body, the aorta, may burst open at any time. About 20,000 die suddenly from such a rupture. And another 36,000 have surgery to repair or replace the swelling section of aorta before time runs out.

13 Jul 2005

Scientists have discovered how C-reactive protein is able to access endothelial cells

For the first time, scientists have discovered how C-reactive protein, or CRP, is able to access endothelial cells. The UC Davis researchers' findings will be published in the July issue of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, one of the American Heart Association's leading journals.

27 Jun 2005

Scientists solve structure of a critical innate immune system protein

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have solved the structure of a crucial human immune system molecule called TLR3, an acronym for Toll-like receptor three. In an upcoming issue of the journal Science, the protein is described as a large horseshoe-shaped coil composed of 23 leucine-rich repeats (LRRs).

27 Jun 2005

Findings could lead to a new approach in diagnosing and treating Alzheimer’s disease

The human body has its own defense against brain aging: the innate immune system, which helps to clean the brain of amyloid-beta waste products. However, UCLA researchers discovered that some patients with Alzheimer’s disease have an immune defect making it difficult to clean away these wastes.

From MP Biomedicals, LLC 10 Jun 2005

Gene therapy for arthritis is both feasible and safe

Gene therapy for arthritis and other non-terminal, debilitating conditions and diseases is both feasible and safe, report researchers who conducted the world's first such test on the approach in patients with advanced rheumatoid arthritis.

6 Jun 2005

Leprosy microbes lead scientists to immune discovery

With the unusual opportunity that human leprosy infections provide for study of human immune responses, scientists have discovered how the body's early warning system prompts a rapid immune response by two separate armies of defensive cells.

29 May 2005

Fluorescence device to diagnose atherosclerosis and tumors

In a presentation at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO), researchers from Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Biophotonics Research and Technology Development Laboratory described recent progress on a device that stimulates, collects and measures light emissions from body tissues to diagnose critical atherosclerotic plaques (vulnerable plaques) and aggressive brain tumors.

29 May 2005

Stimulating innate immunity helps ease Crohn's disease symptoms

Like throwing oil on a fire or prescribing a high cholesterol diet for heart patients, gastroenterologists traditionally have believed that it would not be a good idea to stoke up the body's immune system to treat Crohn's disease.

26 May 2005

Jefferson researcher’s results show promise for metastatic eye melanoma

But now, by simultaneously revving up the immune system and choking off the tumor’s oxygen supply, oncologists at Jefferson Medical College and the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia may have found a better way to battle this deadly cancer.

17 May 2005