Immune System News and Research

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Micronutrients affect methylation, linked to changes in the immune system

The offspring of women who were given micronutrient supplements (minerals needed in small quantities, such as iron, iodine and vitamin A) before they became pregnant had gene modifications at birth as well as when they were tested at 9 months.

23 Feb 2012

NK cells play an important role in rejection of porcine chondrocytes transplantation

Researchers from the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) have studied for the first time the response of human NK cells (Natural Killer) against porcine chondrocytes (cartilage cells).

23 Feb 2012

Candida albicans can sense immune status of host cells and evade them

Glen Palmer, PhD, Assistant Professor of Microbiology, Immunology & Parasitology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, was part of an international research team led by Luigina Romani, MD, at the University of Perugia, that discovered opportunistic fungi like Candida albicans can sense the immune status of host cells and adapt, evading immune system defenses.

23 Feb 2012

IDRI launches LEISH-F3 + GLA-SE Phase 1 trial for kala-azar

The first clinical trial of a new vaccine for visceral leishmaniasis (VL) has been launched by the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI), a Seattle-based nonprofit that develops products to prevent, detect, and treat diseases of poverty. The Phase 1 trial is taking place in Washington State, with a companion Phase 1 trial planned in India, an epicenter of the disease.

23 Feb 2012

Questcor fourth quarter net sales increase to $75.5 million

Questcor Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2011.

22 Feb 2012

IRIN examines whether poverty reduction schemes can help lower TB rate in developing countries

IRIN examines "whether a new generation of social protection schemes, aimed at reducing poverty and often using cash transfers to the poorest, can be harnessed to bring down the rate of tuberculosis (TB) in developing countries."

22 Feb 2012

AAN, National MS Society to honor Cleveland Clinic researcher with John Dystel Prize

The American Academy of Neurology and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society are awarding the 2012 John Dystel Prize for MS Research to Richard M. Ransohoff, MD, with the Cleveland Clinic. Ransohoff, a member of the American Academy of Neurology and Associate Editor of Neurology, the Academy's medical journal, will receive the award at the Academy's 64th Annual Meeting in New Orleans, April 21-28, 2012.

22 Feb 2012

BioLineRx BL-7010 may reduce gluten toxicity in patients with celiac disease

BioLineRx, a biopharmaceutical development company, announced the publication of pre-clinical results demonstrating that BL-7010, an orally available treatment for celiac disease, reduces gluten toxicity (the negative effect of gluten on the patient's body).

22 Feb 2012

Mitochondria may be promising new target for cancer treatment

Mitochondria, tiny structures within each cell that regulate metabolism and energy use, may be a promising new target for cancer therapy, according to a new study. Manipulation of two biochemical signals that regulate the numbers of mitochondria in cells could shrink human lung cancers transplanted into mice, a team of Chicago researchers report in the journal FASEB.

22 Feb 2012

Researchers study specially bred mice to understand annual flu epidemics

As part of a national collaboration, Oregon Health & Science University researchers are studying specially bred mice that are more like humans than ever before when it comes to genetic variation. Through these mice, the researchers hope to better understand and treat an infectious disease that plagues us year in and year out: the flu.

22 Feb 2012

DRG cells may hold potential for nerve transplants

The carnage evident in disasters like car wrecks or wartime battles is oftentimes mirrored within the bodies of the people involved. A severe wound can leave blood vessels and nerves severed, bones broken, and cellular wreckage strewn throughout the body - a debris field within the body itself.

22 Feb 2012

Cedars-Sinai scientist to study potential treatments for AD

A Cedars-Sinai research scientist has been awarded two national grants totaling more than $2.5 million, including a prestigious Research Project Grant from the National Institutes of Health to study potential treatments for Alzheimer's disease.

21 Feb 2012

University of Pennsylvania, IMUC enter license agreement for dendritic-cell production method

ImmunoCellular Therapeutics today announced that it has entered into an agreement with the University of Pennsylvania under which University of Pennsylvania has granted the Company an exclusive, worldwide license for a patent pending technology for the production of high-activity dendritic cells.

21 Feb 2012

Tasmanian devil cancer genome mapped

Researchers, including those from Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute near Cambridge, have sequenced the genome of a facial cancer that is threatening the existence of the Tasmanian devil.

21 Feb 2012

New triple-therapies found cost-effective for chronic hepatitis C patients with advanced liver disease

A towering $60,000 bill, a year of fierce, flu-like symptoms and a running risk of depression are among the possible costs of two new hepatitis C treatments. But according to Stanford University health policy researchers, they might be worth it.

21 Feb 2012

The final link in world's longest living-donor kidney transplant chain

A Loyola University Medical Center patient has become the final link in the world's longest living-donor kidney transplant chain.

20 Feb 2012

Targeting patient's own dendritic cells may help restore the immune system

Aggressive ovarian tumors begin as malignant cells kept in check by the immune system until, suddenly and unpredictably, they explode into metastatic cancer. New findings from scientists at The Wistar Institute demonstrate that ovarian tumors don't necessarily break "free" of the immune system, rather dendritic cells of the immune system seem to actively support the tumor's escape.

20 Feb 2012

DNA ‘nanorobot’ effectively targets cancer leaving healthy cells untouched: Study

Researchers have developed ‘nano-sized’ probes built from DNA that can seek and destroy cancer cells, leaving healthy cells untouched. These ‘nanorobots’ release their drug payload only when they reach and identify their target and are believed to improve many treatments for disease.

20 Feb 2012

Study identifies USP15 as a critical protein in cancer

After years studying the molecular bases of glioblastoma - the most common brain tumor and one of the most aggressive of all cancers, the group led by Dr. Joan Seoane , Director of Translational Research at the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) and ICREA Research Professor has today published a study in Nature Medicine identifying USP15 as a critical protein in cancer which, thanks to its molecular characteristics, shows enormous therapeutic promise.

20 Feb 2012

Study reveals potential strength of different anti-HIV combination drugs

Using a mathematical formula that carefully measures the degree to which HIV infection of immune system cells is stalled by antiretroviral therapy, AIDS experts at Johns Hopkins have calculated precisely how well dozens of such anti-HIV drugs work, alone or in any of 857 likely combinations, in suppressing the virus. Results of the team's latest research reveal how some combinations work better than others at impeding viral replication, and keeping the disease in check.

19 Feb 2012