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Stress exposure may be associated with increased risk of aggressive breast cancer

Stress exposure may be associated with increased risk of aggressive breast cancer

Local chemical signals released by fat cells in the mammary gland appear to provide a crucial link between exposure to unrelenting social stressors early in life, and the subsequent development of breast cancer, researchers from the University of Chicago report in the July 2013 issue of the journal Cancer Prevention Research. [More]
Montana scientist receives ICAAC Young Investigator Award for research on memory responses to infection

Montana scientist receives ICAAC Young Investigator Award for research on memory responses to infection

Joshua Obar, Ph.D., Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Montana State University-Bozeman, has been honored with a 2013 ICAAC Young Investigator Award for his research on factors affecting the regulation of immunological memory responses to infection. [More]

Men with low-risk prostate cancers can choose watchful waiting for better quality of life, study says

Many men with low-risk, localized prostate cancers can safely choose active surveillance or "watchful waiting" instead of undergoing immediate treatment and have better quality of life while reducing health care costs, according to a study by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital. [More]
Ibrutinib monotherapy shows efficacy in patients with MCL or DLBCL

Ibrutinib monotherapy shows efficacy in patients with MCL or DLBCL

Pharmacyclics, Inc. today announced the results of two separate Phase 2 studies suggesting that ibrutinib, an investigational oral Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor, showed efficacy when used as a monotherapy in patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma or diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. [More]
New collaboration to advance cancer immunotherapy research

New collaboration to advance cancer immunotherapy research

The Cancer Research Institute, the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and Immune Design, a biotech company focused on immune-based therapies for cancer and other human diseases, today announced that they have signed a collaboration agreement to advance cancer immunotherapy research. [More]
Anti-nicotine vaccination can increase accumulation of nicotine in the brain, say neuroscientists

Anti-nicotine vaccination can increase accumulation of nicotine in the brain, say neuroscientists

Researchers have yet again been sent back to the drawing board in the development of the much-sought-after vaccination for smokers, which would hypothetically inhibit the action of nicotine and its pleasure-producing chemical response in the brain. [More]

PSMA enzyme could become hallmark of new generation of biomarkers for prostate cancer treatment

No matter where they have hidden, metastatic prostate cancer cells still express some of the same signaling as normal prostate cells; in some cases even more so, as with the PSMA enzyme. Harnessing this enzyme could mean the beginning of a new platform for prostate cancer detection, staging, treatment and post-treatment monitoring, say researchers at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging's 2013 Annual Meeting. [More]
Research could lead to new ways to combat chlamydia

Research could lead to new ways to combat chlamydia

A protein secreted by the chlamydia bug has a very unusual structure, according to scientists in the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio. The discovery of the protein's shape could lead to novel strategies for diagnosing and treating chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease that infects an estimated 2.8 million people in the U.S. each year. [More]
Scientists find that mice develop age-related progressive motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease

Scientists find that mice develop age-related progressive motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease

The presence of Lewy bodies in nerve cells, formed by intracellular deposits of the protein α-synuclein, is a characteristic pathologic feature of Parkinson's Disease (PD). In the quest for an animal model of PD that mimics motor and non-motor symptoms of human PD, scientists have developed strains of mice that overexpress α-synuclein. [More]
Cow antibodies points to new ways for making human medicines

Cow antibodies points to new ways for making human medicines

Humans have been raising cows for their meat, hides and milk for millennia. Now it appears that the cow immune system also has something to offer. A new study led by scientists from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) focusing on an extraordinary family of cow antibodies points to new ways to make human medicines. [More]
Low levels of vitamin D associated with high levels of hepatitis B virus replication

Low levels of vitamin D associated with high levels of hepatitis B virus replication

Researchers from Germany have found that low levels of vitamin D are associated with high levels of hepatitis B virus replication. Findings published online in Hepatology, a journal of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, suggest seasonal fluctuations in vitamin D and HBV levels point to a link in these variables among patients with chronic HBV. [More]
Blocking MHCII action rescues nerve cells from Parkinson's disease mechanisms, researchers find

Blocking MHCII action rescues nerve cells from Parkinson's disease mechanisms, researchers find

The same mechanism that lets the immune system mount a massive attack against invading bacteria contributes to the destruction of brain cells as part of Parkinson's disease, according to a study published online today in the Journal of Neuroscience. [More]
New technique selectively represses unwanted immune reactions without disabling immune system

New technique selectively represses unwanted immune reactions without disabling immune system

The human immune system is remarkably efficient, but sometimes its attack is misdirected, leading to allergies, autoimmune diseases and rejection of transplant organs and therapeutic drugs. Current immune suppressants have major drawbacks, but a team from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has demonstrated a new technique that may lead to a better way to selectively repress unwanted immune reactions without disabling the immune system as a whole. [More]

Study shows GreenLight laser therapy effective for BPH treatment

Data presented at the American Urological Association Annual Meeting demonstrate that treatment for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia with GreenLight XPS laser therapy with MoXy fiber, instead of transurethral resection of the prostate, results in significantly shorter hospitalization, catheterization, and recovery times for patients, while maintaining equivalent safety and efficacy. [More]
NewLink Genetics announces results from two clinical studies with indoximod

NewLink Genetics announces results from two clinical studies with indoximod

NewLink Genetics Corporation, an oncology-focused biopharmaceutical company specializing in immunotherapy, today announced results from two clinical studies with indoximod, an orally administered small molecule drug candidate that inhibits the IDO pathway. [More]

Research suggests medullary thymic epithelial cells may have evolved from cortical-thymic TECs

Medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs) allow the thymus to ensure that the body's T cells are able to distinguish between potentially harmful foreign antigens and those that are produced by the body itself. [More]

PharmAthene announces lifting of clinical hold on proposed SparVax Phase II study

PharmAthene, Inc., a biodefense company developing medical countermeasures against biological and chemical threats, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has lifted the clinical hold previously placed on a proposed Phase II study of SparVax, a next generation recombinant anthrax vaccine. [More]
DCPrime completes DCP-001 Phase I/IIa study in patients with acute myeloid leukemia

DCPrime completes DCP-001 Phase I/IIa study in patients with acute myeloid leukemia

Cancer vaccine company DCPrime today announced the successful completion of its Phase I/IIa study in acute myeloid leukemia. [More]

Immune system attacks beneficial bacteria in several chronic human diseases

The human gut is loaded with commensal bacteria - "good" microbes that, among other functions, help the body digest food. The gastrointestinal tract contains literally trillions of such cells, and yet the immune system seemingly turns a blind eye. However, in several chronic human diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease, HIV/AIDS, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes, the immune system attacks these normally beneficial bacteria, resulting in chronic inflammation and contributing to disease progression. [More]
Cancer experts to discuss latest developments and implications of cell therapies in oncology

Cancer experts to discuss latest developments and implications of cell therapies in oncology

John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center, one of the nation's top 50 cancer centers, will bring together leading cancer experts, for presentation and discussion of the latest developments and implications of cell therapy and interventional immunology in oncology, on Friday, June 7 from 7:00am to 1:30pm. [More]