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New biomarkers may help in diagnosis and management of Crohn's disease

The diagnosis, understanding and management of Crohn's disease may have just received a helping hand from a joint ASU Biodesign Institute and Mayo Clinic study aimed at developing a better blood test for the disease.

9 Mar 2017

UCLA researchers find ways to soften or stiffen up T cells for controlling immune response

T cells, the managers of our immune systems, spend their days shaking hands with another type of cell that presents small pieces of protein from pathogens or cancerous cells to the T cell.

8 Mar 2017

New computer models could help researchers to better predict side-effects of drugs

New computer models from North Carolina State University show how a variant of a common protein involved in human immune response binds to the antiviral drug abacavir, causing a severe life-threatening reaction known as the abacavir hypersensitivity syndrome

8 Mar 2017

Scientists use cargo-carrying red blood cells to alleviate autoimmune diseases in mouse models

Using red blood cells modified to carry disease-specific antigens, scientists in the laboratories of Hidde Ploegh and Harvey Lodish have prevented and alleviated two autoimmune diseases—multiple sclerosis (MS) and type 1 diabetes—in early stage mouse models.

7 Mar 2017

Newly-identified autoimmune endocrine disease is caused by thymomas, study finds

A Japanese research group has discovered that a newly-identified autoimmune endocrine disease that leads to hypopituitarism is caused by thymomas (a type of tumor originating from the thymic gland).

2 Mar 2017

Two migration proteins increase predictive ability of biomarker for pancreatic cancer

Adding two blood-borne proteins associated with cancer cell migration increases the predictive ability of the current biomarker for pancreatic cancer to detect early stage disease, a research team from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reports in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

1 Mar 2017

UNC Lineberger achieves major milestone with launch of cellular immunotherapy program

University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers have achieved a major milestone with the launch of two clinical trials testing an experimental therapy in which patients' own immune cells are genetically engineered to fight their cancer.

1 Mar 2017

Activated T-cells promote heart failure after heart attack

Chronic inflammation after a heart attack can promote heart failure and death. University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers have now shown that activated T-cells — part of the immune system's inflammatory response — are both necessary and sufficient to produce such heart failure.

28 Feb 2017

Scientists devise novel DNA vaccine approach against important cancer antigen targets

Scientists at The Wistar Institute and Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. have devised a novel DNA vaccine approach through molecular design to improve the immune responses elicited against one of the most important cancer antigen targets. Study results were published in the journal Molecular Therapy.

24 Feb 2017

MSK researchers harness power of CRISPR/Cas9 to create more-potent CAR T cells

Researchers from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center have harnessed the power of CRISPR/Cas9 to create more-potent chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells that enhance tumor rejection in mice.

23 Feb 2017

Researchers find novel, non-invasive approach for diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer

In a new paper in Springer's Journal of Materials Science, researchers at Washington State University report a new approach for the effective capture of tumor-derived exosomes from a prostate cancer cell line.

21 Feb 2017

New range of antibodies released by Cambridge Research Biochemicals®

Cambridge Research Biochemicals® (CRB), a longstanding British company specialising in the synthesis of custom peptides and the generation of bespoke antibodies for pharmaceutical and medical research, today announced the release of its new DISCOVERY® Antibodies catalogue. This ties in with the three year anniversary of CRB’s expansion and relocation which took place in January 2014 and secures the company’s position as a key player in the life science industry as we enter 2017.

21 Feb 2017

Early diagnosis does not necessarily result in longer life, study of cancer screenings shows

Physicians and patients like to believe that early detection of cancer extends life, and quality of life. If a cancer is present, you want to know early, right?

20 Feb 2017

Penn researchers find new way to track rare T cells in blood after annual flu vaccine

For most vaccines to work the body needs two cell types - B cells and T helper cells - to make antibodies. B cells are the antibody factories and the T helper cells refine the strength and accuracy of antibodies to home and attack their targets.

20 Feb 2017

Research provides more evidence that mRNA vaccines can protect mice against Zika virus

Vaccine developers have successfully protected mice against Zika by injecting synthetic messenger RNA that encodes for virus proteins into the animals.

17 Feb 2017

Glowing mice could mark major step forward for new gene therapy

Timothy Blake, a postdoctoral fellow in the Waymouth lab, was hard at work on a fantastical interdisciplinary experiment. He and his fellow researchers were refining compounds that would carry instructions for assembling the protein that makes fireflies light up and deliver them into the cells of an anesthetized mouse. If their technique worked, the mouse would glow in the dark.

16 Feb 2017

Taking prostate cancer drug with low-fat breakfast can be effective and less expensive, study finds

Taking one-fourth the standard dose of a widely used drug for prostate cancer with a low-fat breakfast can be as effective - and four times less expensive - as taking the standard dose as recommended: on an empty stomach.

14 Feb 2017

Scientists identify gene variants that predispose children to developing Kawasaki disease

Kawasaki disease (KD) is the most common acquired heart disease in children. Untreated, roughly one-quarter of children with KD develop coronary artery aneurysms -- balloon-like bulges of heart vessels -- that may ultimately result in heart attacks, congestive heart failure or sudden death.

9 Feb 2017

Precision-medicine approach could improve accuracy of PSA-based prostate cancer screening tests

A new study led by researchers at UC San Francisco and Kaiser Permanente has identified genetic predictors of normal prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in healthy men, which could be used to improve the accuracy of PSA-based prostate cancer screening tests.

3 Feb 2017

New PET radiotracer effectively detects early and advanced stages of prostate cancer

In the featured article from the February 2017 issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine, researchers document the first-in-human application of a new imaging agent to help find prostate cancer in both early and advanced stages and plan treatment.

1 Feb 2017