Autoimmune Disease News and Research

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Autoimmune Disease is a condition in which the body recognizes its own tissues as foreign and directs an immune response against them.

Nottingham expert to study impact of gluten intolerance on patients in the UK

A University of Nottingham expert has been awarded -80,000 by two national charities to study the impact of gluten intolerance on patients in the UK.

27 Sep 2012

Age at onset influences juvenile dermatomyositis course

Children diagnosed with juvenile dermatomyositis at age 3 years or earlier have milder symptoms than patients with later onset, research suggests.

24 Sep 2012

Cancer fears allayed for shingles patients

Herpes zoster infection, or shingles, is not associated with cancer, show results from a study published in the Canadian Journal of Medicine

21 Sep 2012

Pfizer announces that 14 abstracts for tofacitinib to be presented at ACR/ARHP annual meeting

Pfizer Inc. announced today that 14 abstracts for tofacitinib, an investigational oral Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor for the treatment of adults with moderate-to-severe active rheumatoid arthritis (RA), will be presented at the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) / Association of Rheumatology Health Professionals (ARHP) 2012 Annual Meeting, which is being held November 9-14 in Washington, D.C.

18 Sep 2012

Anthera to initiate blisibimod Phase 3 program for systemic lupus erythematosus

Anthera Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company developing drugs to treat serious diseases associated with inflammation and autoimmune disorders, today provided an update on regulatory discussions for the global development of blisibimod.

17 Sep 2012

Sanofi Aventis receives FDA approval for Aubagio to treat relapsing forms of MS

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Aubagio (teriflunomide), a once-a-day tablet for the treatment of adults with relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS).

13 Sep 2012

Ginkgo biloba supplements fail to improve cognitive performance in multiple sclerosis

A research study conducted by Dr. Jesus Lovera, Assistant Professor of Neurology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, and colleagues has found that the herbal supplement Ginkgo biloba does not improve cognitive function in patients with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

12 Sep 2012

BRI scientists receive two major grant awards for research into autoimmunity prevention

Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI) recently received two major grant awards to explore how to regulate the immune system, as part of a nationwide collaborative program to prevent autoimmune diseases.

11 Sep 2012

RNA researcher to receive 2012 Pearl Meister Greengard Prize from The Rockefeller University

Joan A. Steitz, Ph.D., a pioneer in the field of RNA biology whose discoveries involved patients with a variety of autoimmune diseases, will be awarded the 2012 Pearl Meister Greengard Prize from The Rockefeller University. The prize, which honors female scientists who have made extraordinary contributions to biomedical science and carries an honorarium of $100,000, will be presented at a ceremony on Thursday, November 29 at Rockefeller University's Caspary Auditorium.

11 Sep 2012

Researchers identify three genetic regions associated with primary biliary cirrhosis

Researchers have newly identified three genetic regions associated with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), the most common autoimmune liver disease, increasing the number of known regions associated with the disorder to 25.

10 Sep 2012

Outbreak of autoimmune disease with AIDS-like symptoms in Southeast Asia

There has been an outbreak of an adult-onset immunodeficiency syndrome in Southeast Asia. The autoimmune disease causes AIDS-like symptoms but is not associated with HIV and is not contagious.

7 Sep 2012

Absence of Puma and Bim protein leads to autoimmune diseases

Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have discovered that a pair of molecules work together to kill so-called 'self-reactive' immune cells that are programmed to attack the body's own organs.

7 Sep 2012

UC Davis plans to open West Coast Metabolomics Center

With a $9.3 million startup grant from the National Institutes of Health, the University of California, Davis, has announced plans to open the West Coast Metabolomics Center, a high-tech consortium of research and service laboratories that will help scientists better understand and develop more effective treatments for complex diseases like diabetes, cancer and atherosclerosis.

6 Sep 2012

Researchers identify several genetic factors linked to C-reactive protein

African Americans have higher blood levels of a protein associated with increased heart-disease risk than European Americans, despite higher "good" HDL cholesterol and lower "bad" triglyceride levels. This contradictory observation now may be explained, in part, by a genetic variant identified in the first large-scale, genome-wide association study of this protein involving 12,000 African American and Hispanic American women.

31 Aug 2012

Study explains why some cancer vaccines are not as effective as hoped

A research report published in the September 2012 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology offers a possible explanation of why some cancer vaccines are not as effective as hoped, while at the same time identifies a new therapeutic strategy for treating autoimmune problems. In the report, scientists suggest that cancer, even in the very early stages, produces a negative immune response from dendritic cells, which prevent lymphocytes from working against the disease.

31 Aug 2012

Chronic nerve pain: an interview with Professor Sally Lawson

Chronic nerve pain results from pathological changes within a nerve that appear to be self-sustaining and thus the pain continues for a long time.

30 Aug 2012

IQWiG examines added benefit of belimumab for patients with systemic lupus erythematosus

Belimumab has been approved since July 2011 as an add-on therapy for adult patients with the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Products (AMNOG).

30 Aug 2012

Study on sea lamprey may indicate how potentially deleterious genes can be controlled

Research on a unique vertebrate called the sea lamprey shows that more than a thousand genes are shed during its early development.

22 Aug 2012

FDA extends action date for Pfizer’s tofacitinib NDA review

Pfizer Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has extended the action date by three months for the New Drug Application (NDA) for tofacitinib, an investigational oral treatment for adults with moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

22 Aug 2012

New silicon chips help identify patients with lupus

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Intel Corp. have collaborated to synthesize and study a grid-like array of short pieces of a disease-associated protein on silicon chips normally used in computer microprocessors.

21 Aug 2012