Immune System News and Research

RSS

Scientists discover unexpected way in which a neutrophil prepares for battle

UCSF scientists have discovered the unexpected way in which a key cell of the immune system prepares for battle. The finding, they said, offers insight into the processes that take place within these cells and could lead to strategies for treating conditions from spinal cord injury to cancer.

20 Jan 2012

Accelerated growth may increase risk of asthma symptoms in young children

Accelerated growth in the first three months of life, but not fetal growth, is associated with an increased risk of asthma symptoms in young children, according to a new study from The Generation R Study Group at Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands.

20 Jan 2012

Study investigates immune response in cancer

In a study investigating immune response in cancer, researchers from Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., and the University of South Florida have found that interaction between the immune system's antigen-specific CD4 T cells and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) - cells that play a major role in cancer-related immune suppression - dramatically change the nature of MDSC-mediated suppression. By contrast, the same effect was not observed when MDSCs interacted with the immune system's CD8 T cells.

20 Jan 2012

Scientists decode unknown mechanism of imiquimod in tumour defense

A research team from the Institute for Cancer Research at the MedUni Vienna has decoded a previously unknown mechanism of the active ingredient imiquimod in tumour defense. They have been able to prove that imiquimod transforms plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) into "tumour-killers" which can fight the tumour independently from other immune cells. This discovery could be an important step on the way to a more efficient treatment for cancer.

20 Jan 2012

New vaccine for deadly meningococcus B

A new study shows that a new 4-component meningococcal (4CMenB) vaccine for teenagers is effective when administered on a schedule of 2 doses from 1 to 6 months apart. María Elena Santolaya, from the Department of Pediatrics, University of Chile, Santiago, and colleagues performed the study, which was published online January 18 in the Lancet.

19 Jan 2012

Patients with PsA may benefit from new medications and surgeries

Medications or biologic agents that target T-cells, white blood cells involved in the body's immune system, appear to offer significant benefit to patients suffering from psoriatic arthritis (PsA), a type of arthritis that affects up to 48 percent of patients with the skin disease psoriasis, according to a new review article in the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons.

19 Jan 2012

PfSET10 molecule plays a crucial role in malaria infection

The discovery by researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of a molecule that is key to malaria's 'invisibility cloak' will help to better understand how the parasite causes disease and escapes from the defenses mounted by the immune system.

19 Jan 2012

GSA honors researchers, educators for distinguished service in the field of genetics

The Genetics Society of America (GSA) is pleased to announce the 2012 recipients of its five awards for distinguished service in the field of genetics. The recipients of these awards were nominated and selected by their colleagues.

19 Jan 2012

Alpha-hemolysin may play an unexpected role in UTIs

Researchers from the University of Utah have identified a process by which the most common types of urinary tract infection-causing bacteria are able to trigger bladder cell shedding and disable immune responses. According to this new study, published in the Jan. 19, 2012, issue of Cell Host & Microbe, α-hemolysin, a toxin secreted by many strains of Escherichia coli (E. coli), may play an important, unexpected role during both the establishment and persistence of urinary tract infections.

19 Jan 2012

Vitamin D could prevent age related eye degeneration: Study

A new study showed that increased vitamin D intake can help to prevent age-related diseases, in particular loss of vision and blindness.

18 Jan 2012

Counterfeit malaria drugs endanger millions of lives

According to researchers fake and poor quality anti-malarial drugs are threatening efforts to control the disease in Africa and could put millions of lives at risk. These counterfeit medicines could harm patients and promote drug resistance among malaria parasites, warns the study, funded by the Wellcome Trust.

18 Jan 2012

Converted umbilical cord stem cells hold hope for spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis

For the first time ever, stem cells from umbilical cords have been converted into other types of cells, which may eventually lead to new treatment options for spinal cord injuries and multiple sclerosis, among other nervous system diseases.

18 Jan 2012

Alpha-1-antitrypsin may reduce effects of GVHD

A natural enzyme derived from human blood plasma showed potential in significantly reducing the effects of graft-vs.-host disease, a common and deadly side effect of lifesaving bone marrow transplants.

18 Jan 2012

Scientists use gold-filled silicon wafers to target and burn breast cancer cells

By shining infrared light on specially designed, gold-filled silicon wafers, scientists at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute have successfully targeted and burned breast cancer cells. If the technology is shown to work in human clinical trials, it could provide patients a non-invasive alternative to surgical ablation, and could be used in conjunction with traditional cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy, to make those treatments more effective.

18 Jan 2012

New path for individually tailored cancer therapy

The Institute of Translational Oncology (TRON) together with BioNTech AG today announced the publication of a joint paper in the international journal Cancer Research that describes a new path for individually tailored cancer therapy.

18 Jan 2012

Study compares adoptive T-cell therapy with drug-based cancer treatment

In the treatment of large tumors, how effective is adoptive T cell therapy in comparison to drug-based cancer treatment? To answer this question, Dr. Kathleen Anders and Professor Thomas Blankenstein of the Max Delbr-ck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch and researchers of the Beckman Research Institute of the City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, California, USA designed and carried out a study comparing the two methods. Based on a mouse cancer model, the researchers elucidated the mechanisms of the two different treatments.

18 Jan 2012

Vitamin D supplements can fight against age-related macular degeneration

Researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have found that vitamin D reduces the effects of ageing in mouse eyes and improves the vision of older mice significantly. The researchers hope that this might mean that vitamin D supplements could provide a simple and effective way to combat age-related eye diseases, such as macular degeneration (AMD), in people.

17 Jan 2012

UI chemists debunk misconception about amphotericin

With one simple experiment, University of Illinois chemists have debunked a widely held misconception about an often-prescribed drug.

17 Jan 2012

Researchers discover HS1.2 enhancer as the cause of SLE

A "genetic accelerator" is responsible for the most severe cases of Lupus (systemic lupus erythemathosus), an autoimmune disease: the accelerator, called enhancer HS1.2, speeds up the activity of some critical genes of the immune system involved in the disease.

17 Jan 2012

Scientists discover novel mechanism to prevent cell death of nerve cells

Oxygen and glucose are the food of our brain. If they are absent, such as during a stroke, nerve cells die. An international research team at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany, and McMaster University, Canada, has discovered a novel mechanism to prevent this cell death. The results of the study have now been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.

16 Jan 2012