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Routine, inexpensive blood test sharpens heart disease risk predictions

Routine measurements of white blood cell counts that provide a ratio of neutrophils to lymphocytes may offer a simple and low-cost way to refine predictions of heart attack or death, according to a new study in the May 17, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

18 May 2005

Drugs that block the enzyme Odc prevent the onset of cancers

The drug DFMO prevents cancer in laboratory models of lymphoma but fails to kill existing cancerous cells that have lost the ability to self-destruct, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

16 May 2005

HIV treatment not affected by hormonal birth control

Estrogen and progesterone hormones in birth control do not influence the effectiveness of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), which is used to treat HIV infection, according to researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and other institutions. The study is published in the May 1, 2005, issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

2 May 2005

P12 protein influences key cell-signaling pathway

New research shows that a protein produced by a cancer-causing virus influences a key signaling pathway in the immune cells that the virus infects. This stimulates the cells to divide, helping the virus spread through the body.

26 Apr 2005

How does the body keep the number of neutrophils produced constant in the blood?

Every day, the human body manufactures and destroys about 100 billion neutrophils- the most common type of white blood cell and one of the most highly-produced cells. Neutrophils live about eight hours, are bacteria-eaters and are a key component of the immune system. Without them, the body can be subject to life-threatening infection.

23 Mar 2005

Genes TEL2 and MYC cooperate with each other to promote pediatric cases of the immune system cancer B-cell lymphoma

The genes TEL2 and MYC cooperate with each other to promote pediatric cases of the immune system cancer B-cell lymphoma. This finding, from investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, is published in the current issue of Molecular Cell Biology (MCB).

22 Mar 2005

Fasting every other day, while cutting few calories, may reduce cancer risk

New research at the University of California, Berkeley, raises such a possibility. It shows that healthy mice given only 5 percent fewer calories than mice allowed to eat freely experienced a significant reduction in cell proliferation in several tissues, considered an indicator for cancer risk.

15 Mar 2005

Scientists identify immune-system mutation

A team of Fox Chase Cancer Center scientists led by immunologist Dietmar J. Kappes, Ph.D., has identified the genetic mutation that keeps a mouse strain from developing white blood cells, or lymphocytes, called helper T cells. The report by Kappes and his colleagues appears in the Feb. 24 issue of Nature.

27 Feb 2005

Racial differences may play a significant role in determining a patient's response to asthma medications

A new study in the February issue of CHEST, the peer-reviewed journal of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP), shows that asthmatic and nonasthmatic African-Americans required higher doses of glucocorticoids to suppress lymphocytes, which play an important role in airway inflammation.

7 Feb 2005

Stem cells transplanted to female foetus

A female foetus with multiple intrauterine fractures, diagnosed as severe osteogenesis imperfecta, was transplanted with HLA-mismatched mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in the 32nd week of gestation.

21 Dec 2004

FDA accepts Genmab's Investigational New Drug Application for active rheumatoid arthritis treatment

Genmab announced today the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted its Investigational New Drug Application (IND) to start a Phase I/II dose escalation trial for HuMax-CD20 to treat patients with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who have failed one treatment with one or more disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs).

13 Dec 2004

Researchers uncover how HIV causes abnormalities in antibody-producing cells

HIV wreaks much of its damage by targeting the “orchestra conductor” of the immune system, a key class of T cells—CD4+ T cells—whose destructive relationship with HIV has been well-studied by AIDS researchers.

8 Sep 2004

Generic tritherapy can be used as a basic treatment for AIDS

A clinical trial, conducted in Cameroon by IRD researchers working with other organizations and supported by the ANRS, has demonstrated that one of the most common combinations currently deployed in Africa, using nevirapine, stavudine and lamivudine, satisfies these criteria.

5 Sep 2004

Epimmune presents SIV vaccine study data showing control of virus despite the presence of viral mutations

Epimmune today presented preliminary data from its ongoing SIV rhesus macaque vaccine study at the AIDS Vaccine 2004 conference in Lausanne, Switzerland.

31 Aug 2004

Novel disease mechanism underlying rheumatoid arthritis

Investigators at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed) have identified a novel disease mechanism underlying rheumatoid arthritis that may open the door to new therapies for this and other debilitating autoimmune disorders.

23 Aug 2004

Protein loss plays role in acute T-cell leukemia

The loss of a key protein (Smad3) in a pathway that helps prevent tumors from forming is specific to one form of childhood leukemia, but not to other pediatric and adult forms of leukemia, according to a new study published in the August 5, 2004, New England Journal of Medicine.

5 Aug 2004

Research that directs cancer-killing immune cells against the deadliest brain tumors shows promise

Researchers seeking to direct cancer-killing immune cells against the deadliest brain tumors have three new targets that show promise in laboratory studies and in a Phase I patient trial, according to two articles in the July 15 issue of the journal Cancer Research.

15 Jul 2004

Inexpensive generic fixed-dose combined therapies appears the most suitable solution for treating AIDS in developing countries

The development of simple and inexpensive generic fixed-dose combined therapies appears the most suitable solution for making possible this access to treatments in developing countries with meagre resources.

3 Jul 2004

Access to HIV antiretroviral therapies in the developing world should be a major world health priority

One of the strategies adopted consists in utilizing combinations of fixed doses of generic antiretrovirals, involving three medicinal drugs of two different classes in the same tablet.

2 Jul 2004

Results from study of Rituxan in rheumatoid arthritis show promise

Genentech, Inc., Biogen Idec and Roche have announced that the New England Journal of Medicine published the results of a Phase IIa study showing that two doses of Rituxan® (Rituximab), administered two weeks apart, improved symptoms in patients with moderate-to-severe rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for up to 48 weeks when combined with methotrexate (MTX), compared to MTX alone.

16 Jun 2004