Immunotherapy News and Research

Latest Immunotherapy News and Research

First immune danger receptor' found

Cancer Research UK scientists have found the first biological receptor that alerts the immune system to 'dangerous' or abnormal cell death, according to research published in Nature.

16 Feb 2009

New device decreases wait times for patients needing immunotherapy

Researchers from the Children's Cancer Hospital at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have created a device that significantly decreases the time needed to produce genetically manipulated T cells in preclinical tests for leukemia.

16 Feb 2009

Targeted immune cells shrink tumors in mice

Researchers have generated altered immune cells that are able to shrink, and in some cases eradicate, large tumors in mice.

10 Feb 2009

Molecule that suppresses immune response under study in type 1 diabetes

The idea is to teach the immune system of children at high risk for type 1 diabetes not to attack the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas.

5 Feb 2009

Component of DNA stimulates and suppresses the immune response

A component of DNA that can both stimulate and suppress the immune system, depending on the dosage, may hold hope for treating cancer and infection, Medical College of Georgia researchers say.

29 Jan 2009

Scientist decodes the language of memory cells

When an infection attacks, the body's immune system sounds the alert, kills the invading germs and remembers the pathogen to protect against contracting the same type of infection again.

23 Jan 2009

Gene therapy kills brain tumors through selective recruitment of immune cells

Scientists seeking to harness the power of the immune system to eradicate brain tumors face two major hurdles: recruiting key immune cells called dendritic cells into areas of the brain where they are not naturally found and helping them recognize tumor cells as targets for attack.

13 Jan 2009

Novel low-cost immunotherapy for cancer cells

Molecules of sugar sitting on the surface of cancer cells are keys to the development of a new vaccine aimed at both treating and stopping the spread of certain types of cancers called carcinomas, which include prostate, breast, ovarian and lung, among others.

8 Jan 2009

New guidelines for malignant melanoma

The German Cancer Society has worked out new guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of malignant melanoma - a disease with unfavorable prognosis.

18 Dec 2008

Preventing food allergies in children - a change of strategy?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States in 2007 around 3 million children under 18 had food allergies - a rise of 18% since 1997.

17 Dec 2008

Lessons from Northwick Park drug-trial disaster

Scientists investigating the 2006 Northwick Park drug-trial disaster that left six healthy volunteers hospitalised say they have developed new pre-clinical tests that could have stopped the trial from ever going ahead.

From The University of Manchester 15 Dec 2008

Alzheimer's researcher explores the variety of animal models now being used in research

Very few species spontaneously develop the cognitive, behavioral and neuropathological symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD), yet AD research must progress at a more rapid pace than the rate of human aging.

15 Dec 2008

Lenalidomide safe for elderly patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia

The oral medication lenalidomide is safe and well-tolerated for elderly patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a group without a well-defined frontline therapy for their disease, researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reported today at the 50th annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

8 Dec 2008

Rituxan in combination with chemo improves survival in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Genentech, Inc. and Biogen Idec have announced that two global Phase III studies in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), CLL8 and REACH, showed Rituxan (rituximab) plus chemotherapy significantly increased the time patients lived without their disease advancing, as defined by the primary endpoint of progression-free survival (PFS), when compared to chemotherapy alone.

8 Dec 2008

Novel therapeutic approaches for various forms of thrombocytopenia

Four studies that highlight significant advances in treatment and survival outcomes for patients with various forms of thrombocytopenia, a group of bleeding disorders characterized by a low number of platelets in the blood, were presented December 6 during the 50th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology in San Francisco, CA.

8 Dec 2008

New method improves immunotherapy

A study published by Elsevier this month in Clinical Immunology, the official journal of the Clinical Immunology Society (CIS), describes a new method that facilitates the induction of a specific type of immune suppressive cells, called 'regulatory T cells' for therapeutic use.

1 Dec 2008

Protein indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase points to new pancreatic cancer therapies

An enzyme that is overexpressed in pancreatic cancer cells may hold the key to successfully treating the disease with targeted immunotherapy, researchers from Thomas Jefferson University reported at the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Southern Surgical Association.

1 Dec 2008