Neuroimmunology News and Research

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Mayo researchers discover new therapy for patients with neuromyelitis optica

Mayo Clinic researchers have identified a new therapy for patients with neuromyelitis optica that appears to stop inflammation of the eye nerves and spinal cord. NMO is a debilitating central nervous system disorder that is often misdiagnosed as multiple sclerosis (MS).

10 Oct 2012

Autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis halted in mice

Working with mice, Johns Hopkins researchers say they have developed a gene-based therapy to stop the rodent equivalent of the autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis by specifically targeting the destructive immune response the disorder triggers in the body.

1 Oct 2012

MitoTarget Project and neurodegenerative diseases: an interview with Rebecca Pruss, Ph.D., CSO of Trophos

The MitoTarget Project was a project funded by the European Commission, under their FP7 programme. It was funding for a call published in 2007.

21 Aug 2012

DFG to set up new CRC/Transregio that focuses on multiple sclerosis research

On July 1, 2012, the German Research Foundation (DFG) will set up a new Transregional Collaborative Research Center (CRC/Transregio) to be coordinated by the University Medical Center of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz.

29 Jun 2012

Ten young researchers named Pew Latin American Fellows in the Biomedical Sciences

Ten young researchers were named Pew Latin American Fellows in the Biomedical Sciences today by The Pew Charitable Trusts. For these scientists, who have dedicated their careers to finding solutions for some of the world's most troubling health problems, this fellowship will provide support that will further their research, enable them to work with colleagues in the United States, and increase scientific knowledge throughout their home region.

14 Jun 2012

Rochester researcher to continue MS study

A Rochester, New York, researcher will receive a $263,622 grant to continue his study of injury to brain cell connections (synapses) in multiple sclerosis (MS) through the American Brain Foundation (formerly the American Academy of Neurology Foundation) and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society Clinician-Scientist Development Award.

27 Apr 2012

New method for direct identification of antigens

The immune system is a vital part of our defenses against pathogens, but it can also attack host tissues, resulting in autoimmune disease. The antigens that induce destructive immune reactions can now be identified directly - without any prior knowledge of their possible structure.

11 Apr 2012

MRF clinical trial to examine antigen-specific MS therapy

The Myelin Repair Foundation (MRF) announced today that its research might soon lead into a clinical proof-of-concept trial at the Department of Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research (nims), University Hospital Zürich, Switzerland, and the Institute for Neuroimmunology and Clinical Multiple Sclerosis Research (inims) in Hamburg, Germany.

8 Mar 2012

Researchers refute widely accepted hypothesis about causative step in ALS

In science, refuting a hypothesis can be as significant as proving one, all the more so in research aimed at elucidating how diseases proceed with a view toward preventing, treating, or curing them. Such a discovery can save scientists from spending precious years of effort exploring a dead end. In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Munich-based researchers refute a widely accepted hypothesis about a causative step in neurodegenerative conditions.

1 Mar 2012

Cedars-Sinai scientist to study potential treatments for AD

A Cedars-Sinai research scientist has been awarded two national grants totaling more than $2.5 million, including a prestigious Research Project Grant from the National Institutes of Health to study potential treatments for Alzheimer's disease.

21 Feb 2012

Scientists discover new metabolic pathway which makes gliomas more aggressive

A research alliance of Heidelberg University Hospital and the German Cancer Research Center, jointly with colleagues of the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research in Leipzig, have discovered a new metabolic pathway which makes malignant brain tumors (gliomas) more aggressive and weakens patients' immune systems.

7 Oct 2011

Scientists discover 29 new genetic variants linked with MS

Multiple sclerosis is primarily an immunological disease. Scientists at Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) have in succeeded, in collaboration with 23 research teams from 15 different countries, in discovering a total of 29 new genetic variants that are involved in the genesis of multiple sclerosis (MS), an inflammatory disease of the nervous system.

7 Sep 2011

Anti-malaria drug provides key insight into potential treatments for autoimmune diseases

In a study published recently in the journal Science Signaling Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) scientists demonstrate on the molecular level how the anti-malaria drug chloroquine represses inflammation, which may provide a blueprint for new strategies for treating inflammation and a multitude of autoimmune diseases such as arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and certain cancers.

19 Jul 2011

New journal on multiple sclerosis and related disorders

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and solutions, is pleased to announce the launch of a new journal, Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders with its first issue publication in January 2012.

8 Jun 2011

GM-CSF appears to be key culprit in multiple sclerosis onset

Reporting in Nature Immunology, Jefferson neuroscientists have identified a driving force behind autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, and suggest that blocking this cell-signaling molecule is the first step in developing new treatments to eradicate these diseases.

25 Apr 2011

Study findings support therapeutic approach for common form of MS

In an effort to develop therapeutic remedies for multiple sclerosis, scientists debate two possible interventional approaches - but they're on opposite sides of the spectrum. Researchers at Wayne State University's School of Medicine, however, have reached a definitive conclusion as to which approach is correct, putting an end to a long-disputed issue.

24 Feb 2011

Histamine can be an important molecule to develop new treatments for MS

If you think histamines are your nemesis during allergy season, here's something that might change your perspective. New research published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology shows that histamine could be an important molecule to developing new treatments for multiple sclerosis.

1 Feb 2011

International Congress at Spain highlights advances in neuroimmunological disease treatment

The complexity of the immune system and nervous system turn Neuroimmunology into one of the most exciting fields of modern biomedicine. Between October 26th and 30th takes place in Sitges (Barcelona, Spain) the X International Congress of Neuroimmunology of the International Society of Neuroimmunology.

29 Oct 2010

Scientists discover new cell that may limit inflammation in CNS

Scientists at Barrow Neurological Institute have recently made discoveries about a type of cell that may limit inflammation in the central nervous system - a finding that could have important implications in the treatment of brain disorders such as multiple sclerosis. The research, led by Barrow's Fu-Dong Shi, MD, PhD, was published in the August 2010 issue of The Journal of Experimental Medicine, and simultaneously highlighted in Nature.

22 Oct 2010

UCLA study sheds light on roots of schizophrenia, autism

UCLA scientists have discovered that exposing fetal neurons to higher than normal levels of a common immune protein leads to abnormal brain development in mice.

15 Oct 2010