Thymus News and Research

RSS

Scientists develop non-toxic transplantation procedure using antibodies to target blood stem cells in mice

Harvard Stem Cell Institute scientists have taken the first steps toward developing a treatment that would make bone marrow - blood stem cell - transplantation safer and, as a result, more widely available to the millions of people living with blood disorders like sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, and AIDS.

7 Jun 2016

Study links lower concentration of heat-shock proteins to recurrence of thymic tumors

In most cases, tumors of the thymus gland are removed by surgical resection. However, they recur after a few years in up to one third of patients. A research team headed up by thoracic surgeon Bernhard Moser of the Thoracic Surgery Department at MedUni Vienna has successfully demonstrated that these tumors form heat-shock proteins. The lower the concentration of these proteins, the more quickly tumors recur. The study has been published in the leading journal Scientific Reports.

10 May 2016

Taking antibiotics in early childhood can disrupt immune system function lifelong

Scientists want to know whether taking antibiotics early in life can disrupt your immune system function lifelong.

15 Apr 2016

Immune cell with 'Superman' power could lead to novel therapies for type 1 diabetes

A new study led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) reveals a previously unknown type of immune cell. The discovery opens new avenues in the effort to develop novel therapies for autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes.

6 Apr 2016

Study explores two new antibodies believed to cause myasthenia gravis

A study of patients from across the nation with myasthenia gravis is helping determine the incidence of two new antibodies believed to cause the disease, and whether these patients need different treatment strategies.

6 Apr 2016

Researchers identify origins of aggressive childhood lymphoma

The origins of a type of aggressive childhood lymphoma have been found, giving hope that new drugs could be designed to prevent the disease coming back after treatment.

18 Jan 2016

Scientists identify origins of anaplastic large cell lymphoma

Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) is a very aggressive cancer of the blood, which usually occurs as a tumour in lymph nodes, the skin, the lungs, the liver, and in soft tissue, and mainly affects children and young adults.

18 Jan 2016

Increasing levels of FGF21 hormone protects against loss of immune function in the elderly

A hormone that extends lifespan in mice by 40% is produced by specialized cells in the thymus gland, according to a new study by Yale School of Medicine researchers. The team also found that increasing the levels of this hormone, called FGF21, protects against the loss of immune function that comes with age.

12 Jan 2016

Penn Medicine researchers show that DNA editing errors can lead to cancer

Sometimes when the immune system makes small mistakes, the body amplifies its response in a big way: Editing errors in the DNA of developing T and B cells can cause blood cancers. Now, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania have shown that when the enzyme key to cutting and pasting segments of DNA hits so-called "off-target" spots on a chromosome, the development of immune cells can lead to cancer in animal models.

11 Sep 2015

Adaptive immune system plays active role in guiding development of mammary glands

In experiments with mouse tissue, UC San Francisco researchers have discovered that the adaptive immune system, generally associated with fighting bacterial and viral infections, plays an active role in guiding the normal development of mammary glands, the only organs--in female humans as well as mice--that develop predominately after birth, beginning at puberty.

28 Aug 2015

TSRI study shows antioxidants slow aging process, reduce risk of infection

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have shown how aging cripples the production of new immune cells, decreasing the immune system’s response to vaccines and putting the elderly at risk of infection.

7 Aug 2015

New understanding of keratin 17 protein could lead to development of better ways to prevent cancer

New research from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests that the protein keratin 17 - the presence of which is used in the lab to detect and stage various types of cancers - is not just a biomarker for the disease, but may play a critical role in tumor growth.

14 Jul 2015

Researchers discover role of RORC mutations in patients with candidiasis and mycobacteriosis

The discovery of bi-allelic mutations in RORC in patients with candidiasis and mycobacteriosis revealed the pivotal role of RORC in mucocutaneous immunity to Candida and in systemic immunity to Mycobacterium in humans.

13 Jul 2015

Rare form of autoimmune syndrome may be tied to mutations in AIRE gene

A hereditary autoimmune disease that was thought to be exceedingly rare may have a less severe form that affects one in 1,000 people or even more, according to new research conducted at the Weizmann Institute of Science, in Israel, and the University of Bergen, in Norway.

18 Jun 2015

Novel discovery offers new insight into why women more likely than men to develop MS

An innocent mistake made by a graduate student in a Northwestern Medicine lab (she accidentally used male mice instead of female mice during an experiment) has led scientists to a novel discovery that offers new insight into why women are more likely than men to develop autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS).

28 May 2015

Scripps Proton Therapy Center reports exceptional results in treating patients with pencil-beam scanning

The nation's first and only proton therapy center to treat patients exclusively with pencil-beam scanning is reporting exceptional results in delivering cancer treatment since opening for patient care just more than a year ago.

21 May 2015

Major breakthrough in understanding development of type 1 diabetes

Joslin researchers have uncovered the action of a gene that regulates the education of T cells, providing insight into how and why the immune system begins mistaking the body's own tissues for targets. The gene, Clec16a, is one of a suite of genes associated with multiple autoimmune disorders, suggesting it is fundamental to the development of autoimmunity.

13 May 2015

Mount Sinai researchers present landmark studies at AATS meeting

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai researchers presented several landmark studies at the 2015 American Association for Thoracic Surgery meeting in Seattle.

5 May 2015

Researchers develop novel strategy in fight against cancer

A team of researchers led by Associate Professor Caroline Lee from the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine at the National University of Singapore, in collaboration with Associate Professor Song Jianxing of the Department of Biological Sciences at the NUS Faculty of Science, has developed a novel strategy in the fight against cancer.

15 Feb 2015

Professor Jonathan Sprent named recipient of AAI Lifetime Achievement Award

The American Association of Immunologists has selected Professor Jonathan Sprent FAA FRS, from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research, to be the 2015 recipient of the AAI Lifetime Achievement Award.

23 Jan 2015