Immune System News and Research

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U.S. health officials testify before Senate Committee about H1N1 vaccine campaign

U.S. health officials defended their handling of the country's H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine campaign Tuesday "against criticism that their plan to protect Americans was confusing and over-optimistic," Reuters reports (Fox, 11/17).

18 Nov 2009

Patients with recent-onset schizophrenia have raised levels of inflammatory substances

Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have discovered that patients with recent-onset schizophrenia have higher levels of inflammatory substances in their brains. Their findings offer hope of being able to treat schizophrenia with drugs that affect the immune system.

18 Nov 2009

CEL-SCI commences clinical study of LEAPS-H1N1 treatment for hospitalized patients

CEL-SCI Corporation, a developer of vaccines and therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases and a late-stage oncology company, announced today the start of the Company's first clinical study for hospitalized H1N1 patients at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (Johns Hopkins).

18 Nov 2009

Researchers identify new way to capture tumor cells in bloodstream; findings can improve early cancer diagnosis

Jin-Woo Kim, a biomedical engineering researcher at the University of Arkansas, is part of a cutting-edge nanotechnology research group that has discovered a way to capture tumor cells in the bloodstream. The work could dramatically improve early cancer diagnosis and prevent deadly metastasis.

18 Nov 2009

MPI scientists identify mechanism that demonstrates immune cell movement on diverse surfaces

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute (MPI) of Biochemistry in Martinsried near Munich, Germany, have now deciphered the mechanism that illustrates how these mobile cells move on diverse surfaces. "Similar to a car, these cells have an engine, a clutch and wheels which provide the necessary friction," explains Michael Sixt, a research group leader at the MPI of Biochemistry.

18 Nov 2009

SynCon Chikungunya virus DNA vaccine induces protective neutralizing antibody responses in animal model

Inovio Biomedical Corporation, a leader in DNA vaccine design, development and delivery, announced today that the company's SynCon™ Chikungunya virus DNA vaccine induced protective neutralizing antibody responses in a preclinical non-human primate model.

18 Nov 2009

Request for pre-IND meeting to discuss IND application for therapeutic vaccine granted by FDA

GeoVax Labs, Inc. (the "Company"), an Atlanta-based, biopharmaceutical company developing human vaccines for diseases caused by HIV-1 (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and other infectious agents, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted its request for a pre-IND meeting to discuss the proposed Investigational New Drug (IND) application for GeoVax's therapeutic vaccine as a treatment for individuals already infected with HIV.

18 Nov 2009

Verax Platelet PGD test receives FDA clearance

Fenwal, Inc., a global medical technology company focused on improving blood collection, separation, safety and availability, announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared the Verax Platelet PGD® test as a quality control test to detect bacterial contamination in whole blood-derived, pooled platelets prior to transfusion. Fenwal is the exclusive global distributor of the test, which was developed by Verax Biomedical of Worcester, Mass.

18 Nov 2009

Third patent application for COPD stem cell therapy filed by Entest BioMedical

Entest BioMedical Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: ENTB) announced today the filing of a third patent application relating to the area of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a condition that affects more than 5 million patients in the United States, resulting in more than 120,000 deaths per year. The application covers an implantable medical device useful in re-directing the immune system to stop tissue inflammation.

18 Nov 2009

Previous flu infections can reduce the severity of H1N1

Researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology have found that previous influenza infections may provide at least some level of immunity to the H1N1 "swine" flu. "The question we asked was, "Is the swine flu more like the seasonal flu or like a totally new strain of influenza where there would be no immunity?," said Alessandro Sette, Ph.D., an internationally recognized vaccine expert and director of the La Jolla Institute's Center for Infectious Disease.

18 Nov 2009

Almost half of the women in the UK suffer from lack of vitamin A, find scientists

Almost half of UK women could be suffering from a lack of vitamin A due to a previously undiscovered genetic variation, scientists at Newcastle University have found.

18 Nov 2009

New encapsulated system may enable doctors to deliver anti-cancer drugs directly to tumors

An encapsulation breakthrough by researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology may enable doctors to deliver anti-cancer drugs directly to tumors over extended periods of time, while preventing the systemic side effects of chemotherapy and other current cancer treatments.

18 Nov 2009

Tips on how to prevent household members from getting sick during flu season

someone at home who has H1N1 (swine) flu, it is important for you to prevent other people in the house from getting sick, according to Gary Kalkut, MD, MPH, Senior Vice-President, Chief Medical Officer of Montefiore Medical Center.

18 Nov 2009

Also in global health news: Global corruption; HIV vaccine; smoking; DRC aid

A new report from Transparency International says the fight against corruption worldwide is slowing as urgency to address the global economic downturn recedes, Bloomberg reports.

17 Nov 2009

Th22 cell to control inflammation in body to help fight off infection discovered

A new type of immune cell that can be out of control in certain chronic inflammatory diseases, worsening the symptoms of conditions like psoriasis and asthma, is described for the first time in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

17 Nov 2009

Researchers study different plant substances to "awaken" the latent HIV-1 virus

Researchers from the University of Cadiz and the University of Cordoba study different plant substances to "awaken" the latent HIV-1 virus, immune to the current therapy, and to obtain more effective treatments in the future.

17 Nov 2009

Recent developments at Burnham Institute for Medical Research

New antibiotics for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and other pesky bacteria. Andrei Osterman and collaborators have used comparisons of bacterial genomes to identify new targets for antibiotics and produced first-generation chemical inhibitors of a class of bacterial enzymes, called NadDs (nicotinate mononucleotide adenylyltransferases).

17 Nov 2009

New insights into cells' reaction to DNA damage

Cancer researchers of the Max Delbr-ck Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch have gained new insights into how cells react to DNA damage. Dr. Michael Stilmann, Dr. Michael Hinz and Professor Claus Scheidereit have shown that the protein PARP-1, which detects DNA damage within seconds, activates the transcription factor NF-kappaB, a well-known regulator of gene expression.

17 Nov 2009

Researchers discover a way to boost levels of palmitoylethanolamide

UC Irvine pharmacology researchers have discovered a way to boost levels of a natural body fat that helps decrease inflammation, pointing to possible new treatments for allergies, illnesses and injuries related to the immune system.

17 Nov 2009

Molecular makeup of current H1N1 flu strain strikingly different from previous H1N1 strains

As the number of deaths related to the pandemic H1N1 virus, commonly known as "swine flu," continues to rise, researchers have been scrambling to decipher its inner workings and explain why the incidence is lower than expected in older adults.

17 Nov 2009

Immune System News and Research

U.S. health officials testify before Senate Committee about H1N1 vaccine campaign

Patients with recent-onset schizophrenia have raised levels of inflammatory substances

CEL-SCI commences clinical study of LEAPS-H1N1 treatment for hospitalized patients

Researchers identify new way to capture tumor cells in bloodstream; findings can improve early cancer diagnosis

MPI scientists identify mechanism that demonstrates immune cell movement on diverse surfaces

SynCon Chikungunya virus DNA vaccine induces protective neutralizing antibody responses in animal model

Request for pre-IND meeting to discuss IND application for therapeutic vaccine granted by FDA

Verax Platelet PGD test receives FDA clearance

Third patent application for COPD stem cell therapy filed by Entest BioMedical

Previous flu infections can reduce the severity of H1N1

Almost half of the women in the UK suffer from lack of vitamin A, find scientists

New encapsulated system may enable doctors to deliver anti-cancer drugs directly to tumors

Tips on how to prevent household members from getting sick during flu season

Also in global health news: Global corruption; HIV vaccine; smoking; DRC aid

Th22 cell to control inflammation in body to help fight off infection discovered

Researchers study different plant substances to "awaken" the latent HIV-1 virus

Recent developments at Burnham Institute for Medical Research

New insights into cells' reaction to DNA damage

Researchers discover a way to boost levels of palmitoylethanolamide

Molecular makeup of current H1N1 flu strain strikingly different from previous H1N1 strains

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