Immune System News and Research

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Adult stem cells improve healing of broken bones

Adult stem cells improve healing of broken bones and could eventually serve as a new treatment for the 10 to 20 percent of fractures that fail to heal, according to a new study. The results were presented Monday, June 16, at The Endocrine Society's 90th Annual Meeting in San Francisco, by Froilan Granero-Molto, PhD, research associate of the University of North Carolina.

16 Jun 2008

Individualized therapies for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma identified with PET

Positron emission tomography (PET) could be an important tool for identifying non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients who are likely to respond well to treatment with 90 ibritumomab tiuxetan (IT)-the first radioimmunotherapy treatment approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, said researchers at the Society of Nuclear Medicine's 55th Annual Meeting.

16 Jun 2008

Misoprostol off-label use may have led to deaths

Preliminary U-M studies indicate that oral use of RU-486's companion drug misoprostol is safe, but vaginal use may undermine body's immune responses

16 Jun 2008

Patch protects travellers from holiday diarrhoea

Scientists in the U.S. have developed a patch which protects people from stomach bugs picked up during foreign travel.

16 Jun 2008

Evolution may have lumbered humans with allergy problems

Scientists funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have discovered how evolution may have lumbered humans with allergy problems.

15 Jun 2008

Scientists identify molecular trick that may explain part of Salmonella's fierceness

Salmonella is serving up a surprise not only for tomato lovers around the country but also for scientists who study the rod-shaped bacterium that causes misery for millions of people.

15 Jun 2008

Vitamin D, "the heart tranquilizer"

Strong bones, a healthy immune system, protection against some types of cancer: Recent studies suggest there's yet another item for the expanding list of vitamin D benefits. Vitamin D, "the sunshine vitamin," keeps the heart, the body's long-distance runner, fit for life's demands.

11 Jun 2008

Lupus more severe in patients with ancestry from southern Europe

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients with a higher percentage of ancestry from southern Europe have more severe disease manifestations, according to new research presented today at EULAR 2008, the Annual Congress of the European League Against Rheumatism in Paris, France.

11 Jun 2008

Breakthrough in understanding tumor immune therapy

Researchers from the Tubingen University, Department of Dermatology, uncovered an entirely new understanding on how the immune system may control tumor development.

11 Jun 2008

Specific immune therapy works for many people with allergies

The German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care has assessed recent evidence on allergies. It found that the once controversial immune therapy against allergy symptoms can definitely help many people with allergies.

11 Jun 2008

EntreMed receives new patent for 2-Methoxyestradiol analogs

EntreMed, Inc. has announced the issuance of U.S. Patent No. 7,371,741 covering analogs of 2- methoxyestradiol (2ME2).

11 Jun 2008

Compugen announces discovery of novel drug targets for cancer antibody therapeutics

Compugen Ltd. announced today the discovery of more than ten novel targets of antibody therapy for various types of solid and hematopoietic cancer.

11 Jun 2008

Without increased funding, California's dominance and public health are threatened, according to new report

The California Healthcare Institute (CHI) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) today released a report, "The National Institutes of Health: Fueling Healthcare Innovation in California," urging legislators to support increased funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) - the backbone of the biomedical industry in California, which employs more than 267,000 people in high wage jobs.

11 Jun 2008

Oxygen-rich lifesaving efforts pose risk for respiratory infections

Each year, thousands of premature infants battle to breathe. Thanks to life-saving interventions developed in the past couple decades - steroids given to their mothers to stall pre-term labor, mechanical ventilation, air enriched with extra oxygen, and surfactant, a crucial wetting agent that makes breathing less work - most of these newborns survive with enough lung function to grow and go home.

11 Jun 2008

Viruses genetically designed to kill cancer cells influence tumor blood-vessel growth

Viruses genetically designed to kill cancer cells offer a promising strategy for treating incurable brain tumors such as glioblastoma, but the body's natural defenses often eliminate the viruses before they can eliminate the tumor.

11 Jun 2008

Drug combo offers new approach for reversing type 1 diabetes

Promising results from a study that tested a new approach for reversing Type 1 diabetes are being presented this week at the American Diabetes Association's 68th Annual Scientific Session in San Francisco.

11 Jun 2008

"HiCy" drug regimen reverses multiple sclerosis symptoms in selected patients

A short-term, very-high dose regimen of the immune-suppressing drug cyclophosphamide seems to slow progression of multiple sclerosis (MS) in most of a small group of patients studied and may even restore neurological function lost to the disease, Johns Hopkins researchers report. The findings in nine people, most of whom had failed all other treatments, suggest new ways to treat a disease that tends to progress relentlessly.

10 Jun 2008

World leaders call for action to reduce TB deaths among HIV-positive people

For the first time ever, heads of governments, public health and business leaders, heads of UN agencies and activists came together at UN Headquarters today to confront a threat to global health that could undermine investments in life-saving drug treatment for people living with HIV.

10 Jun 2008

Researchers show brain can protect against cancer

Scientists have been aware for many years that if cancer patients are not able to deal with the stress associated with being sick, the cancer will progress faster than in calmer patients.

9 Jun 2008

Scientists identify a key regulator of DNA mutations

As a general rule, your DNA is not something you want rearranged. But there are exceptions - especially when it comes to fighting infections. Since the number of microbes in the world far surpasses the amount of human DNA dedicated to combat them, specialized cells in the immune system have adopted an ingenious, if potentially disastrous, strategy for making antibodies. These cells, called B lymphocytes, intentionally mutate their own DNA to ward off invaders they have never seen before.

9 Jun 2008