Immune System News and Research

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Older workers generally report low levels of work-related stress

The study, presented in San Francisco at the annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America, is based on 2006 data from 1,544 participants in the U-M Health and Retirement Study, conducted by the U-M Institute for Social Research (ISR) and funded by the National Institute on Aging.

20 Nov 2007

New research helps explain how tumors go undetected by the body

Scientists studying how immune cells are regulated in healthy individuals, have made a key discovery in understanding why tumours may go undetected by the immune system and remain untreated by the body's own natural defences.

19 Nov 2007

First chemical evidence of a sperm recognition system in the oviducts of pigs

Adding another layer of competition to the mating game, scientists are reporting possible biochemical proof that the reproductive system of female mammals can "sense" the presence of sperm and react to it by changing the uterine environment.

19 Nov 2007

Super-tiny structures for biomedical research

The University of Massachusetts Amherst is host to a new nanomedicine institute focused on developing super-tiny structures for biomedical research.

19 Nov 2007

Pfizer to acquire Coley Pharmaceutical Group

Pfizer has announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Coley Pharmaceutical Group, a publicly-held biopharmaceutical company specializing in vaccine adjuvant technology and a new class of immunomodulatory drug candidates designed to fight cancers, allergy and asthma disorders, and autoimmune diseases.

19 Nov 2007

The immune system can stop the growth of a cancerous tumor without actually killing it

A multinational team of researchers has shown for the first time that the immune system can stop the growth of a cancerous tumor without actually killing it.

19 Nov 2007

HIV-1 vaccines may not be as reliable against superinfection as once thought

Natural HIV-1 infection does not always elicit a protective immune response, according to a new study published November 16 in PLoS Pathogens.

19 Nov 2007

Blood clotting protein fibrin plays a role in rheumatoid arthritis

Researchers at Cincinnati Children's have issued the first study showing that a protein normally involved in blood clotting (fibrin), also plays an important role in the inflammatory response and development of rheumatoid arthritis.

19 Nov 2007

Some AIDS vaccines may damage the immune system

Researchers in the United States say some of the viruses being used in experimental AIDS vaccines may cause damage to the immune system.

19 Nov 2007

Some viral-vector vaccines may cause more harm than good

Leading efforts to create an HIV vaccine have hinged on the use of viruses as carriers for selected elements of the HIV virus. Recently, however, evidence has emerged that some of these so-called viral vector systems may undermine the immune system and should not be used for vaccine development.

16 Nov 2007

Study links asthma with post-traumatic stress disorder

For the first time, a study has linked asthma with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among adults in the community. The study of male twins who were veterans of the Vietnam era suggests that the association between asthma and PTSD is not primarily explained by common genetic influences.

16 Nov 2007

Poxvirus' ability to hide from the immune system may aid vaccine design

The cowpox virus, a much milder cousin of the deadly smallpox virus, can keep infected host cells from warning the immune system that they have been compromised, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found.

16 Nov 2007

Earlier bites by uninfected mosquitoes boost West Nile deaths in lab mice

There's one more reason to try to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes, scientists have discovered: bites from mosquitoes that aren't infected by the West Nile virus may make the disease worse in people who acquire it later from West Nile-infected mosquitoes.

16 Nov 2007

CD200 stifles anti-tumor immunity

The prognosis for individuals with metastatic melanoma (MM) is not good. Therapeutic strategies to enhance the immune response have some clinical benefit; however, most patients eventually succumb to progressive disease, in part because their immune cells known as dendritic cells (DCs) fail to sustain an effective antitumor T cell immune response.

16 Nov 2007

Nasty new cold virus claims lives across the U.S.

A nasty new version of the virus which causes the common cold is spreading across the United States.

15 Nov 2007

Tumour cells could be used to develop personalised light-activated cancer vaccines

Cancer tissue taken directly from patients could be used to produce a light-triggered vaccine to target and treat their own tumours, according to a study published in the British Journal of Cancer.

14 Nov 2007

Hope on the horizon for hereditary angioedema sufferers

Although there is currently no treatment approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) for acute attacks of hereditary angioedema (HAE) - a genetic disease causing swelling of extremities, face and internal organs that can be life-threatening - hope is on the horizon according to a team of experts presenting the latest research at the Annual Meeting of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) in Dallas.

14 Nov 2007

La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology to perform study on allergy molecular causes

A major study that will provide a new window into understanding and potentially treating allergies will be conducted by the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology (LIAI) under a $5 million federal contract.

14 Nov 2007

To get more out of your next cup of tea, just add juice

A study found that citrus juices enable more of green tea's unique antioxidants to remain after simulated digestion, making the pairing even healthier than previously thought.

14 Nov 2007

New method for early diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension

Researchers at the University of Granada ( UGR ) from the Systemic Autoimmune Diseases Unit and the Cardiology Service of the Hospital Clínico San Cecilio in Granada have developed an innovative system which will help doctors make the earliest diagnosis of pulmonary hypertension possible, which is the main cause of death for patients suffering from scleroderma, a rare disease which affects approximately 1,200 out of every million people.

14 Nov 2007