Immune System News and Research

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Alcohol may promote scarring and airway injury after transplantation

A recent study using an animal model of lung transplants shows that chronic alcohol consumption by the donor promotes scarring and airway injury after transplantation.

27 Nov 2007

Experimental gene therapy trial for arthritis allowed to resume

Trials in the U.S. of a controversial and experimental gene therapy have been given the green light to resume following the tragic death of a volunteer in July.

27 Nov 2007

Researchers transfer immune response to myeloma patient

Researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) have for the first time transferred an immune response in a healthy individual to a patient with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow, showing promise for cancer vaccination.

27 Nov 2007

Omega-3 fatty acids protect the brain against Parkinson's disease

Omega-3 fatty acids protect the brain against Parkinson's disease, according to a study by Université Laval researchers published in the online edition of the FASEB Journal, the journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

27 Nov 2007

More evidence that biological factors play a significant role in the development of sexual orientation

A study of men in Ontario, Canada provides a new twist on the connection between sexual/relational orientation and right or left-handedness.

27 Nov 2007

Premenopausal women with depression have less bone mass

Premenopausal women with even mild depression have less bone mass than do their nondepressed peers, a study funded in part by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), shows.

27 Nov 2007

Deeper insights into the workings of the immune system

The first lines of defense in our immune systems are specialized mobile units that check the identity of cells to determine whether they are 'self' or 'foreign.'

27 Nov 2007

TB appears again in the U.S.

Officials from the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment in the U.S. say a Nepalese student at Colorado State University-Pueblo who died of tuberculosis in June, probably infected 17 other people.

26 Nov 2007

Researchers find new way to transplant new blood-forming stem cells into bone marrow of mice

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have taken a small but significant step, in mouse studies, toward the goal of transplanting adult stem cells to create a new immune system for people with autoimmune or genetic blood diseases.

22 Nov 2007

What happens when dad looks after the kids?

According to new research from the University of Bristol, some fathers do not provide their young sons with the same quality of intellectual stimulation as mothers do. Boys who spend at least 15 hours a week in their father’s care as toddlers perform worse in academic assessments when they start school.

22 Nov 2007

Lung transplants for cystic fibrosis may not be such a good option

Researchers in the United States say lung transplants do little to improve the outcomes for children with severe cystic fibrosis (CF) and often increases their risk of dying.

22 Nov 2007

Discovery of new signaling molecule could lead to the development of new treatments for cancer

Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have discovered a new signaling molecule that prevents immune responses from running amok and damaging the body.

21 Nov 2007

Oral drug sets a new survival standard for bone marrow cancer

Findings from two large, international clinical trials show "unprecedented" survival for patients with multiple myeloma, a blood cancer that occurs in the blood-making cells of bone marrow.

21 Nov 2007

New study finds blood-spinal cord barrier compromised in mice with ALS

The blood-spinal cord barrier is functionally impaired in areas of motor neuron damage in mice modeling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), report researchers at the University of South Florida Center for Aging and Brain Repair.

21 Nov 2007

Lung transplants do more harm than good to children with cystic fibrosis

Lung transplantation, the therapy almost every cystic fibrosis patient (CF) considers at some point to prolong survival, rarely helps children with the disease live longer and, in fact, often increases their risk of dying, University of Utah researchers conclude in the most extensive study of the issue to date.

21 Nov 2007

New technique provides stem cells without ethical and legal constraints

In a paper to be published Nov. 22 in the online edition of the journal Science, a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers reports the genetic reprogramming of human skin cells to create cells indistinguishable from embryonic stem cells.

21 Nov 2007

Human pluripotent stem cells without human cloning

Two major scientific papers published this week in Science and Cell unveil a proven way to generate patient-matched human pluripotent stem cells without human cloning, and without the use of human embryos or human or animal eggs.

21 Nov 2007

Japanase scientists reprogramme human adult cells to function like pluripotent embryonic stem cells

Acclaimed stem cell researcher Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, has reported that he and his Kyoto University colleagues have successfully reprogrammed human adult cells to function like pluripotent embryonic stem (ES) cells.

21 Nov 2007

Chlamydia pneumoniae involved in both heart disease and infertility

Outside the laboratory, Anthony Azenabor is outgoing and talkative, an extrovert who laughs heartily at his own jokes.

21 Nov 2007

Monkeys fend off AIDS-like symptoms with enhanced HIV vaccine

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have discovered that using an immune system gene to enhance a vaccine used to study HIV in macaque monkeys provides the animals with greater protection against simian HIV (SHIV) than an unmodified vaccine.

21 Nov 2007