Immune System News and Research

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Connection between cancer development and Darwinian evolution explored

Cancer is a natural consequence of human evolution. Our genes have not developed to give us long and happy lives.

17 Apr 2007

Most-at-risk nursing home residents to be tested for superbugs

A Johns Hopkins study of adult patients admitted to The Johns Hopkins Hospital showed that patients who resided in nursing homes or other kinds of long-term care facilities at any time within the last six months were far more likely than other adult patients to carry or be infected with a drug-resistant superbug.

17 Apr 2007

High levels of antibodies - low levels of cancer!

Active immunisation can stimulate the body to produce highly efficient IgE antibodies that attack tumours.

17 Apr 2007

Expression Genetics completes phase I trial of lead drug candidate, EGEN-001

Expression Genetics, Inc., has announced the completion of a Phase I clinical study evaluating the Company's lead drug candidate, EGEN-001.

17 Apr 2007

Peregrine's selective anti-VEGF antibodies shown to be as effective as Avastin

Peregrine Pharmaceuticals has reported that preclinical data presented at the Centennial Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) showed that its monoclonal antibody 2C3, which selectively blocks vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) from binding to the second of the two VEGF receptors, demonstrates potent anti-cancer efficacy in a preclinical orthotopic model of pancreatic cancer.

17 Apr 2007

Cetuximab improves survival and slows progression of colorectal cancer

Research presented at the 2007 Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research confirmed that there is now an effective treatment option for colorectal cancer patients for whom all other treatment options have been exhausted, cetuximab.

17 Apr 2007

Scientists find strong genetic link to Crohn's disease

An international team of scientists believe they have identified a number of genes that may indicate a pre-disposal to developing Crohn's disease and say their discovery confirms the suspicion that the inflammatory bowel ailment has a strong genetic link.

17 Apr 2007

New genetic risk factors for Crohn's disease

An international research team , including investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Broad Institute of Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has identified several novel genetic variations associated with the risk of Crohn's disease.

16 Apr 2007

New tumor antigen found with new cloning technique

In recent years, researchers have worked to develop a number of vaccines to help the immune system fight tumors.

16 Apr 2007

Health disparities in access to healthcare

Minority individuals are much more likely to develop and die from cancer than the general U.S. population.

16 Apr 2007

Mapping rhesus macaque genome helps illuminate what makes us human

Researchers have sequenced the genome of the relatively ancient rhesus macaque ( Macaca mulatta ), providing perspective into how humans are genetically different from our primate relatives.

15 Apr 2007

Macaque genome analysis will improve scientists' ability to identify human genes involved in diseases

Cornell experts in computational biology and bioinformatics have made key contributions to the analysis of the genome of the rhesus macaque, better known as the rhesus monkey.

15 Apr 2007

Link between immune system and high plasma lipid levels

Researchers at the University of Chicago have found an unsuspected link between the immune system and high plasma lipid levels (cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood) in mice.

15 Apr 2007

LaeA gene shown to be an ideal prospect for new ways to fight infection

For the growing number of people with diminished immune systems - cancer patients, transplant recipients, those with HIV/AIDS - infection by a ubiquitous mold known as Aspergillus fumigatus can be a death sentence.

15 Apr 2007

Understanding of primate evolution advanced

The completed DNA sequence of the rhesus macaque ,an Old World monkey, has advanced understanding of primate evolution and will enhance medical research in neuroscience, behavioral biology, reproductive physiology, endocrinology, heart and blood vessel disease and immunodeficiency, said scientists at the Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) Human Genome Sequencing Center who led the effort.

15 Apr 2007

Coley Pharmaceutical licenses VaxImmune to Merck

Coley Pharmaceutical Group has announced that Merck & Co has licensed Coley's VaxImmune vaccine adjuvant for incorporation into vaccines being developed by Merck for certain infectious diseases and Alzheimer's disease.

15 Apr 2007

Shutting down microglia

Developing brain tumors can coax assistance from nearby cells known as microglia, according to a new study from scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The researchers have identified one protein made by microglia that helps accelerate tumor growth and are looking for others.

15 Apr 2007

First successful attempt to determine the structure of RfaH transcription factor

The results of a new study suggest that bacteria that cause diseases like bubonic plague and serious gastric illness can turn the genes that make them infectious on or off.

15 Apr 2007

Bacteria can barge inside immune cells

Immune cells that are the body's front-line defense don't necessarily rest quietly until invading bacteria lock onto receptors on their outside skins and rouse them to action, as previously thought. In a new paper, University of Michigan scientists describe their findings that bacteria can barge inside these guard cells and independently initiate a powerful immune response.

14 Apr 2007

FDA approves GlaxoSmithKline's antibacterial Altabax

GlaxoSmithKline has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved its antibacterial Altabax for the topical treatment of impetigo due to susceptible strains of Staphylococcus aureus or Streptococcus pyogenes, the two most common types of bacteria in this kind of infection.

14 Apr 2007