Immune System News and Research

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Method by which Caspase-12 shuts down the body's immune system discovered

Caspase-12 is a molecule with a death-wish. Found only in people of African descent, this protein shuts down our body's immune system, opening the door to potentially lethal infections. In a groundbreaking new study published in the prestigious journal Nature this week, the team that first discovered the role of caspase-12 in humans has now uncovered the mechanism by which it sabotages us, allowing researchers to develop methods to counter its damaging effects.

28 Apr 2006

Transplanted stem cells hoped to be able to regenerate damaged heart muscle in first heart attack victims

Rush cardiologists are hoping that transplanted stem cells can regenerate damaged heart muscle in those who experience a first heart attack. The study involves an intravenous infusion of adult mesenchymal stem cells from healthy donor bone marrow that might possibly reverse damage to heart tissue.

28 Apr 2006

Combinatorial approach found to reverse the onset of type 1 diabetes

A major finding, which represents an important step toward a potential cure for type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes, has been made by a research team at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology (LIAI). The team, led by Matthias von Herrath, M.D., an internationally recognized expert on the molecular basis of type 1 diabetes, used a combinatorial treatment approach in laboratory mice and found it reversed recent onset type 1 diabetes in the majority of animals tested.

28 Apr 2006

Enhancing the function of the protein SOCS3 could be a more effective way to regulate cell responses

A discovery made at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute provides new insights into enhancing the function of the protein SOCS3, which regulates the response of cells to external stimuli.

26 Apr 2006

Protein made by cancer virus explains how the virus spreads

New research shows that a protein made by a cancer virus causes infected immune cells to cling to other immune cells, enabling the virus to spread.

26 Apr 2006

Potential vaccine for visceral leishmaniasis developed

Development of a fundamentally new "candidate," or potential, vaccine for visceral leishmaniasis (LEASH-ma-NIGH-a-sis), a parasitic disease that kills about 60,000 people annually, is reported in the current issue of ACS Chemical Biology. Spread by the bite of infected female sand flies, visceral leishmaniasis infects about 500,000 people annually, with the majority of cases occurring in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sudan and Brazil.

26 Apr 2006

Caspase-12 antagonists could potentially be useful in the treatment of sepsis and other inflammatory and immune disorders

According to the new study, the presence of caspase-12, which appears to modulate inflammation and innate immunity in humans, increases the body's "vulnerability to bacterial infection and septic shock" while a deficiency confers strong resistance to sepsis. This new discovery suggests that caspase-12 antagonists could be a potentially useful in the treatment of sepsis and other inflammatory and immune disorders.

26 Apr 2006

Prenatal exposure to alcohol can change child's circadian rhythms

Altered sleeping and eating patterns, behavioral problems, attention deficits and depression in children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders may indicate that their biological rhythms, which are controlled by circadian systems, have been affected by alcohol exposure during development.

25 Apr 2006

Study shows drugs work differently in the brains of men and women

A Johns Hopkins discovery could lead to tailored treatments for drug abuse and neurological diseases after providing what is believed to be the first evidence in people that amphetamines have a greater effect on men's brains than women's.

24 Apr 2006

Study reveals findings on how insulin-producing beta cells grow and function

A new Joslin Diabetes Center-led study has shown conclusively that two receptors in the insulin-producing beta cell do not affect developmental growth, refuting a long-held hypothesis in diabetes research.

23 Apr 2006

Drug combo might beat type 1 diabetes

Scientists in California have developed a cocktail of drugs which can reverse diabetes and say the discovery is an important step towards a potential cure.

23 Apr 2006

Australian scientists tackle deadly Q fever

Scientists at James Cook University have taken the lead in developing a new vaccine against a highly infectious cattleyard disease caused by a bacteria which has the potential to be developed as a bioterrorist weapon.

20 Apr 2006

Corticosteroids do not improve survival in patients with late-stage acute respiratory distress syndrome

The study is the first multi-center randomized clinical trial to evaluate the effects of moderate doses of steroids in ARDS patients when treatment is started 7 days or more after the onset of the condition.

20 Apr 2006

Researchers find gene connected to Lupus

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have identified a variant of a gene that is present in most people with lupus, a complex and chronic autoimmune disease.

20 Apr 2006

New method designed to analyze the genes that regulate the immune system

Seattle scientists have developed a new method for analyzing the Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) of the human genome.

20 Apr 2006

Discovery points to more effective ways of regulating cell signalling

A discovery made at The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute provides new insights into enhancing the function of the protein SOCS3, which regulates the response of cells to external stimuli.

20 Apr 2006

Seniors unhappy in marriage risk ill health

According to a new study an unhappy marriage takes it's toll on those within it especially as they age.

19 Apr 2006

Scientists document an organ-specific innate immune system

In research published in the April 18 edition of the journal Immunity, scientists at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine outline the unique mechanism by which the lung shapes its defensive strategies against microbial invasion.

18 Apr 2006

Doses of DNA-gene-coated gold particles protect against harmful protein implicated in Alzheimer's disease

Doses of DNA-gene-coated gold particles protect mice against a protein implicated in Alzheimer's disease, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

16 Apr 2006

Potent induction of chondrocytic differentiation of human adipose-derived adult stem cells by bone morphogenetic protein 6

A novel growth factor significantly improves the ability of specialized stem cells derived from human fat to be transformed into cartilage cells, according to Duke University Medical Center and Pratt School of Engineering researchers.

16 Apr 2006