Immune System News and Research

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Inhibition of FLT3 signaling targets DCs to ameliorate autoimmune disease

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have found that a gene pathway linked to a deadly form of leukemia may provide a new way to treat autoimmune diseases, including multiple sclerosis.

2 Dec 2005

Childcare helps reduce stress levels for mums and children

Low job satisfaction in working mothers increases the stress levels of their children, but spending longer in childcare can help overcome these effects, new research has shown.

2 Dec 2005

New anthrax antibody

A new anthrax antibody engineered by scientists at The University of Texas at Austin protects and defends against inhalation anthrax without the use of antibiotics and other more expensive antibodies.

2 Dec 2005

Bats possible carriers of Ebola virus

According to recent research scientists say that three species of bats that are eaten by people in central Africa may be carriers of the Ebola virus that has killed hundreds of humans and great apes.

2 Dec 2005

French woman has worlds' first face transplant

The operation apparently lasted several hours where tissues, muscles, arteries and veins were taken from a brain-dead donor and attached to the patient's lower face.

30 Nov 2005

Spinal cord cells to be repaired by using nose cells

Plans are afoot next year for British surgeons to attempt to make the first repairs of spinal cord nerves using a revolutionary new stem cell technique.

30 Nov 2005

Drug partners in fight against AIDS say measles shot could be the answer!

Major drug company GlaxoSmithKline is hoping to develop an experimental AIDS vaccine by "piggy-backing" on a shot against measles.

29 Nov 2005

Breastfeeding may protect children against gluten intolerance

Breastfeeding may protect children against gluten intolerance otherwise known as coeliac disease, suggests research published ahead of print in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

28 Nov 2005

Master switch for blood cell development detected

Blood cells develop from blood stem cells in the bone marrow. Their development is regulated by roughly 20 gene regulators or transcription factors.

28 Nov 2005

Patient-specific stem cell lines - now a real possibility

Immune rejection problems could affect any one of us. This unique research shows that producing individual patient cell lines for our own future needs is now something we might all want to consider.

28 Nov 2005

Indonesia to produce bird flu vaccine with help from U.S. company

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono says the authorities there will cooperate with the U.S.-based Baxter International to produce human vaccines for the H5N1 bird flu virus.

28 Nov 2005

Zinc supplements shown to be good for children with HIV

According to new research zinc supplements are a safe and effective way to reduce illness in children with HIV.

28 Nov 2005

Stress can raise a person's lipid levels

There is good evidence to show that stress can increase a person's heart rate, lower the immune system's ability to fight colds and increase certain inflammatory markers but can stress also raise a person's cholesterol?

28 Nov 2005

MRI to detect magnetic probes of tiny iron oxide particles successfully tracks implanted cells in cancer patients

By using MRI to detect magnetic probes of tiny iron oxide particles, an international research team for the first time has successfully tracked immune-stimulating cells implanted into cancer patients for treatment purposes.

28 Nov 2005

Enhancement of vaccine-mediated antitumor immunity in cancer patients after depletion of regulatory T cells

Duke University researchers have now shown that selectively killing the population of regulatory T cells in cancer patients - cells that normally function to restrain the activity of the immune response - improves the ability of a cancer vaccine to stimulate tumor-specific T cells.

28 Nov 2005

Study links low level of response (LR) to alcohol to an area on chromosome 10

How a person "feels" the effects of alcohol is, in part, genetically influenced and relates to their risk for developing alcoholism.

28 Nov 2005

Coaxing human embryonic stem cells to make dopamine

For all of the promise embryonic stem cells hold for therapies for neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease, they are notoriously difficult to use.

28 Nov 2005

Potential new treatment for pancreatic cancer

Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers are encouraged by early results of a treatment vaccine for pancreatic cancer, a disease with few options and low odds for long-term survival.

28 Nov 2005

Study finds AKT blocks cancer cell motility

PIn investigating the molecular mechanisms of cancer cell motility - the unique property that enables cancer to spread from its primary origin to other parts of the body - researchers have uncovered a surprising role for the AKT/PKB (protein kinase B) enzyme

26 Nov 2005