Immune System News and Research

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Gene keeps neural cells on correct developmental path

Embryonic stem cells with identical genomes grow into distinctive tissues, such as heart, bone, and brain. At one time, scientists believed the differences among cell types arose from various sets of genes switched on inside developing cells. Then, studies showed that adult neurons uniquely lack a protein that permanently turns off neuronal genes in the rest of the body's cells.

20 May 2005

Researchers generate patient-specific stem cells

Researchers have isolated the first human embryonic stem cell lines specifically tailored to match the nuclear DNA of patients, both males and females of various ages, suffering from disease or spinal cord injury.

20 May 2005

Merck cervical cancer virus vaccine performs well

Drugmaker Merck & Co. Inc. on Thursday said its investigational vaccine against a sexually transmitted virus linked to cervical cancer triggered a stronger immune response in young adolescents than in young women in a late-stage trial.

20 May 2005

Infants with Krabbe disease saved by cord blood stem cells

Children with a fatal genetic disorder called Krabbe Disease can be saved and their brain development preserved if they receive stem cells from umbilical cord blood before symptoms of the disease develop, according to a study published in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

20 May 2005

Narcotic medications can safely and effectively ease severe, chronic pain in older people

Narcotic medications can safely and effectively ease severe, chronic pain in older people with little risk that these patients will seek ever-increasing doses, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) medical scientists have found. Younger patients, however, are likely to want to rapidly increase their medication dose, the researchers found, posing serious potential health consequences.

20 May 2005

Human cells can silence an essential part of HIV's genetic make-up

For the first time, scientists have shown that humans use an immune defense process common in plants and invertebrates to battle a virus.

19 May 2005

Cervical cancer virus vaccine appears very promising

Gardasil, a vaccine created by drugmaker Merck & Co which aims to protect against a sexually transmitted virus linked to cervical cancer, triggered a stronger immune response in young adolescents than in young women in a late-stage trial.

19 May 2005

Scientists clone human patients for stem cells

The team of South Korean scientists who cloned the first human embryo to use for research have now have used the same technology to create batches of embryonic stem cells from nine patients.

19 May 2005

New combination vaccine effective against plague

Plague, a bacterium that ravaged Europe in the Middle Ages and is today one of the most feared potential agents of bio-terrorism, may have met its match, according to Wake Forest University School of Medicine scientists.

18 May 2005

Antiretroviral therapy may prevent excess risk of some cancers in people with HIV

In people infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), highly active anti-retroviral therapy (HAART) may prevent most excess cases of Kaposi sarcoma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, according to a new study in the March 16 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

18 May 2005

Bioniche granted additional patent for mycobacterial cell wall technology

Bioniche Life Sciences Inc., a research-based, technology-driven human and animal health biopharmaceutical company, today announced that it has had a new patent issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) on its core mycobacterial cell wall technology.

18 May 2005

Radioimmunotherapy streamlines non-Hodgkin's lymphoma treatment

Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California and colleagues have found a way to streamline a new form of treatment for patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

18 May 2005

Nutrition gene key in regulating immune system

A gene that signals a yeast cell to make bread rise and mice to eat a better diet also helps selectively silence the immune system, researchers have found.

18 May 2005

Jefferson researcher’s results show promise for metastatic eye melanoma

But now, by simultaneously revving up the immune system and choking off the tumor’s oxygen supply, oncologists at Jefferson Medical College and the Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia may have found a better way to battle this deadly cancer.

17 May 2005

Scientists have uncovered a new method the immune system uses to label foreign invaders as targets to be attacked

Researchers showed that the immune system can brand foreign proteins by chemically modifying their structure, and that these modifications increased the chances that cells known as lymphocytes would recognize the trespassers and attack them.

17 May 2005

Drugs that block the enzyme Odc prevent the onset of cancers

The drug DFMO prevents cancer in laboratory models of lymphoma but fails to kill existing cancerous cells that have lost the ability to self-destruct, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

16 May 2005

Intralesional immunotherapy for common warts is effective and safe

Injection of skin test antigens (preparations used in skin tests for immunity) into warts appears to stimulate the immune system and successfully treat the injected wart and also helps to treat distant non-injected warts, according to a study in the May issue of Archives of Dermatology.

16 May 2005

Disabling gene defuses rheumatoid arthritis in mice

Scientists studying mice have identified a gene that allows immune cells known as neutrophils to protect themselves from the inflammatory chemicals they secrete.

16 May 2005

Moderate recreational and work-related physical activity may reduce the risk of ovarian cancer

While the benefits of physical activity in reducing colon and breast cancer are well established, results of studies on exercise and ovarian cancer have been inconclusive. Because ovarian cancer has such a poor prognosis, it is even more important to identify modifiable lifestyle factors that could prevent it.

16 May 2005