Immune System News and Research

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Progress toward development of a breast cancer vaccine

Progress toward development of a breast cancer vaccine has been reported by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine and the Siteman Cancer Center in St. Louis.

8 Mar 2005

New system for growing human embryonic stem cells could make therapies utilising the cells safer for patients

A new system for growing human embryonic stem cells could make therapies utilising the cells safer for patients, concludes a study published online by The Lancet (Tuesday, March 8, 2005).

8 Mar 2005

Two chemicals boost immune cells' ability to fight HIV without gene therapy

A UCLA AIDS Institute study has discovered that two chemical compounds may help the immune systems of HIV-infected persons fight the disease without invasive gene therapy.

7 Mar 2005

Thalidomide may have a new lease of life as a cancer treatment

The drug thalidomide may have a new lease of life as a cancer treatment. A small study published in Gut suggests that it slows down the weight loss and wasting associated with advanced disease in patients with pancreatic cancer.

7 Mar 2005

Study looks at the ability of some monkey species to resist developing AIDS

The Tulane National Primate Research Center received a five-year grant of more than $2 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to study the ability of some monkey species to resist developing AIDS.

7 Mar 2005

Air Genome Project to sample air using whole genome shotgun sequencing

The J. Craig Venter Institute is launching a pilot project to better understand the diversity of microbes in urban air. In addition to more deeply characterizing the microbes we breathe every day, researchers anticipate that the results will provide information vital to designing systems that detect potentially dangerous biological substances in the air.

7 Mar 2005

WHO says countries should stockpile H5N1 vaccine

The World Health Organization is about to advise countries to stockpile the influenza vaccine strain known as H5N1, responsible for the deadly birdflu outbreak in Southeast Asia.

7 Mar 2005

New therapeutic targets in liver diseases

Many patients with liver diseases often encounter difficulties with therapy and ultimately require liver transplant to survive. Since many acute and chronic liver diseases are driven by immune-mediated mechanisms, there is a necessity to find new therapies that can inhibit these immune-based triggers and block liver damage.

6 Mar 2005

Abnormal brain structure tied to spatial, numerical thinking problems when children lack part of chromosome

Certain genetic diseases affect children's educational abilities in a distinctive pattern: impairing their numerical abilities more than their verbal skills. New research sheds light on this split in abilities by investigating how differences in brain structures may influence how the mind works.

3 Mar 2005

Liquorice - the black stuff we love to eat, may help prevent cancer

Liquorice - the black stuff we love to eat, contains a compound - glycyrrhizic acid which may stop people with a herpes virus from developing cancer.A research team at New York University found the compound - glycyrrhizic acid - possibly has the ability to stop the virus triggering a form of cancer called Kaposi sarcoma.

2 Mar 2005

Molecule from South American tree Quillaja, helps battle disease

The first synthesis of QS-21A, a medicinally important molecule that helps the body battle disease, has been achieved by chemists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

1 Mar 2005

alpha-defensin-1, a protein found in immune cells, can control HIV infection

Theresa Chang and colleagues at Mount Sinai School of Medicine analyzed how alpha-defensin-1 inhibits HIV infection in white blood cells (CD4+ T cells). Defensins have been shown to have anti-HIV activity. The body attempts to protect itself from HIV infection via the innate immune system.

1 Mar 2005

U.S. cancer researchers launch first American-Israeli cancer conference

Leading cancer researchers from Baltimore, Miami and New Jersey have organized the first Joint American-Israeli Conference on Cancer. The meeting, scheduled for March 16 through 18 in Jerusalem, seeks to foster collaboration among physicians and scientists in the two countries.

1 Mar 2005

Small hearts make big difference for young transplant recipients

When a young child is in need of a heart transplant, the problem is not the intricate surgery, but the scarcity of donors.

1 Mar 2005

Scientists re-produce the human body's own cancer-killing cells through gene therapy

New hope to cancer sufferers comes from research by South Korean scientists who have found a way to re- produce the human body's own cancer-killing cells through gene therapy.

1 Mar 2005

Some immune cells are smarter than others killing more cancer

In efforts to educate the body to fight off cancer, researchers have found that some immune cells are "smarter" than others. Working with collections of human cells, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists tested kill-rates of two kinds of T-cells "primed" to home in on myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow. Those that live in the bone marrow outperformed their counterparts circulating in the blood by more than 90 percent.

1 Mar 2005

Genetic link to kidney damage after heart surgery

Specific variants of genes involved in inflammation and blood vessel constriction are strongly associated with kidney damage in patients undergoing major heart surgery, researchers at Duke University Medical Center have found.

1 Mar 2005

OPAL, major discovery in the fight against AIDS

Australian researchers have made a major discovery in the fight against AIDS, with the development of a novel, simple and safe technique for boosting the body’s immune response to deadly viruses like HIV, which is even effective against drug resistant forms of the disease.

1 Mar 2005