Thymus News and Research

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Study may lead to preventative and therapeutic treatments for MS patients

Previous studies have shown multiple sclerosis (MS) patients are more often born in spring than in any other season, indicating that there is an environmental risk factor for the disease. A paper in the journal Neurology, reviewed for f1000 Medicine by Emmanuelle Waubant and Ellen Mowry, now suggests that this seasonal effect is mediated by the gene HLA-DRB1.

30 Jan 2010

Australian scientists discover cells that cause a common type of childhood leukaemia

Scientists at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and the University of Melbourne in Australia have discovered the cells that cause a common type of childhood leukaemia - T cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (T-ALL). Targeting of these cells may lead to improved treatments for this disease and help prevent relapse.

22 Jan 2010

Study: PrEP treatment offers protection against HIV transmission in humanized mice

Systemic pre-exposure administration of antiretroviral drugs provides protection against intravenous and rectal transmission of HIV in mice with human immune systems, according to a new study published January 21, 2010 in the online journal PLoS ONE.

21 Jan 2010

New research at Rhode Island Hospital identifies a treatment for glioblastomas

New research at Rhode Island Hospital has identified a treatment in animal models for glioblastomas - deadly brain tumors which, once diagnosed, offer a poor prognosis and relatively short life expectancy.

20 Jan 2010

Babraham Institute research may lead to new means of making purified T cells

Research from the Babraham Institute, reported today in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, provides new insights into how our immune system produces T cells, a type of white blood cell that is an essential part of the body's immune surveillance system for fighting infection. The findings pave the way for a new means of making purified T cells, which gets over one of many hurdles faced in the use of T cells in regenerative medicine and transplantations, and in addition will open up new avenues of research and applications in drug and toxicity testing in industry.

18 Jan 2010

Enzyme dCK plays a profound role in normal lymphocyte development

Mice without the deoxycytidine kinase (dCK) enzyme have defects in their adaptive immune system, producing very low levels of both T and B lymphocytes, the major players involved in immune response, according to a study by researchers with UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

23 Dec 2009

Human blood stem cells can be engineered to kill HIV and other chronic viral diseases

Researchers from the UCLA AIDS Institute and colleagues have for the first time demonstrated that human blood stem cells can be engineered into cells that can target and kill HIV-infected cells - a process that potentially could be used against a range of chronic viral diseases.

9 Dec 2009

TGen and Scottsdale Healthcare test PHA-848125ac drug for thymic cancer

The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and Scottsdale Healthcare are testing a new drug specifically for thymic cancer based on early promising results at Scottsdale Healthcare.

9 Dec 2009

Human blood stem cells can be engineered to kill HIV-infected cells, find researchers

Researchers from the UCLA AIDS Institute and colleagues have for the first time demonstrated that human blood stem cells can be engineered into cells that can target and kill HIV-infected cells — a process that potentially could be used against a range of chronic viral diseases.

8 Dec 2009

UT physicians treat Iraqi girl with myasthenia gravis

Plagued by a growing weakness that left her unable to walk, talk and even take a normal breath, 11-year-old Iraqi Aram Ali was a shell of the bright little girl she used to be.

16 Nov 2009

Helper T cell's effect raises possibility of cellular therapy and vaccine development

A specific type of T helper cell awakens the immune system to the stealthy threat of cancer and triggers an attack of killer T cells custom-made to destroy the tumors, scientists from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the early online edition of the journal Immunity.

30 Oct 2009

NanoBio to receive a $4.1M subcontract for developing nanoemulsion-based mucosal vaccine adjuvants

NanoBio Corporation today announced an award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a Division of The National Institute of Health, to fund vaccine research associated with “Innate Immune Receptors and Adjuvant Discovery.” NanoBio is the principal subcontractor for the $9.3 million contract awarded to the University of Michigan.

14 Oct 2009

Premature aging of immune system develops amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Premature aging of the immune system appears to play a role in the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease, according to research scientists from the Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, and Sheba Medical Center in Israel.

9 Oct 2009

New study to boost immune cells for pathogen resistance and vaccine efficacy in elderly

A new study from the Trudeau Institute in Saranac Lake, New York, demonstrates that immune system cells important for both pathogen resistance and vaccine efficacy live longer in older animals but because of this longevity acquire functional defects. The work may provide new targets for boosting immune system function in older individuals.

6 Oct 2009

Parathyroid gland transplants may prevent untreatable form of bone loss

An early laboratory success is taking University of Michigan researchers a step closer to parathyroid gland transplants that could one day prevent a currently untreatable form of bone loss associated with thyroid surgery.

30 Sep 2009

Importance of residual thymopoiesis in aged adults

Doctor Manuel Leal is managing the Experimental Immune Virology Laboratory (in Virgen del Rocío University Hospital and Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla (IBIS), where clinic and basic science researchers work) where he leads a project to establish the functional nature of the thymus gland in adults. So far, it has been proven that this gland keeps on producing lymphocytes in the old age (Ferrando-Martínez et al. AGE, in press), which is a novelty because until very recently it was considered that this organ lost its immune capacity after the puberty.

22 Sep 2009

National Institutes of Health funds for thymus research

The National Institutes of Health have awarded, as part of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, a two-year, $2 million grant to a University of Georgia genetics researcher and her colleagues for studies on the thymus, the organ in humans that produces disease-fighting T-cells.

18 Sep 2009