Immune System News and Research

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Local anesthetic procaine inhibits SARS-CoV-2 in vitro

Research has shown that procaine and procaine-hydrochloride can reduce replication of SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A viruses in infected cells and reduce the production of cytokines by the viruses, making them potentially useful for treating COVID-19.

10 Jun 2021

New article explains the pros and cons of nasal vaccines

Vaccines are mostly synonymous with needles, an efficient and effective way to provide immunity to myriad infections. As COVID-19 vaccination efforts roll out across the U.S. and the world, some experts believe that a vaccine administered through the nose could be just as effective and easier to administer.

10 Jun 2021

Study: COVID-19 vaccines safe for IBD patients

Patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) do not appear to have increased risk of side effects from the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines, according to a recent Cedars-Sinai study published online and upcoming in print in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

9 Jun 2021

New poll suggests older adults must watch their alcohol intake during pandemic

As many older adults get back to normal life across the United States thanks to high rates of vaccination and lower COVID-19 activity, a new poll suggests many should watch their alcohol intake.

9 Jun 2021

Mix and match COVID-19 vaccines safe and effective: German study

A new preprint study posted to the medRxiv* server shows an AstraZeneca’s ChAdOx1-nCov-19 and Pfizer/BioNTech BNT162b2 COVID-19 vaccine combination is immunologically superior to two AstraZeneca ChAdOx1-nCov-19 doses.

9 Jun 2021

SARS-CoV-2 B.1.1.345 variant carrying E484K mutation detected in New York

The report, published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, revealed that the variant detected has been spreading at an alarming rate since November. By February 2021, it accounted for 12.3 percent of all cases in the area.

8 Jun 2021

The potential of mRNA vaccines for a wide range of diseases

A new review article published in the journal Briefings in Functional Genomics focuses on the general characteristic features and mechanisms of mRNA vaccines. Further, this review has summarized the current progress of mRNA vaccines that have been developed for wide-ranging diseases, including COVID-19 disease.

8 Jun 2021

NIH researchers find that the SARS-CoV-2 Nsp15’s uridine cleavage can evade the immune response

Research conducted by scientists at the National Institutes of Health in the USA shows that Nsp15 targets uridines (U). Following detection of U, Nsp15 can then further cleave a broad spectrum of RNA substrates.

8 Jun 2021

What lessons have we learned over a year into the COVID-19 pandemic?

One of the pressing questions scientists are currently trying to answer is whether the current vaccines will remain effective against the emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern. A new piece of research has been published in the journal Biomedicines, which discusses the knowledge we have gained thus far and the questions that researchers should address in future work.

8 Jun 2021

Treating critically ill COVID-19 patients with non-altered umbilical cord stem cells increases survival

Critically ill COVID-19 patients treated with non-altered stem cells from umbilical cord connective tissue were more than twice as likely to survive as those who did not have the treatment, according to a study published today in STEM CELLS Translational Medicine.

8 Jun 2021

What is the role of monoclonal antibody therapy in treating COVID-19?

A new study has been published in the journal Vaccines that deals with the present state of research on using mAbs for the treatment of the COVID-19 disease. Many clinical trials are being conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of several newly designed mAbs. Some of the mAbs are directed towards immune system responses, i.e., non-SARS-CoV-2 specific mAbs, while others are devised to neutralize the SARS-CoV-2 protein structure, i.e., SARS-CoV-2 specific mAbs.

8 Jun 2021

Researchers review environmental risk assessments for recombinant COVID-19 viral vector vaccines

In a recent review, published in the journal Vaccines, researchers in Belgium look at the recombinant viral vector-vaccine candidates that are primarily against SARS-CoV-2 still in development and discuss their features from an environmental risk point of view.

8 Jun 2021

Brain study may lead to new treatments for neuro-immune conditions

The immune system is the brain's best frenemy. It protects the brain from infection and helps injured tissues heal, but it also causes autoimmune diseases and creates inflammation that drives neurodegeneration.

8 Jun 2021

Novel COVID-19 vaccine is safe, generates immune response in healthy adults

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt and end lives around the world, and public health officials worldwide have recognized vaccines as the critical tools required for controlling the COVID-19 death toll and achieving a return to normal life.

8 Jun 2021

Scientists explain why space travel weakens the human immune system

Microgravity in space perturbs human physiology and is detrimental for astronaut health, a fact first realized during early Apollo missions when astronauts experienced inner ear disturbances, heart arrhythmia, low blood pressure, dehydration, and loss of calcium from their bones after their mission.

8 Jun 2021

Study shows how cowpea mosaic plant virus stimulates the immune system against cancer

Previous work by a team of researchers led by Steven N. Fiering, PhD, Immunology and Cancer Immunotherapy researcher at Dartmouth's and Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Norris Cotton Cancer Center and Nicole Steinmetz, PhD, Jacobs School of Engineering and Moores Cancer Center, University of California San Diego, showed that a plant virus that does not infect mammals, cowpea mosaic plant virus (CPMV), when injected into cancerous tumors, strongly stimulated the immune system to attack and often eliminate the tumor.

8 Jun 2021