Immune Response News and Research

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Patient-specific tumor organoids may one day be used to personalize cancer treatment

A patient-specific tumor organoid platform developed by Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine researchers and their cancer center colleagues could someday take the guessing game out of immunotherapy treatments.

21 Jan 2020

Researchers discover how bacterial pathogens switch into attack mode

Many bacterial pathogens excrete toxins as soon as they have entered the host in order to suppress its immune response.

21 Jan 2020

New technique accurately predicts which melanomas are likely to recur and spread

For most patients, melanoma begins with a small, pigmented spot on their skin that they notice starts to change.

20 Jan 2020

Ultrasound could help reduce the use of drugs for patients with rheumatoid arthritis

A research group led by the physician Christian Dejaco is investigating circumstances under which patients may stop taking medication for rheumatoid arthritis without running the risk of the disease flaring up again.

20 Jan 2020

UT Southwestern study identifies new vulnerability in kidney tumors

A UT Southwestern researcher led a team that identified a new vulnerability in kidney tumors, the 10th most common cause of cancer death in men and women.

17 Jan 2020

Genetically engineered mosquitoes halt Dengue spread

A new study published in the journal PLOS Pathogens in January 2020 reports the development of mosquitoes that have been genetically modified to resist infection by several types of the dengue virus. This is the first time ever that all types of the virus have been targeted by the engineering of the mosquito DNA. Covering all virus types is essential to achieve proper disease control.

16 Jan 2020

Sepsis killing more people than earlier thought

According to a new study published in the latest issue of The Lancet, this week, more people across the globe are dying of sepsis than earlier believed. A team from the University of Pittsburgh and University of Washington schools of medicine led the research along with their colleagues from different disciplines.

16 Jan 2020

Sepsis deaths found to be much higher than previously estimated

Twice as many people as previously believed are dying of sepsis worldwide, according to an analysis published today in The Lancet and announced at the Critical Care Reviews annual meeting in Belfast. Among them are a disproportionately high number of children in poor areas.

16 Jan 2020

Study sheds light on the role of B cells in cancer immunotherapy

Cancer patients responded better to immunotherapy and had a better prognosis if their melanoma tumors contained specific clusters of B cells, according to new research from Lund University in Sweden.

16 Jan 2020

BPA activates immune response in mice that persists for at least three generations

Some plastic food and beverage containers still contain bisphenol A, which can mimic the hormone estrogen. Although experts say that small amounts of BPA detected in foods are unlikely to cause problems, some people worry that constant low-level exposures could have health effects, especially for developing fetuses, infants and children.

16 Jan 2020

B cell count tells how certain cancers will respond to immunotherapy

Some melanomas, sarcomas and renal cell carcinomas, but not all, have been found to respond dramatically to new drugs called immune checkpoint blockers, which exploit the body’s known capability to mount an immune response against the foreign antigen-bearing tumor cells.

15 Jan 2020

Biomaterial-based vaccine has potential to completely eliminate AML cells

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a deadly blood cancer that originates in the bone marrow and kills most of its victims within five years. Chemotherapy has been the standard AML treatment for over 40 years, and while it often causes the cancer to go into remission, it rarely completely eliminates the cancerous cells, which then lead to disease recurrence in nearly half of treated patients.

14 Jan 2020

Study uncovers how rice blast fungus uses its own cell wall to launch an attack

In response to environmental changes and nutrient starvation, cells are known to undergo extreme alterations. This includes switching from one type to another (“differentiation”) and changes in metabolic pathways (“metabolic switching”).

14 Jan 2020

Researchers discover important role for macropinocytosis in mammalian cell growth

For the first time, researchers at Michigan Medicine have demonstrated that a cellular process known to be involved in cancer and other diseases also plays an important role in the growth of at least one type of normal mammalian cell.

10 Jan 2020

Siah2 Gene Control could Help Treat Melanomas More Effectively

To develop improved cancer immunotherapies, it is essential to understand how cancers shut down the natural immune response to foreign antigens. This current study demonstrates how mice lacking the Siah2 gene, fail to develop BRAF-mutation carrying melanoma from the corresponding cells, completely rejecting them. This could help in boosting the anticancer effect of existing specific immune checkpoint inhibitors, such as anti-PD-1 drugs.

10 Jan 2020

Rejuvenating the BCG Vaccine

A new primate study published in the journal Nature in January 2020, reports that the almost century-old BCG vaccine against tuberculosis, may be used differently to achieve better protection against lung tuberculosis. While more work remains to be carried out before the findings can be accepted as the basis for clinical practice, they are extremely promising in the fight against this killer.

10 Jan 2020