Immune Response News and Research

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Researchers target cancer's protective barrier

Cancer cells are notorious for their camouflage work, which enables them to escape immune targeting. Now scientists are learning how to strip away the disguise and allow the immune system to do its work, by targeting cells called myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) that shield the tumor. This would also enhance the effectiveness of newer cancer immunotherapies like Chimeric-Antigen Receptor T cell (CAR-T).

26 Aug 2019

New type of vaccine targets deadly tuberculosis

Australian medical researchers from the Centenary Institute and the University of Sydney have successfully developed and tested a new type of vaccine targeting tuberculosis (TB), the world's top infectious disease killer.

25 Aug 2019

UC San Diego researchers identify new therapeutic approach to kill cancer cells

Epithelial cancers, such as cancers of the lung and pancreas, use the ανβ3 molecule to gain drug resistance to standard cancer therapies and to become highly metastatic.

22 Aug 2019

New cannabis-based drug shows promise for pancreatic cancer

Cancer of the pancreas is a particularly deadly cancer, claiming over 90% of its victims within 5 years from diagnosis. It resists most standard therapies, including surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, immunotherapy and targeted therapy, and metastasizes early, often before being diagnosed. A cure is possible only with very localized tumors.

22 Aug 2019

Lungs feed deadly bacteria in cystic fibrosis

In cystic fibrosis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a much-feared pathogen. The bacterium easily colonizes the lungs of people with cystic fibrosis, leading to chronic infections that are almost impossible to eradicate and are ultimately fatal.

22 Aug 2019

Researchers develop new gene editing system that could be used for anticancer immunotherapy

Dr. Mihue Jang and her group at the Center for Theragnosis of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology announced that they have developed a new gene-editing system that could be used for anticancer immunotherapy through the simultaneous suppression of proteins that interfere with the immune system expressed on the surface of lymphoma cells and activation of cytotoxic T lymphocyte, based on the results of joint research conducted with Prof. Seokmann Hong and his group at Sejong University.

20 Aug 2019

Lipid signaling pathway may enhance T cell-mediated immunotherapy

The immune system surveils our body looking for things that don't belong, often bacteria and viruses. While cancer cells are abnormal cells that undergo unregulated cell growth, they are good at evading detection by the immune system.

19 Aug 2019

Chlamydia vaccine shows promise after a successful clinical trial

A vaccine against the sexually transmitted infection (STI) chlamydia is now a substantial step closer to reality after successfully passing its Phase 1 clinical trial.

14 Aug 2019

Researchers identify molecular switch that impacts immune responses to viral infections

Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researchers have identified a molecular switch that impacts immune responses to viral infections, and whether or not protective antibodies are produced.

14 Aug 2019

Researchers make scientific breakthrough regarding Leishmania virulence strategy

A team from the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique has made a scientific breakthrough regarding the virulence strategy employed by the Leishmania parasite to infect cells of the immune system.

12 Aug 2019

New T cell detection method promises personalized immunotherapy for melanomas

An important new study shows that better T cell detection is now possible using revolutionary technology. T cells are a type of lymphocyte, which in turn belongs to the diverse family of immune cells. They take part in cancer fighting as well as in most other immune responses.

12 Aug 2019

Antibody may help the immune system fight sepsis-related fungal infections

An antibody that blocks the "programmed cell death" pathway may help the immune system fight off sepsis-related fungal infections, according to animal studies reported in SHOCK: Injury, Inflammation, and Sepsis: Laboratory and Clinical Approaches, Official Journal of the Shock Society.

12 Aug 2019

NIH-funded clinical trial will evaluate seasonal influenza vaccines with two experimental adjuvants

An early-stage clinical trial is evaluating two licensed seasonal influenza vaccines, administered with or without novel adjuvants, for their safety and ability to generate an immune response.

9 Aug 2019

Study reveals Lassa virus' soft spot

As this year's Lassa fever outbreak in Nigeria is finally ebbing, the total tally came to more than 600 infected people, one-quarter of them dead. Thousands more die each year, uncounted in rural villages throughout West Africa.

9 Aug 2019

New technology uses immune system to deliver drugs directly to infection sites

A researcher at Washington State University Health Sciences Spokane has developed a new technology that harnesses the immune system to deliver drugs directly to infection sites within the body.

9 Aug 2019

Existing FDA-approved drug could potentially help contain Ebola infection

Amid the worsening Ebola outbreak in the Congo, now threatening to spill into Rwanda, a new study suggests that an existing, FDA-approved drug called nitazoxanide could potentially help contain this deadly, highly contagious infection.

8 Aug 2019

Moffitt study uncovers subtypes of squamous cell lung cancer

Lung cancer is the number one cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, with squamous cell lung cancer (SCC) being one of the common types.

8 Aug 2019

Exposure to C. Difficile in infancy produces immunity against gastrointestinal infection

Exposure to C. difficile in infancy produces an immune response that might protect against this gastrointestinal infection later in childhood, according to a study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases journal

7 Aug 2019

New nanovaccine for deadly skin cancer

Tel Aviv scientists have published their version of a vaccine against the deadly skin cancer malignant melanoma, which arises from the pigment producing cells of the skin. This is the most feared form of skin cancer, with a high tendency to metastasize to distant parts of the body, including the brain.

6 Aug 2019

Discovery of unusual HBV in shrews offers new opportunity to better understand the disease

The discovery of an unusual hepatitis B virus from shrews offers new opportunities of better understanding the chronic progression of the disease. International research teams were able to demonstrate that an important protein which is essential for the development of a chronic course of infection is not present in this virus.

3 Aug 2019