Immune System News and Research

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Scientists establish infection models for SARS-CoV-2 UK & South African variants

New research suggests Syrian golden hamsters could be a potentially useful preclinical model for testing vaccine immunity against the acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) B.1.17 and B.1.351 variant.

1 Mar 2021

New vaccination strategy could eliminate the bacteria that cause UTIs

Anyone who has ever developed a urinary tract infection (UTI) knows that it can be painful, pesky and persistent. UTIs have a high recurrence rate and primarily afflict women -- as many as 50% of women will experience at least one UTI during their lifetime.

1 Mar 2021

Study: Highly efficient and balanced immune response key to avoiding COVID-19 symptoms

By analyzing blood samples from individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2, researchers in Singapore have begun to unpack the different responses by the body's T cells that determine whether or not an individual develops COVID-19.

1 Mar 2021

Study could offer a new way to treat Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes

Blocking cell receptors for glucagon, the counter-hormone to insulin, cured mouse models of diabetes by converting glucagon-producing cells into insulin producers instead, a team led by UT Southwestern reports in a new study.

1 Mar 2021

New technique uncovers the tricks used by cancer cells to evade immunotherapies

By harnessing the immune system against cancer, immunotherapies have revolutionized the way some types of cancer are treated. But most patients--across cancer types--do not respond, and in most cases, scientists are at a loss as to why.

1 Mar 2021

Researchers develop mutant gene-targeted immunotherapy approach to fight cancers

A novel targeted immunotherapy approach developed by researchers at the Ludwig Center, the Lustgarten Laboratory, and Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center employs new antibodies against genetically altered proteins to target cancers.

1 Mar 2021

A backbone free energy study of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern

A recent study by scientist Robert Penner at the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques in France utilizes free energy calculations to predict effective antiviral targets that are highly conserved, surface-accessible for interaction, and resistant to mutation.

1 Mar 2021

Protein kinase inhibitors could help treat immunodeficiency in HIV patients

HIV infections are treated with antiviral drugs which effectively prevent the disease from developing. While pharmacological HIV therapy has advanced considerably, the virus cannot be entirely eliminated from the body with currently available drugs.

1 Mar 2021

ACGT awards $500,000 to advance immunotherapy approach for treating solid tumors

A scientific team led by Brian Brown, PhD, Professor of Genetics and Genomic Sciences and Associate Director of the Precision Immunology Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (New York, New York), has been awarded $500,000 from Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy to advance a promising immunotherapy approach to fight lung cancer and other solid tumor cancers.

1 Mar 2021

FDA issues EUA for third COVID-19 vaccine

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the third vaccine for the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

1 Mar 2021

Bacteria use slimy strategy to defeat antibiotics that fight cystic fibrosis

University of Montana researchers and their partners have discovered a slimy strategy used by bacteria to defeat antibiotics and other drugs used to combat infections afflicting people with cystic fibrosis. The research was published Feb. 23 in the journal Cell Reports.

27 Feb 2021

Biomarkers in the blood can predict severe outcomes in COVID-19 patients

When patients with COVID-19 arrive in emergency rooms, there are relatively few ways for doctors to predict which ones are more likely to become critically ill and require intensive care and which ones are more likely to enjoy a quick recovery.

26 Feb 2021

Immunologists map unknown biological machinery to produce memory T cells

Immunologists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have mapped the previously unknown biological machinery by which the immune system generates T cells that kill bacteria, viruses and tumor cells.

26 Feb 2021

Study examines the future psyche of post-COVID-19 traveler

Our deep-rooted survival instinct for disease avoidance could make us less willing to embrace strangers and take foreign travel risks.

26 Feb 2021

Researchers study how glycans activate SARS-CoV-2

One thing that makes SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, elusive to the immune system is that it is covered in sugars called glycans.

25 Feb 2021

Maternal diet may enhance immune systems of premature infants, study shows

Medical researchers have long understood that a pregnant mother's diet has a profound impact on her developing fetus's immune system and that babies -- especially those born prematurely -- who are fed breast milk have a more robust ability to fight disease, suggesting that even after childbirth, a mother's diet matters.

25 Feb 2021

Research shows how antibodies attach to and block Zika virus

The Zika outbreak of 2015 and 2016 are having lasting impacts on children whose mothers became infected with the virus while they were pregnant.

25 Feb 2021

Researchers discover specific blood biomarker that predicts kidney transplant rejection

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have discovered a blood biomarker that predicts kidney transplant rejection with a lead time of about eight months, which could give doctors an opportunity to intervene and prevent permanent damage.

25 Feb 2021

Study reveals key mechanism by which exercise promotes immunity, strengthens bones

Scientists at the Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI) have identified the specialized environment, known as a niche, in the bone marrow where new bone and immune cells are produced.

25 Feb 2021

'Miracle poison' can target a variety of different proteins

Researchers prove they can engineer proteins called proteases to find new targets with high selectivity, a critical advance toward potential new treatments for everything from neuro-regeneration to cytokine storm.

25 Feb 2021