Immune Response News and Research

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Pretreatment improves outcomes in high-risk stage 3 melanoma, study shows

A pair of targeted therapies given before and after surgery for melanoma produced at least a six-fold increase in time to progression compared to standard-of-care surgery for patients with stage 3 disease, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report in Lancet Oncology.

18 Jan 2018

New vaccine approach offers effective protection against tuberculosis

A unique platform that resulted in a promising HIV vaccine has also led to a new, highly effective vaccine against tuberculosis that is moving toward testing in humans.

18 Jan 2018

Study shows high-salt diet causes dementia in mice

A high-salt diet reduces resting blood flow to the brain and causes dementia in mice, according to a new study by scientists from Weill Cornell Medicine.

17 Jan 2018

Scientists describe groundbreaking training effect on the innate immune system

"Training" of precursors of white blood cells leads to a sustained positive response of the hematopoietic system. This effect could help accelerate the formation of new white blood cells, which are vitally needed during chemotherapy, a process that can slow down hematopoiesis.

15 Jan 2018

Researchers use immune-mimicking biomaterial scaffolds to fast track T cell therapies

Immunologists and oncologists are harnessing the body's immune system to fight cancers and other diseases with adoptive cell transfer techniques. In a normal immune response, a type of white blood cell known as T cells are instructed by another kind of immune cell called an antigen-presenting cell (APC) to expand their numbers and stay alive.

15 Jan 2018

Variations in bacterial strains can trigger varying immune responses, study states

A new study published in PLOS Pathogens revealed the role of genetic variations between different strains of the same bacterial species in inducing variations in immune system responses. Former studies have shown that susceptibility to infection with the same species of disease causing bacteria may vary among people.

15 Jan 2018

Past exposures influence immune response in children with acute respiratory tract infections

Acute respiratory tract infections (ARTI) are the leading global cause of death in early childhood, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

12 Jan 2018

Study finds overall pattern of commonality between Huntington's and Parkinson's

A new study strongly suggests that the brains of people who have died of Huntington's disease (HD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) show a similar response to a lifetime of neurodegeneration, despite being two very distinct diseases.

12 Jan 2018

Researchers discover new weapon to combat tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB), an infectious disease which attacks the lungs, claims someone's life every 20 seconds and 1.5 million lives worldwide every year.

11 Jan 2018

New study shows how the immune system regulates gut fungal population

Immune cells that process food and bacterial antigens in the intestines control the intestinal population of fungi, according to a new study from Weill Cornell Medicine scientists.

11 Jan 2018

Patients with desmoplastic melanoma respond well to immunotherapy

Desmoplastic melanoma is a rare subtype of melanoma that is commonly found on sun-exposed areas, such as the head and neck, and usually seen in older patients.

11 Jan 2018

Scientists use artificial intelligence to create new ‘ImmunoMap’

Johns Hopkins scientists have used a form of artificial intelligence to create a map that compares types of cellular receptors, the chemical "antennas" on the surface of immune system T-cells.

8 Jan 2018

Newly identified biomarkers predict cancer patient’s response to immunotherapy

Researchers at the University of Zurich have identified biomarkers in the blood that make it possible to predict whether cancer patients will respond positively to immunotherapy.

8 Jan 2018

Specific bacteria in the intestines can improve response rate to cancer immunotherapy

In the Jan. 5, 2018 issue of Science, researchers from the University of Chicago Medicine show that specific strains of commensal bacteria – the swarms of microorganisms naturally dwelling in the intestines – can improve the response rate to immunotherapy for patients being treated for advanced melanoma.

5 Jan 2018

Macrophage nanosponges offer promising solution for effectively managing sepsis

A team of researchers at the University of California San Diego has developed macrophage "nanosponges" that can safely absorb and remove molecules from the bloodstream that are known to trigger sepsis.

4 Jan 2018

Gene therapy with CAR T-cells could create long-term immunity from HIV

Through gene therapy, researchers engineered blood-forming stem cells (hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells, or HSPCs) to carry chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) genes to make cells that can detect and destroy HIV-infected cells.

29 Dec 2017

Nanobiotix receives FDA approval for first immuno-oncology trial

NANOBIOTIX, a late clinical-stage nanomedicine company pioneering new approaches to the treatment of cancer, today announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved its Investigational New Drug Application for NBTXR3, a first-in-class nanoparticle designed for direct injection into cancerous tumors, activated by stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) and administered in combination with an anti-PD1 antibody (nivolumab or pembrolizumab).

26 Dec 2017

Scientists discover five new regions of the genome that increase asthma risk

An international study led by scientists from Inserm and Paris Diderot Universit, the University of Chicago, the National Heart and Lung Institute and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus together with researchers of the Trans-National Asthma Genetics Consortium has discovered five new regions of the genome that increase the risk of asthma.

22 Dec 2017

Higher ‘mutational burden’ of tumors predicts success rate with cancer immunotherapies

The "mutational burden," or the number of mutations present in a tumor's DNA, is a good predictor of whether that cancer type will respond to a class of cancer immunotherapy drugs known as checkpoint inhibitors, a new study led by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers shows.

21 Dec 2017

Research uncovers mechanism implicated in defective function of tumor-associated dendritic cells

A new study from The Wistar Institute revealed the mechanism implicated in the defective function of tumor-associated dendritic cells (DCs), a specialized type of immune cells that expose the antigens on their surface to activate the T cells.

15 Dec 2017