Immune System News and Research

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Potential new therapies for multiple sclerosis

In every MS patient cells of their body's own immune system migrate to the brain, where they destroy the myelin sheath.

20 Apr 2020

Study shows how interactions between microbiome and the immune system contribute to liver disease

A new study by researchers in the Quadram Institute has provided insights into how interactions between gut microbes and cells of the immune system contribute to cholestatic liver disease.

20 Apr 2020

Study adds increasing evidence that autoimmunity plays a role in Parkinson's disease

A new study co-led by scientists at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology adds increasing evidence that Parkinson's disease is partly an autoimmune disease. In fact, the researchers report that signs of autoimmunity can appear in Parkinson's disease patients years before their official diagnosis.

20 Apr 2020

New high-throughput approach yields libraries of probes for immunological assays

An immunological test known as a "tetramer assay" can detect T cells in a blood sample that recognize a specific antigen.

20 Apr 2020

Smoking doubles risk of severe COVID-19 disease

The fatality rate among infected people increases among the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions. Now, a new study published as a pre-print on medXriv, links smoking to the progression of COVID-19 disease, suggesting that the odds of disease progression is more than double in smokers.

20 Apr 2020

Computer simulations yield promising vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2

In a recent study that appeared on a preprint server bioRxiv, scientists from India designed a multi-epitope peptide-based vaccine that predicted high immunogenic response in the population.

19 Apr 2020

Salk scientists uncover surprising role of tuft cells in pancreatitis

Persistent inflammation of the pancreas (chronic pancreatitis) is a known risk factor for developing pancreatic cancer, the third-deadliest cancer in the United States.

18 Apr 2020

UC San Diego Health launches serological tests to detect past exposure to novel coronavirus

Clinical laboratory physicians and scientists at UC San Diego Health have launched a pair of serological tests that will look for novel coronavirus antibodies -- evidence in persons tested that they have previously been infected by SARS-CoV-2, the viral cause of COVID-19, even if they never experienced tell-tale symptoms.

18 Apr 2020

McMaster researchers to study why some people are more susceptible to SARS-CoV-2

Two McMaster University professors have received research funding to boost their work to identify COVID-19 infection rates and to understand why some people are more susceptible to the virus.

17 Apr 2020

New study raises red flags about strategy to block cancer drug resistance

Sooner or later, most cancer patients develop resistance to the very chemotherapy drugs designed to kill their cancer, forcing oncologists to seek alternatives.

17 Apr 2020

A promising antiviral drug to fight COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 patients in a clinical trial at Houston Methodist Hospital are responding quickly to the antiviral drug Remdesivir. The trial's criteria allows for the treatment of patients early in their clinical course and, in some cases, at times where they might have otherwise been intubated.

17 Apr 2020

Cancer immunotherapy can lead to inflammation of the heart muscle

Immunotherapy is a powerful weapon in the fight against cancer, but inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis) is one of its most serious side effects.

17 Apr 2020

Cancer Research UK calls for mass Covid-19 testing to prevent unnecessary cancer deaths

Thousands of cancer patients in the UK have had their treatment stopped or delayed because of COVID-19, and with pressures mounting on the health service, Cancer Research UK calls for widespread testing to prevent unnecessary cancer deaths.*

17 Apr 2020

URMC launches new coronavirus study to examine immune response

The University of Rochester Medical Center is launching a new study to understand how the body's immune system responds to COVID-19, including if and when a person could be re-infected with the virus and whether some people have pre-existing immunity.

17 Apr 2020

Scientists predict how the novel coronavirus spreads in a typical household

A team of scientists recently carried out a study on the transmissibility of the virus in households. Simply put, they’re trying to predict how the virus spreads in a typical family: if one person gets sick, how many others get sick? How sick? How long would it take the family to recover? These are the practical questions this study tries to answer.

17 Apr 2020

Are overactive immune cells causing COVID-19-related deaths?

While the COVID-19 pandemic is devastating many regions, the world over, a new paper published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine in April 2020 describes the possibility that the critical or very severe cases of COVID-19 are due to the production of neutrophil extracellular traps (NET) due to hyperactivated immune cells.

16 Apr 2020

The benefits of breastfeeding during COVID-19 crisis

While the current coronavirus pandemic continues to affect all people, families will still give birth and bring new life into the world.

16 Apr 2020

Specialized proteins could soak up excess cytokines in COVID-19 patients

One of the defining features of Covid-19 is the excessive immune response that can occur in severe cases. This burst of immune overreaction, also called a cytokine storm, damages the lungs and can be fatal.

16 Apr 2020

Octapharma USA supports new COVID-19 clinical trial

Octapharma USA is supporting a new investigator initiated clinical trial led by George Sakoulas, M.D. of Sharp Memorial Hospital in San Diego, California focused on treating the most critical patients at the heart of the coronavirus pandemic, those experiencing respiratory failure who become ventilator dependent.

16 Apr 2020

Screening blood samples for COVID-19 using artificial intelligence

A promising new study published in the preprint online journal medRxiv in April 2020 shows the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) for developing a patient classifier that can separate patients likely to be negative for COVID-19 from among a pool of suspected patients visiting an emergency room (ER).

15 Apr 2020