Autoimmunity News and Research

RSS

Autoimmune Disease is a condition in which the body recognizes its own tissues as foreign and directs an immune response against them.

Emergent BioSolutions completes Trubion acquisition

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Trubion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., following a majority vote to approve the merger by Trubion stockholders at a special meeting conducted at Trubion's Seattle headquarters on October 28, 2010. The acquisition provides Emergent with multiple, advanced stage candidates in the key disease areas of oncology and autoimmunity as well as access to novel and versatile protein therapeutic platforms.

29 Oct 2010

Regulus present advancements in microRNA platform at Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society meeting

Regulus Therapeutics Inc. announced today that advancements from its leading microRNA platform and product pipeline were presented at the "6th Annual Meeting of the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society" held October 20 - 23, 2010 in Dana Point, California.

22 Oct 2010

New approaches to explore causes of autoimmunity and immune deficiency diseases

A newly identified regulatory process affecting the biology of immune system T cells should give scientists new approaches to explore the causes of autoimmunity and immune deficiency diseases.

20 Oct 2010

Immune reaction to dystrophin may contribute to muscle disease: Study

An immune reaction to dystrophin, the muscle protein that is defective in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, may pose a new challenge to strengthening muscles of patients with this disease, suggests a new study appearing in the October 7, 2010, issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

7 Oct 2010

Researchers identify new type of cell that protects from immune system attack

Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston have identified a new type of cell in mice that dampens the immune system and protects the animal's own cells from immune system attack.

5 Oct 2010

Study finds increasing number of elderly people are prone to celiac diseases

Working to solve the puzzle of when people develop celiac disease has led researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine Center for Celiac Research to some surprising findings. They have found that the autoimmune disorder is on the rise with evidence of increasing cases in the elderly.

27 Sep 2010

Researchers identify cellular/molecular defect in T cell regulatory pathway

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have identified a defect in the T cell regulatory pathway which normally controls autoreactive T cells that attack the body's own tissues and organs. A majority of people with Type 1 diabetes who were tested in the study were found to have the newly-identified cellular/molecular defect, and the researchers were able to successfully correct the defect in-vitro.

27 Sep 2010

Immunotherapy accepted for coverage in MEDLINE®

Future Medicine Ltd announced today that its journal Immunotherapy (ISSN 1750-743X) has been selected for coverage in MEDLINE®. Maintained by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, MEDLINE® (Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online) is a premier bibliographic database containing approximately 13 million references to journal articles in life sciences.

19 Sep 2010

Conference to discuss frontline of immunological research, its clinical application

The immune system is evolved to protect our body against a variety of infectious agents which can cause serious and often fatal diseases. We now appreciate that the immune system is also involved in surveillance of malignant transformation of normal cells that constitute our body, as well as rejection of transplanted organs.

17 Sep 2010

Scientists discover molecular gatekeeper for arthritis

Elimination of a molecular gatekeeper leads to the development of arthritis in mice, scientists report in a study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. The newly discovered gatekeeper is a protein that determines the fate survival or death of damaging cells that mistakenly attack the body's own tissues and lead to autoimmune disorders such as arthritis.

9 Sep 2010

GWAS finds new genetic link between Parkinson's disease and inflammation

A hunt throughout the human genome for variants associated with common, late-onset Parkinson's disease has revealed a new genetic link that implicates the immune system and offers new targets for drug development.

30 Aug 2010

David Mosser to discuss primary duty of macrophages at American Physiological Society conference

The term "macrophage" conjures images of a hungry white blood cell gobbling invading bacteria. However, macrophages do much more than that. Not only do they act as antimicrobial warriors, they also play critical roles in immune regulation and wound-healing. They can respond to a variety of cellular signals and change their physiology in response to local cues.

27 Aug 2010

Researchers identify genetic risk factors of SLO, study provides insights on human nail diseases

The immune-mediated disease SLO can lead to severe claw problems in dogs. Researchers have now identified genetic risk factors underlying this disease. The obtained results that were recently reported in the scientific journal PLoS ONE can lead to increased knowledge about similar nail diseases that affect humans.

27 Aug 2010

Novartis presents 2010 Immunology prizes at 16th International Congress of Immunology in Kobe

The Novartis 2010 Immunology Prizes were presented at the 16th International Congress of Immunology in Kobe, Japan. Since 1992, the Novartis Prizes for Immunology have been awarded every third year for outstanding contributions to basic and clinical immunology. The prizes recognize individual achievement and provide financial support for further research by the recipients. The prizes are a major feature of the triennial International Congress of Immunology.

24 Aug 2010

Common genetic variation in HLA region associated with late-onset sporadic Parkinson's disease: Research

A team of researchers has discovered new evidence that Parkinson's disease may have an infectious or autoimmune origin. "Common genetic variation in the HLA region is associated with late-onset sporadic Parkinson's disease" appears online in Nature Genetics.

16 Aug 2010

Obesity diabetes link found

Melbourne researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have found that inflammatory cells in fat tissue cause the body to become resistant to the effects of insulin – a common precursor to type II diabetes.

16 Aug 2010

Trubion Pharmaceuticals signs definitive merger agreement with Emergent BioSolutions

Trubion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement with Emergent BioSolutions Inc., in which Emergent has agreed to acquire Trubion. Under the terms of the agreement, each share of Trubion common stock will be converted into the right to receive an upfront payment of $1.365 per share in cash and 0.1641 shares of Emergent BioSolutions common stock.

13 Aug 2010

Emergent BioSolutions enters agreement to acquire Trubion Pharmaceuticals

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. announced today it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Trubion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for upfront consideration of $96.8 million of value and up to $38.7 million of success-based milestones, resulting in a total consideration of up to $135.5 million. The acquisition will diversify Emergent's product development pipeline with the addition of Trubion's two clinical-stage product candidates focused on the targeted disease areas of oncology and autoimmunity.

13 Aug 2010

ALLOZYNE signs worldwide, co-exclusive licensing agreement with Sigma-Aldrich

ALLOZYNE Inc. announced today the signing of a worldwide, co-exclusive licensing agreement with Sigma-Aldrich giving ALLOZYNE a license for the use of cycloaddition chemistry in the development of therapeutics and diagnostics. Sigma-Aldrich currently holds broad, worldwide intellectual property for the use of cycloaddition chemistry to conjugate biomolecules.

12 Aug 2010

Certain human leukemias can be treated by targeting stem-cell microRNAs: Research

Hematopoietic stem cells provide the body with a constant supply of blood cells, including the red blood cells that deliver oxygen and the white blood cells that make up the immune system. Hematopoietic-or blood-stem cells must also make more copies of themselves to ensure that they are present in adequate numbers to provide blood throughout a person's lifetime, which means they need to strike a delicate balance between self-renewal and development into mature blood-cell lineages. Perturb that balance, and the result can be diseases such as leukemia and anemia.

5 Aug 2010