Immune System News and Research

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Biomaterial-based vaccine has potential to completely eliminate AML cells

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a deadly blood cancer that originates in the bone marrow and kills most of its victims within five years. Chemotherapy has been the standard AML treatment for over 40 years, and while it often causes the cancer to go into remission, it rarely completely eliminates the cancerous cells, which then lead to disease recurrence in nearly half of treated patients.

14 Jan 2020

Study shows how cancer-causing genes promote metastasis

Cancer-promoting genes MYC and TWIST1 co-opt immune system cells to enable cancer cells to spread, but blocking a key step in this process can help prevent the disease from developing.

14 Jan 2020

Study provides insights into how viral infection can continue to affect immunity

The strength of the immune system in response to respiratory infections is constantly changing, depending on the history of previous, unrelated infections, according to new research from the Crick.

From The Francis Crick Institute 14 Jan 2020

A New Discovery about MAIT Cells Sheds Light on Early-Phase HIV Infection

Researchers at the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, have made an important discovery about a poorly understood group of immune cells (mucosa-associated invariant T [MAIT]cells) that could improve understanding of what happens during the initial stages of HIV infection.

14 Jan 2020

Study delineates the dynamic MAIT cell response during acute HIV infection

In a new study published in Nature Communications, researchers at Karolinska Institutet show that MAIT cells (mucosa-associated invariant T cells), part of the human immune system, respond with dynamic activity and reprogramming of gene expression during the initial phase of HIV infection.

14 Jan 2020

Important things you need to know about seasonal flu

Seasonal flu is a serious illness causing approximately 200,000 hospitalizations and 36,000 deaths each year. Federal health officials are reporting that the 2019-2020 flu season could be the worst in decades.

13 Jan 2020

Lymphopenia may hint a higher risk of future illness, death

Lymphopenia, which indicates lower levels of lymphocytes in the blood, has been tied to a higher risk of future illness and death, a new study found.

13 Jan 2020

Researchers provide first robust cell culture model for hepatitis E virus

Even though hepatitis E causes over three million infections and about 70,000 deaths each year, the virus has been little studied as yet.

13 Jan 2020

Mice study offers new insight on irritable bowel syndrome

Sometimes the end of an intestinal infection is just the beginning of more misery. Of those who contract traveler's diarrhea, for example, an unlucky few go on to develop irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a chronic inflammation of the intestinal tract.

12 Jan 2020

Researchers discover how a new immune system works to protect bacteria from phages

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have discovered how a new immune system works to protect bacteria from bacteriophages (phages), viruses that specifically infect bacteria.

11 Jan 2020

Siah2 Gene Control could Help Treat Melanomas More Effectively

To develop improved cancer immunotherapies, it is essential to understand how cancers shut down the natural immune response to foreign antigens. This current study demonstrates how mice lacking the Siah2 gene, fail to develop BRAF-mutation carrying melanoma from the corresponding cells, completely rejecting them. This could help in boosting the anticancer effect of existing specific immune checkpoint inhibitors, such as anti-PD-1 drugs.

10 Jan 2020

Rejuvenating the BCG Vaccine

A new primate study published in the journal Nature in January 2020, reports that the almost century-old BCG vaccine against tuberculosis, may be used differently to achieve better protection against lung tuberculosis. While more work remains to be carried out before the findings can be accepted as the basis for clinical practice, they are extremely promising in the fight against this killer.

10 Jan 2020

Sodium chloride nanoparticles offer potential for cancer therapies with fewer side effects

A new study at the University of Georgia has found a way to attack cancer cells that is potentially less harmful to the patient. Sodium chloride nanoparticles – more commonly known as salt – are toxic to cancer cells and offer the potential for therapies that have fewer negative side effects than current treatments.

9 Jan 2020

Nano-sized copper compounds together with immunotherapy can kill cancer cells

An interdisciplinary team of scientists from KU Leuven, the University of Bremen, the Leibniz Institute of Materials Engineering, and the University of Ioannina has succeeded in killing tumour cells in mice using nano-sized copper compounds together with immunotherapy. After the therapy, the cancer did not return.

9 Jan 2020

Researchers identify new prevention strategy for type 1 diabetes

A protein newly identified as important in type 1 diabetes can delay onset of the disease in diabetic mice, providing a new target for prevention and treatment in people, according to research led by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Indiana University School of Medicine.

9 Jan 2020