Immunodeficiency News and Research

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Immunodeficiency (or immune deficiency) is a state in which the immune system's ability to fight infectious disease is compromised or entirely absent.

Researchers find new way to differentiate between active and inactive viruses

Human herpesviruses such as HHV-6 can remain dormant in cells for many years without being noticed. When reactivated, they can cause serious clinical conditions. Researchers from Würzburg have now found a way of differentiating between active and inactive viruses.

14 Sep 2018

Immune checkpoint inhibition may be effective in treating HIV-associated Kaposi's sarcoma

Among a small cohort of patients with HIV-associated Kaposi's sarcoma treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors, more than 65 percent had partial or complete remission.

7 Sep 2018

Using novel gene therapy to cure infants born with severe combined immunodeficiency

Out of every 60,000 births, a baby arrives to face the world without a fully functioning immune system leaving them unequipped to fight even the most common infections.

29 Aug 2018

Transgenic rice plant extracts could help stop the spread of HIV

Extracts from transgenic rice plants could help stop the spread of HIV, according to research results from an international effort that included an Iowa State University scientist.

17 Aug 2018

Pioneering research takes major step forward in the fight against cystic fibrosis

The fight against cystic fibrosis has taken a major step forward, with pioneering research by University of Adelaide scientists showing that cells causing the debilitating genetic disorder could be successfully replaced with healthy ones.

2 Aug 2018

Breakthrough in stem cell research could lead to cure for cystic fibrosis

Researchers have successfully proved that gene therapy can be used to convert adult stem cells into functioning lung cells for the treatment of cystic fibrosis

2 Aug 2018

PEACHI project develops vaccine strategies targeting both HIV and hepatitis C virus

An estimated 2.3 million people globally are infected with both human immunodeficiency virus type 1 and hepatitis C virus.

27 Jul 2018

Researchers find that IgM antibody could protect against HIV-1

A team of scientists from Texas Biomedical Research Institute have homed in on an antibody that could protect against infection with HIV-1.

24 Jul 2018

Study reveals protective potential of new class of antibodies against HIV-1 infection

A group of scientists at Texas Biomedical Research Institute have zeroed in on a new defense against HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS. Led by Ruth Ruprecht, M.D., Ph.D., the team used an animal model to show for the first time that an antibody called Immunoglobulin M was effective in preventing infection after mucosal AIDS virus exposure.

24 Jul 2018

Researchers highlight the need for wider access to HIV prevention drugs

Despite highly effective anti-HIV pharmaceuticals having been used worldwide for almost a decade, HIV has not been conquered.

11 Jul 2018

Preventative HIV vaccines induce robust, comparable immune responses in humans and monkeys

More than three decades after the identification of the human immunodeficiency virus, scientists are still working to develop a preventative vaccine that could finally put an end to the epidemic for which there are nearly two million new infections each year.

9 Jul 2018

New CRISPR/Cas9 system targets regulatory genes of AIDS virus

By destroying the regulatory genes of the AIDS virus HIV-1 using the genome editing system CRISPR/Cas9, a Japanese research group has succeeded in blocking the production of HIV-1 by infected cells.

18 May 2018

HIV patients on single-tablet regimen show better outcomes than those taking multiple pills

HIV patients on a single-tablet daily regimen had better treatment retention and viral suppression than patients taking multiple pills, in a study by a Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center researcher and his colleagues.

18 May 2018

Researchers characterize new protein that plays key role in genetic stability of cells

Researchers from the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research at the Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences have characterized a new protein that is important to the genetic stability of our cells.

3 May 2018

Study underlines importance of early HIV treatment to avoid brain atrophy

While the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has largely dropped from news headlines since the 1990s, at the end of 2016 there were 36.7 million people living with the infection, and of those only 53 per cent had access to treatment.

3 May 2018

The Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation awards grant to KI researchers

Ten researchers at Karolinska Institutet have been awarded grants in the Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation's latest call for funding, during which approximately SEK 62 million was allocated.

19 Apr 2018

Researchers suggest a theory for the evolution of HIV from SIV

A new study has shed light on how HIV may have evolved from the simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) that originated in non-human primates.

5 Apr 2018

Atlas Award-winning study calls for more support to fight allergy epidemic in Africa

Allergies are on the rise in Africa, but with too few specialists to treat them, and a parallel increase in immune deficiency diseases, the situation is worse than we thought.

3 Apr 2018

Blood donor scraps help researchers to discover new insight into human immune system

Iowa State University researchers have discovered new insight into the human immune system from an unlikely source, the leftover material from blood donation banks.

16 Mar 2018

Innovative antibody delivery method could offer effective way to combat Ebola infection

More than 11,000 people died during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa from 2013-16, demonstrating both the deadly nature of the virus and the limitations of the medication used to fight it.

6 Mar 2018