Autoimmunity News and Research

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

Study shows how T cell's machinery dials down autoimmunity

A St. Jude Children's Research Hospital study shows that T cells, the body's master immune regulators, do not use simple on/off switches to govern the cellular machinery that regulates their development and function. Rather, they possess sophisticated molecular controls that enable them to adjust their function with exquisite precision. Such subtle adjustment enables T cells to modulate their development and function, including avoiding autoimmunity

12 May 2008

Regulatory T cells orchestrate reaction to a virus invasion

Just as fire engines arrive quickly at the scene to save people and property, the cells that fight viruses have to reach the site of an infection promptly to mount a protective response.

24 Apr 2008

UAB at the forefront of diabetes research and training

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has designated the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) one of only six Diabetes Research and Training Centers (DRTC) in the country, putting UAB at the forefront in the development of new methods to treat, prevent and, ultimately, cure diabetes and its complications.

4 Apr 2008

Men get autoimmune diseases, too!

What do former President George H.W. Bush, Fox Business News anchor Neil Cavuto, comedian and actor Bernie Mac, Poison lead singer and reality television star Bret Michaels and Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Bobby Engram have in common?

4 Apr 2008

Environmental factors linked to development of autoimmune diseases

Scientists working at the MRC National Institute for Medical Research have shown that environmental factors can influence the development of autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis.

28 Mar 2008

Strengthening the tumor-fighting ability of T cells

When faced with cancer, the immune system dispatches cells, called T cells, to kill the tumor.

25 Mar 2008

How anti-TNF compounds work

Powerful drugs used to treat patients with rheumatoid arthritis have a profound, previously unrecognized effect on the immune system, breaking up molecular "training camps" for rogue cells that play an increasingly recognized role in autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

21 Jan 2008

Controlling lupus - new drug targets found

Investigators at Hospital for Special Surgery have identified two new targets for drugs aimed at controlling lupus.

17 Dec 2007

Profound immune system discovery opens door to halting destruction of lupus

A researcher funded by the Lupus Research Institute (LRI) has discovered an entirely new and powerful molecular switch that controls the inflammatory response of the immune system.

14 Dec 2007

Ubiquitin builds up an immune response

Ubiquitin is a small protein, which can be attached to other cellular proteins, a process known as ubiquitination.

22 Oct 2007

T-cell exhaustion

A new study of immune cells battling a chronic viral infection shows that the cells, called T cells, become exhausted by the fight in specific ways, undergoing profound changes that make them progressively less effective over time.

19 Oct 2007

Discovery of new antibody that helps detect type 1 diabetes

Researchers at the Barbara Davis Center for Childhood Diabetes and University of Colorado at Denver and Health Sciences Center's School of Medicine have discovered a fourth antibody in human blood which will help more accurately predict who is predisposed to type 1 diabetes.

17 Oct 2007

$Accentia announces investigational new drug application for Revimmune for refractory MS$

Accentia announces investigational new drug application for Revimmune for refractory MS

Accentia Biopharmaceuticals has announced that it met with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on September 26, 2007 for a scheduled pre-Investigational New Drug (pre-IND) meeting on Revimmune.

10 Oct 2007

Occupational exposures in farming and industry may be linked to death from autoimmune disease

A new study examined the possible associations between occupation and the risk of dying from systemic autoimmune diseases and found that occupational exposures in farming and industry may be linked to higher death rates from these diseases.

29 Sep 2007

Dietary fatty acids may help prevent diabetes

Omega-3 fatty acids have long been touted for their heart-healthy and brain-boosting benefits. Consider cod liver oil, fortified infant formula and enriched eggs.

27 Sep 2007

Omega-3 fatty acids may reduce type 1 diabetes risk in children

According to a new study by researchers in the United States children at risk of developing type 1 diabetes may be able to lessen that risk by consuming omega-3 fatty acids in their diet.

26 Sep 2007

Omega-3 fatty acids linked to decreased risk of type 1 diabetes

Preliminary research suggests that in children at increased risk for type 1 diabetes, dietary intake of omega-3 fatty acids was associated with a reduced risk of pancreatic islet autoimmunity, which is linked to the development of diabetes, according to an article in the Sept. 26 issue of JAMA.

25 Sep 2007

Clostridium difficile could outstrip MRSA in Irish hospitals

Research findings on a bug which is a major threat to hospital patients and particularly elderly patients, which could outstrip MRSA, will be presented to the Irish Society for Immunology (ISI) Annual Conference at Dublin City University.

24 Sep 2007

LL37 peptide provides a new potential target for autoimmune disease

A human peptide that acts as a natural antibiotic against invading microbes can also bind to the body's own DNA and trigger an immune response in the absence of an infection, a research team led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports in an early online publication in Nature.

17 Sep 2007

Dendritic cells turn T cells into T regs

Regulatory T cells (also known as T regs) suppress some of the immune system's more inappropriate responses, preventing it from attacking the body's own tissues and stifling its activity once invading microbes have been fought off.

17 Sep 2007