immunity News and Research

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Southeast Asia the culprit in flu epidemics

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) each year influenza epidemics are thought to infect between 5 and 15 per cent of the world's population.

17 Apr 2008

CDC issues measles travel warning for Israel

As Americans travel to Israel for the Jewish holiday of Passover, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advises all travelers to ensure they are protected from measles before departing, because of a measles outbreak in Israel.

16 Apr 2008

T-cell multiplication unexpectedly delayed after infection

In a surprising outcome that overturns the conventional wisdom on the body's immune response to infection, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have shown that T cells do not begin proliferation until up to three days after infection.

11 Apr 2008

Hepatitis B virus triggers cell 'suicide' in patients with chronic infection

Scientists from UCL (University College London) have identified a key difference between people who can fight the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) off successfully and those who fail to do so - that a group of cells important in controlling the disease are triggered to 'commit suicide' in patients who are chronically infected.

9 Apr 2008

Anticipation of laughter reduces levels of stress hormones

In 2006 researchers investigating the interaction between the brain, behavior, and the immune system found that simply anticipating a mirthful laughter experience boosted health-protecting hormones.

8 Apr 2008

Roswell Park Cancer Institute awarded three-years funding for ovarian cancer vaccine

The Ovarian Cancer Research Fund has awarded a $900,000 research grant to Kunle Odunsi, MD, Department of Gynecologic Oncology, and his colleagues at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) to collaborate on developing a promising vaccine to unleash the power of the immune system against cancer.

7 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

Clinical trial to test a novel HIV/AIDS vaccine

This new vaccine aims to overcome the problem of preexisting immunity to common vaccine vectors, which is thought to be a major problem in the developing world.

4 Apr 2008

Immune system needs food to function properly

Researchers studying deer mice have discovered evidence to support what mothers everywhere have long suspected: the immune system needs food to function properly.

2 Apr 2008

New breakthrough discovery on TB

Medical scientists from the University of Leicester, together with colleagues from St Georges, University of London, funded principally by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and The Wellcome Trust, have published details of a new breakthrough discovery on TB.

1 Apr 2008

Tasmanian devil Cedric could save his species

Tasmanian devils, the world's largest marsupial carnivores, are a species facing extinction because of an ugly disfiguring cancer, known as devil facial tumour disease or DFTD.

1 Apr 2008

Ebola virus vaccines for humans

One of the world's deadliest diseases, caused by the Ebola virus, may finally be preventable thanks to US and Canadian researchers, who have successfully tested several Ebola vaccines in primates and are now looking to adapt them for human use.

31 Mar 2008

Potential new genetic markers for Crohn's disease

What is believed to be the largest study of its kind for the genetic roots of inflammatory bowel diseases has suggested new links to Crohn's Disease as well as further evidence that some people of Jewish descent are more likely to develop it.

28 Mar 2008

New drug targets for Huntington's disease

Research funded by the Wellcome Trust has provided a number of promising new drug targets for Huntington's disease, a neurodegenerative disease.

25 Mar 2008

Research could put penicillin back in battle against antibiotic resistant bugs

Research led by the University of Warwick has uncovered exactly how the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae has become resistant to the antibiotic penicillin.

13 Mar 2008

Mathematical model of malaria transmission will help with eradication

Scientists at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC), in Portugal, have shown that Malaria eradication in Africa is sustainable, and any re-emergence of malaria in industrialized nations is highly unlikely.

13 Mar 2008

Caspase-12: MUHC researcher finds new defense mechanism against intestinal inflammation

The body's first line of defence against pathogenic bacteria that we ingest may not be the immune system but rather the cells that line the intestine.

13 Mar 2008

Scientists identify key protein in cell's 'self-eating' function

Molecular biologists at the University of California, San Diego have found one piece of the complex puzzle of autophagy, the process of "self-eating" performed by all eukaryotic cells - cells with a nucleus - to keep themselves healthy.

12 Mar 2008

Anadis licenses antibody technologies from ImmuCell

Anadis Limited, an Australian-based biotechnology company focused on milk derived polyclonal antibodies and other milk-derived bioactives, announced today that it had signed a final agreement with ImmuCell Corporation, a biotechnology company headquartered in Portland, Maine, USA.

11 Mar 2008