Immune Response News and Research

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Maternal immune response to fetal brain during pregnancy a key factor in some autism

New studies in pregnant mice using antibodies against fetal brains made by the mothers of autistic children show that immune cells can cross the placenta and trigger neurobehavioral changes similar to autism in the mouse pups.

20 Apr 2009

Evidence grows that maternal immune response to fetal brain during pregnancy a key factor in some autism

16 Apr 2009

Prenatal exposure to influenza virus shown to reduce intelligence in adulthood

The Hong Kong flu pandemic was responsible for more than 700,000 deaths worldwide in the late 1960s, with major disease outbreaks in Europe in the winter of 1969-1970.

15 Apr 2009

Vaccine for Enterotoxigenic E. coli developed

A Michigan State University researcher has developed a working vaccine for a strain of E. coli that kills 2 million to 3 million children each year in the developing world.

14 Apr 2009

Gene targeting discovery opens door for vaccines and drugs

In a genetic leap that could help fast track vaccine and drug development to prevent or tame serious global diseases, DMS researchers have discovered how to destroy a key DNA pathway in a wily and widespread human parasite.

13 Apr 2009

Stem cell therapy used to restore transparency in corneas

Stem cells collected from human corneas restore transparency and don't trigger a rejection response when injected into eyes that are scarred and hazy, according to experiments conducted in mice by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

12 Apr 2009

Research points to a new approach to treating type 1 diabetes

Scientists at Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) and the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) School of Medicine have demonstrated in mice that transplanted pancreatic precursor cells are protected from the immune system when encapsulated in polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE).

12 Apr 2009

Researchers reveal how immune cells can be harnessed to target melanoma

Researchers at the Babraham Institute and the University of Catanzaro "Magna Graecia", Italy, co-ordinating an international network of scientists and clinicians from Europe, the USA and Japan, have identified new mechanisms through which the immune system recognises and responds to tumours like melanomas.

12 Apr 2009

Deficiency in vitamin D may exacerbate autoimmune disease

Deficiency in vitamin D has been widely regarded as contributing to autoimmune disease, but a review appearing in Autoimmunity Reviews explains that low levels of vitamin D in patients with autoimmune disease may be a result rather than a cause of disease and that supplementing with vitamin D may actually exacerbate autoimmune disease.

9 Apr 2009

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with inflammation in healthy women

According to a recent study in the Archives of Internal Medicine, 75 percent of Americans do not get enough Vitamin D.

9 Apr 2009

Oral contraceptives linked to greater risk of systemic lupus erythematosus

The ratio of women to men with the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is nine to one and the incidence increases after puberty.

8 Apr 2009

Immune cells in skin fight off infection better than the rest

Scientists at the University of Melbourne have discovered the local action of immune cells in the skin, which could improve treatment of viral skin infections.

8 Apr 2009

Cigarette smoke changes the immune response to bacteria - culprit behind COPD exacerbations

Smoking cigarettes is not only the principle cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but it may change the body's immune responses to bacteria that commonly cause exacerbations of the disease, according to new research in a mouse model.

8 Apr 2009

Monoclonal antibody cancer therapy

The strategy of using monoclonal antibodies for cancer treatment was first described in the late 1970s with the promise that they could be developed into therapies that were highly specific to cancer cells, killing them with few or no side effects.

6 Apr 2009

Allergies may be caused by a malfunction of the respiratory epithelium

One reason for the development of allergy may be malfunction of the respiratory epithelium, which allows allergens to bind to, enter and travel through the epithelium.

6 Apr 2009

Explanation for poor infant immune response to certain vaccines

For years, researchers and physicians have known that infants' immune systems do not respond well to certain vaccines, thus the need for additional boosters as children develop.

1 Apr 2009

New understanding on how probiotics can prevent disease

Using probiotics successfully against a number of animal diseases has helped scientists from University College Cork, Ireland to understand some of the ways in which they work, which could lead to them using probiotics to prevent and even to treat human diseases.

1 Apr 2009

West Nile virus studies show how star-shaped brain cells cope with infection

A new study published as the cover article for the April 2009 issue of The FASEB Journal promises to give physicians new ways to reduce deadly responses to viral infections of the brain and spinal cord.

1 Apr 2009

New HIV drug may help patients not responding to treatment

A potential treatment for HIV may one day help people who are not responding to Anti-Retroviral Therapy, suggests new research published tomorrow in The Journal of Immunology.

1 Apr 2009

New insights into how brain responds to viral infection

Scientists at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health have discovered that astrocytes, supportive cells in the brain that are not derived from an immune cell lineage, respond to a molecule that mimics a viral infection using cellular machinery similar to that used by classical immune cells in the blood.

1 Apr 2009