Macrophage News and Research

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A macrophage is a type of white blood cell that surrounds and kills microorganisms, removes dead cells, and stimulates the action of other immune system cells.

Pancreatic cancer cells release signal to suppress immune system's attack on tumors

A key immune signal has a previously unknown role in turning off the immune system's attack on pancreatic cancer cells, a new study finds.

8 Jan 2020

New nanotech technique fights advanced-stage sepsis

Scientists have found a novel approach using nanotechnology that can fight late-stage sepsis.

8 Jan 2020

Body clock gene impairs defense against pneumonia

Most living things have an internal body clock which regulates when they sleep and when they wake up. A complex set of genes turning on and off, make this body clock run over roughly 24 hours, and a gene known by the acronym BMAL1 is one of the master regulators of this clock, controlling many other body clock genes and pathways.

6 Jan 2020

Researchers develop new way to fight late-stage sepsis

Researchers have developed a way to prop up a struggling immune system to enable its fight against sepsis, a deadly condition resulting from the body's extreme reaction to infection.

6 Jan 2020

Immunologists discover new RIPK1 mechanism that leads to cell death

Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have discovered a new way that the molecule RIPK1 leads to cell death in infected, damaged or unwanted cells showing that more than one mechanism can trigger the process.

23 Dec 2019

Immunosupressant combination therapy for glioblastoma shows promise

Researchers from the University of Texas have found an immunosuppressing target for the treatment of glioblastoma. In mice studies the team has identified CD73 macrophages which could be used to treat the cancers. The team also performed studies on human tumours to arrive at their conclusions. The study was published in the latest issue of the journal Nature Medicine this week.

23 Dec 2019

Radiation-induced brain damage: new study reveals the mechanism

Following radiation therapy to the head for brain tumors, more than 80% of patients who live six months at least after the treatment report a loss of some cognitive functions such as memory, thinking and related tasks. Now a new study published in the journal Scientific Reports shows why this happens, which in turn could pave the way to correct this damage and protect the brain in future patients.

17 Dec 2019

Study shows how immune cells quickly switch to attack mode

Macrophages have two faces: In healthy tissue, they perform important tasks and support their environment. However during an infection, they stop this work and hunt down the pathogens instead.

17 Dec 2019

Study finds new drivers of destructive inflammation

Scientists describe in Nature Immunology an entirely new molecular process in mice that triggers T cell-driven inflammation and causes different auto-immune diseases.

17 Dec 2019

New compounds with herbicidal potential isolated from marine-derived fungus

Scientists of Far Eastern Federal University and the G.B. Elyakov Pacific Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry together with German colleagues spotted six new and three already known biologically active compounds in a new strain of the fungus Penicillium piltunense first time isolated.

6 Dec 2019

Transitional T cells could help improve cancer immunotherapy

In chronic viral infections and cancer, T cell dysfunction is sure to be observed. A new study to be published in the journal Immunity shows that before these cells are completely exhausted, there is a transitory stage in which some cells are present with features that are characteristic of neither the stem-like T cells nor the mature but exhausted T cells.

4 Dec 2019

Study reveals role of corpora amylacea in expelling brain waste substances

An article published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes a new pathway in the central nervous system to expel waste substances from the brain through the creation of corpora amylacea, aggregates formed by glucose polymers amassing waste products.

4 Dec 2019

Common cold virus could infect fetus via placenta

According to researchers, the common cold viruses are capable of infecting human placental cells and may thus transmit the infection to the fetus in the womb during pregnancy. The new study was published in the journal PLOS ONE, and provides the first concrete proof that this type of carriage is possible.

3 Dec 2019

Researchers identify mechanism for spread of HIV-1

New insight on how a type of cell facilitates the spread of HIV-1 has been published today in the open-access journal eLife.

3 Dec 2019

Streamlining Immuno-Oncological Therapeutic Antibody Discovery

The growing trend of implementing immunotherapy into oncology has resulted in various new therapeutic cancer treatments utilizing antibodies.

From Sartorius 3 Dec 2019

Research uncovers mechanism that triggers inflammatory process by Mayaro virus

The mechanism by which defense cells respond to infection by Mayaro virus has been described by a team affiliated with the Center for Research on Inflammatory Diseases - CRID in an article published in the journal PLOS Pathogens.

2 Dec 2019

Stem cells do help restore heart function – but in a different way

A new study published in the journal Nature shows that stem cells do work well to repair the damaged heart – but in an entirely different manner than was originally supposed. The study shows that stem cells, whether living or dead, when injected into the area of damage in the heart in mice, activate an intense acute inflammation. This triggers the classic wound healing response which finally results in the partial or complete recovery of mechanical function of the injured area.

28 Nov 2019

Sheffield research receives £800k to develop new gene therapy to treat CVD

Cardiac research in Sheffield has received a major boost from the British Heart Foundation in the form of an £800,000 award to develop a new gene therapy to treat cardiovascular disease (CVD).

26 Nov 2019

Researchers elucidate role of inflammation resolution sensor in obesity and heart failure

After heart attack injury, several fatty-acid-derived bioactive molecules -- including one called resolvin D1 -- play an essential signaling role to safely clear inflammation and help repair heart muscle. The mechanism of how this resolution occurs is not well-understood.

20 Nov 2019