Immune System News and Research

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Researchers reveal potential new treatment methods for fatal brain disease

Researchers from the University of Zurich and the University Hospital Zurich reveal possible new treatment methods for a rare, usually fatal brain disease. Thanks to their discovery that specific antibodies play a key role in combating the viral infection, a vaccine against the disease "progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy" could now be developed.

24 Sep 2015

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy improves outcomes of umbilical cord blood transplant patients

For the past 27 years, cord blood transplants have been a life-saving treatment option for thousands of people with leukemia, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, Hodgkins disease and myelodysplastic disorders. Cord blood helps replace cancerous blood cells and replenish a patient's own bone marrow and immune system. Even with its success, researchers are continually looking for ways to improve the transplant process and increase cure rates.

24 Sep 2015

City of Hope receives gift to open new Judy and Bernard Briskin Center for Multiple Myeloma Research

The Judy and Bernard Briskin Family Foundation has announced a gift to launch the new Judy and Bernard Briskin Center for Multiple Myeloma Research at City of Hope, the third named center within City of Hope's new Hematologic Malignancies and Stem Cell Transplantation Institute. The generous gift will enable the institution to further its already considerable accomplishments in the field of myeloma treatment and research.

24 Sep 2015

Research suggests potential drug targets to stop cancer spread

It only takes seconds: one cancerous cell breaks off from a tumor, slips into the bloodstream and quickly lodges elsewhere in the body. These colonizers may bloom into deadly metastatic cancer right away or lie dormant for years, only to trigger a recurrence decades after the primary tumor is removed.

24 Sep 2015

Stanford researchers successfully defeat C. difficile bacteria

Stanford University School of Medicine scientists successfully defeated a dangerous intestinal pathogen, Clostridium difficile, with a drug targeting its toxins rather than its life.

24 Sep 2015

NGN3-expressing cells in adult human pancreas offer hope to diabetics

Cells that express neurogenin 3 (NGN3) may one day be harnessed to create a plentiful supply of insulin-producing beta cells for the treatment of diabetes, a study led by researchers at the University of South Florida suggests.

24 Sep 2015

Researchers design new type of nanocarrier to improve effectiveness of allergy shots

Whether triggered by cats, bees, pollen or mites, allergies are on the rise. And the bad news doesn't stop there. The only current therapy that treats their causes is allergen-specific immunotherapy -- or allergy shots -- which can cause severe side effects. Now, researchers report in Biomacromolecules the development of a potentially better allergy shot that uses nanocarriers to address these unwanted issues.

23 Sep 2015

Researchers extend innovative research towards a cure for type I diabetes

Associate Professor Shane Grey, of Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research, together with collaborators from the Westmead Millennium Institute for Medical Research and the Children's Hospital at Westmead, have been awarded $3.3 million to extend their innovative research towards a cure for type I diabetes.

23 Sep 2015

Researchers receive NIH grants to find genomic regions containing variants that affect disease risk

Six new grants from the National Institutes of Health will support researchers to develop new computational approaches for searching among millions of genomic variants to find those that make a difference in disease susceptibility or in other traits.

23 Sep 2015

TSRI scientists awarded grant from Gates Foundation to develop revolutionary alternative HIV/AIDS vaccine

Scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have been awarded up to nearly $6 million dollars from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a revolutionary HIV/AIDS alternative vaccine that has demonstrated great potential in animal models.

23 Sep 2015

Radboud university medical center reveals how BCG vaccine works against tuberculosis

Not only the acquired immune system but also the innate immune system has a memory. And the BCG vaccine against tuberculosis can stimulate this memory. After a BCG vaccination the innate immune system responds better to a wide range of other infections. Mihai Netea and colleagues from Radboud university medical center discovered and described how that works. They think that the old vaccine could be useful for specific target groups, such as the elderly.

23 Sep 2015

UNC Lineberger earns 'exceptional' rating from NCI for major grant application

The UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center earned an "exceptional" rating from the National Cancer Institute for a major grant application associated with the center's multidisciplinary research.

23 Sep 2015

New gene mutation linked to fatal swelling in unborn and newborn babies

Scientists have discovered a new gene mutation that causes potentially fatal swelling in unborn and newborn babies. Identifying the gene is the first step toward a future diagnostic test and targeted treatment for this condition.

23 Sep 2015

Novel mechanism may help explain the virulence of 1918 'Spanish' flu

While yearly outbreaks of flu kill about 250,000 to 500,000 people worldwide, the 1918 "Spanish" flu infected one-third of the world's population and killed 50 million to 100 million. Chad Petit, Ph.D., assistant professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, has discovered a novel mechanism for one 1918 flu virus protein that may help explain the virulence of that unusually deadly pandemic.

23 Sep 2015

Prashant Mahajan awarded $5.76 million grant to study how febrile infants can avoid invasive procedures

Prashant Mahajan, M.D., professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine, chief of the Division of Emergency Medicine in the Department of Pediatrics at Wayne State University and Children's Hospital of Michigan, has been awarded a five-year, $5.76 million grant (1R01HD085233) by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health.

23 Sep 2015

UCI scientists find potential biomarker for diagnosing certain forms of autism

By identifying a key signaling defect within a specific membrane structure in all cells, University of California, Irvine researchers believe, they have found both a possible reliable biomarker for diagnosing certain forms of autism and a potential therapeutic target.

22 Sep 2015