Immune System News and Research

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Researchers create customized soap bubbles that promote drug and vaccine delivery

When University of Maryland Professors Philip DeShong and Daniel Stein began tagging soap bubbles with biomolecules, they had no idea this technology would one day be poised to change the way drugs and vaccines fight against bacteria, viruses and cancer.

29 Jan 2015

Age and HBsAg level predict NA-induced HBeAg seroconversion durability

The combination of age and baseline hepatitis B s-antigen level can help predict hepatitis B virus relapse in patients who achieve hepatitis B e-antigen loss or seroconversion following nucleos(t)ide analogue (NA) treatment, researchers report.

28 Jan 2015

Promising results for stem cell therapy in MS

Preliminary findings suggest that nonmyeloablative haematopoietic stem cell transplantation may arrest, or even reverse, the progress of disease among patients with relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis.

28 Jan 2015

Brain inflammation linked to clinical depression

A new study by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health found that the measure of brain inflammation in people who were experiencing clinical depression was increased by 30 per cent. The findings, published today in JAMA Psychiatry, have important implications for developing new treatments for depression.

28 Jan 2015

Inhibiting CDK6 protein prevents leukemic stem cells

Despite enormous progress in cancer therapy, many patients still relapse because their treatment addresses the symptoms of the disease rather than the cause, the so-called stem cells. Work in the group of Veronika Sexl at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna has given a tantalizing clue to a solution.

28 Jan 2015

Preventing obesity-related inflammation may reverse type 2 diabetes

Preventing inflammation in obese fat tissue may hold the key to preventing or even reversing type 2 diabetes, new research has found.

28 Jan 2015

CHLA researchers develop new protein-based therapy against drug-resistant leukemia cells

Resistance of leukemia cells to contemporary chemotherapy is one of the most formidable obstacles to treating acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common form of childhood cancer. Now researchers at Children's Hospital Los Angeles have designed and developed a new protein-based therapy they believe will prove highly effective against drug-resistant leukemia cells.

27 Jan 2015

Researchers decode how cancer uses cell-cell interaction mechanism to promote metastasis

Cancer uses a little-understood element of cell signaling to hijack the communication process and spread, according to Rice University researchers.

27 Jan 2015

Imperial College professor honored with Helmholtz International Fellow Award

The British cell biologist Professor Amanda Gay Fisher of Imperial College London has been honored with the Helmholtz International Fellow Award for her excellent research. Fisher is one of seven outstanding researchers from abroad who received the award, each of which is endowed with 20,000 euros. According to the Helmholtz Association, Germany's largest scientific organization, the award also includes an invitation to visit one or several Helmholtz research centers.

27 Jan 2015

International scientists take new path in epilepsy research

An international team of scientists together with the University of Bonn Hospital have taken a new path in the research into causes of epilepsy: The researchers determined the networks of the active genes and, like a dragnet, looked for the "main perpetrators" using a computer model.

24 Jan 2015

Study shows how gut bacteria can affect normal brain activity

The hundred trillion bacteria living in an adult human--mostly in the intestines, making up the gut microbiome--have a significant impact on behavior and brain health. The many ways gut bacteria can impact normal brain activity and development, affect sleep and stress responses, play a role in a variety of diseases, and be modified through diet for therapeutic use are described in a comprehensive Review article in Journal of Medicinal Food, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

23 Jan 2015

New research could help pave way to new cancer therapies

New research from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem shows that the most common form of white blood cells, called neutrophils, contain many different subtypes, of which some fight the development of cancer and others promote its progression. The research could help pave the way to new therapies that fight cancer by increasing anti-tumor neutrophils while limiting pro-tumor neutrophils.

23 Jan 2015

Efficacy of ebola vaccine to be assessed in large-scale clinical trial

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) announced today that they will soon be commencing the first large-scale clinical trial to assess the efficacy of an experimental ebola vaccine.

23 Jan 2015

New discovery may help doctors develop better treatments for brain, spinal cord injuries

In a discovery that could dramatically affect the treatment of brain and spinal cord injuries, researchers have identified a previously unknown, beneficial immune response that occurs after injury to the central nervous system.

23 Jan 2015

New study links inflammatory bowel diseases to increase in diversity of viruses

Inflammatory bowel diseases are associated with a decrease in the diversity of bacteria in the gut, but a new study led by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis has linked the same illnesses to an increase in the diversity of viruses.

23 Jan 2015

Professor Jonathan Sprent named recipient of AAI Lifetime Achievement Award

The American Association of Immunologists has selected Professor Jonathan Sprent FAA FRS, from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research, to be the 2015 recipient of the AAI Lifetime Achievement Award.

23 Jan 2015

Researchers find CREB-activated genes in long-term memory-trained worms

A new study has identified genes involved in long-term memory in the worm as part of research aimed at finding ways to retain cognitive abilities during aging.

23 Jan 2015

NCCS launches human clinical trial of new cancer vaccine

The National Cancer Centre Singapore has launched a clinical trial of a new cancer vaccine administered to human patients for the first time in the world. Cancer immunotherapy (the harnessing of the body's defence system to fight the patient's cancer, has emerged as one of the most exciting medical breakthroughs in the past two years.

22 Jan 2015

INRS researchers to use new specialized equipment to study environmental equity, male infertility

With the acquisition of new specialized equipment, INRS researchers Philippe Apparicio, Géraldine Delbès, and Maritza Jaramillo and their teams will be able to advance knowledge and train highly qualified people in the fields of environmental equity, reproductive toxicology, and the treatment of infections. They received a total of over $1 million from the Quebec government and the John R. Evans Leaders Fund of the Canadian Foundation for Innovation.

22 Jan 2015

New textbook on dermatology published for advanced practice clinicians

Most health-care workers learn about diagnosing and treating skin disorders through on-the-job training, because there's no standardized curriculum and few continuing education programs.

22 Jan 2015