Immune System News and Research

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Distinct bone marrow niches can nurture different types of blood stem cells

In research that could one day improve the success of stem cell transplants and chemotherapy, scientists have found that distinct niches exist in bone marrow to nurture different types of blood stem cells.

25 Feb 2013

Dana-Farber launches iPhone app that helps fight cancer

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has launched a free, easy-to-use iPhone app that provides recipes and nutrition information that can be searched by cancer patients in accordance with their needs.

25 Feb 2013

Circassia announces results from ToleroMune cat allergy phase II clinical study

Circassia Ltd, a specialty biopharmaceutical company focused on allergy, today announced the results of a phase II clinical study showing that a short course of just four doses of its ToleroMune cat allergy therapy maintained improvements in patients' symptoms two years after the start of treatment.

25 Feb 2013

C-section babies more likely to develop allergies

For expectant moms who may contemplate the pros and cons of natural child birth or Caesarian section, a Henry Ford Hospital study suggests that C-section babies are susceptible to developing allergies by age two.

25 Feb 2013

Omalizumab fast, safe and well-tolerated in teens and adults with chronic spontaneous urticaria

An international team of researchers has found that a once-a-month, high-dose injection of a commonly used asthma drug is highly effective in treating teens and adults chronically afflicted with hives and severe, itchy rash. The drug, omalizumab, was tested on 323 people at 55 medical centers for whom standard antihistamine therapy failed to quell their underlying, allergy-like reaction, known as chronic idiopathic urticaria or chronic spontaneous urticaria.

25 Feb 2013

Researchers map complex interactions of proteins that control inflammation

Inflammatory response plays a major role in both health protection and disease generation. While the symptoms of disease-related inflammatory response have been know, scientists have not understood the mechanisms that underlie it.

25 Feb 2013

HIV epidemics and extra-couple relationships: an interview with Steve Bellan, University of Texas

The epicentre of the HIV pandemic is in sub-Saharan Africa, though prevalence of infection varies dramatically between countries for reasons not completely understood.

25 Feb 2013

Race and possibly genetics play a role in children's sensitivity to developing allergies

Research conducted at Henry Ford Hospital shows that race and possibly genetics play a role in children's sensitivity to developing allergies.

24 Feb 2013

UAB becomes first in America to test experimental therapy for emphysema

A patient at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) became the first person in America to undergo an investigational therapy for emphysema that uses a foam sealant sprayed into the lungs.

23 Feb 2013

Washington University creates new type of air-cleaning technology

Washington University engineering researchers have created a new type of air-cleaning technology that could better protect human lungs from allergens, airborne viruses and ultrafine particles in the air.

23 Feb 2013

Marine-based active substances show promise against multiple myeloma

There is fierce competition in the ocean habitat. In order to survive there, marine organisms defend themselves against their rivals using an entire arsenal of chemical weapons. With the help of these substances they attack hostile cells, overcome their defence system and thus are interesting active substance candidates for cancer research.

22 Feb 2013

Combined complement mutations affect individuals' risk of aHUS and prognosis

Certain gene mutations affect individuals' risk of developing a serious kidney condition, as well as their prognosis after being diagnosed with the disease, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN).

22 Feb 2013

Vanderbilt investigators report new insights into workings of calprotectin

On the front lines of our defenses against bacteria is the protein calprotectin, which "starves" invading pathogens of metal nutrients. Vanderbilt investigators now report new insights to the workings of calprotectin - including a detailed structural view of how it binds the metal manganese.

22 Feb 2013

Researchers identify second B-cell attachment receptor for Epstein-Barr virus

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) affects more than 90 percent of the population worldwide and was the first human virus found to be associated with cancer. Now, researchers from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have broadened the understanding of this widespread infection with their discovery of a second B-cell attachment receptor for EBV.

21 Feb 2013

FDA approves new vial size for CSL Behring’s Privigen to treat primary immunodeficiency

CSL Behring today announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration has approved a 40 g (400 mL) vial size for Privigen, immune globulin intravenous [human].

21 Feb 2013

Imatinib can relieve and slow down progression of multiple sclerosis

A drug that is currently used for cancer can relieve and slow down the progression of the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis (MS) in rats, according to a new study published in PLOS ONE.

21 Feb 2013

Sixth death from novel coronavirus recorded in Britain

"A British man infected with a new virus from the same family as SARS has died, health officials said on Tuesday, bringing the worldwide death toll from the previously unknown disease to six," Reuters reports.

21 Feb 2013

Supreme Court gives FTC more power to police hospital mergers

The decision is a win for the federal government as it seeks to monitor the trend toward consolidations around the country.

21 Feb 2013

NIAID-funded Phase I trial to evaluate two related candidate vaccines against shigellosis

Researchers have launched an early-stage human clinical trial of two related candidate vaccines to prevent infection with Shigella, bacteria that are a significant cause of diarrheal illness, particularly among children.

21 Feb 2013

Immune Pharmaceuticals commences Phase II study with bertilimumab to treat ulcerative colitis

Immune Pharmaceuticals Ltd., a privately held Israeli company, and EpiCept Corporation announced today that Immune is initiating, following authorization from Israeli health authorities, a Phase II double-blind placebo controlled study with its lead drug, bertilimumab, in patients with moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis.

21 Feb 2013