Immune System News and Research

RSS

Drugs against protective action of bacteria's antitoxin molecules

Bacteria often attack with toxins designed to hijack or even kill host cells. To avoid self-destruction, bacteria have ways of protecting themselves from their own toxins.

9 Feb 2011

Babies born to HIV-infected mothers have lower antibody levels against bacterial infections

Babies whose mothers have HIV, but who are not HIV-infected themselves, are born with lower levels of specific proteins in their blood called antibodies, which fight infection, compared with babies not exposed to HIV, a new study has found.

9 Feb 2011

Researchers report promising new approach to treat diabetic wounds, bed sores

Loyola University Health System researchers are reporting on a promising new approach to treating diabetic wounds, bed sores, chronic ulcers and other slow-to-heal wounds.

8 Feb 2011

Sun exposure reduces risk of multiple sclerosis: Study

A new Australian study has found that increased sun exposure and higher vitamin D levels may help to protect against the risk of developing multiple sclerosis (MS).

8 Feb 2011

Total flu cover with one shot

In a medical breakthrough, English scientists have developed a so-called “universal” vaccine to influenza - one that protects against all strains of the potentially deadly illness. This would do away with the need for a new vaccine each flu season they say. Seasonal flu affects up to 20 percent of the population and kills an average of 24,600 people each year. This vaccine would act against swine flu as well assure researchers.

8 Feb 2011

Researchers identify immune cell population that acts as body's border patrol with the outside world

So-called barrier sites -- the skin, gut, lung - limit the inner body's exposure to allergens, pollutants, viruses, bacteria, and parasites. Understanding how the immune system works in these external surfaces has implications for understanding such inflammatory diseases as asthma, psoriasis, IBD, and food allergies, all of which occur at the body's barriers.

8 Feb 2011

NKT, DSM sign contract to develop therapeutics based on natural killer T cells

DSM Biologics, a business unit of DSM Pharmaceutical Products, today announced the signing of a contract with NKT Therapeutics, Inc. based in Waltham, Mass, USA, the biotechnology company that focuses on developing therapeutics based on unique immune cells called natural killer T cells.

8 Feb 2011

Munich research team provides promising alternative to DNA-based procedures

Defects in the genome are the cause of many diseases. Gene therapy - direct replacement of mutant genes by intact DNA copies - offers a means of correcting such defects. Now a research team based at the Medical Center of the University of Munich, and led by Privatdozent Dr. Carsten Rudolph, has taken a new approach that avoids DNA delivery.

8 Feb 2011

Immune system genes linked to personality traits, mental illness and suicidal behaviour

Genes linked to the immune system can affect healthy people's personality traits as well as the risk of developing mental illness and suicidal behaviour, reveals a thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

8 Feb 2011

Nutritional deficiencies among indigenous populations: two studies

They find iodine deficiency for the first time among an Aboriginal population in the NT. This deficiency was previously thought to occur only in the nation’s south-eastern states. The study involved nearly 400 teenagers of aboriginal origin living in remote as well as urban areas of the Darwin Health Region, which covers 120,000 km-square of the top end of the NT.

7 Feb 2011

XDx and LabCorp enter non-hospital provider agreement for AlloMap molecular expression tests

XDx, Inc., a molecular diagnostics company focused on noninvasive gene expression tests to monitor immune-mediated conditions, today announced that it has entered into a multi-year agreement with Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings to provide heart transplant patients eligible for XDx's AlloMap® test with the convenience of having their blood drawn at participating LabCorp sites across the United States.

7 Feb 2011

Human Vaccines journal publishes paper on Inovio's new DNA vaccine delivery technology

Inovio Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leader in the development of therapeutic and preventive vaccines against cancers and infectious diseases, announced today that its new generation DNA vaccine delivery technology, which provides the powerful enabling capabilities of electroporation without contacting the skin, is highlighted in a paper published in the scientific journal Human Vaccines.

7 Feb 2011

Allergies appear to reduce glioma risk

The more allergies one has, the lower the risk of developing low- and high-grade glioma, according to data published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

7 Feb 2011

Blood vessels for heart bypass could be available ‘off-the-shelf’ soon: Study

Scientists from USA have developed a method to produce a ready made supply of blood vessels for use in heart bypass surgery. A study on baboons and dogs reported in journal Science Translational Medicine suggests vessels could be stored for up to a year and used by any patient. These vessels have been grown earlier from a patient’s own cells, but this takes several months.

6 Feb 2011

Technique that cleared mouse of HIV-like virus sparks hope for new therapy

In a breakthrough, Australian researchers have developed a method to boost the immune system. This technique is seen to be capable of clearing an “HIV-like” infection from a mouse. This could in future lead to a cure for HIV and other chronic viral infections in humans. The findings from Melbourne’s Walter and Eliza Hall Institute are centred on a naturally occurring cell signalling hormone called interleukin-7 (IL-7).

6 Feb 2011

New understanding of how host and foreign structures are distinguished by front-line defence mechanism

This week, the highly-respected US Academy of Sciences journal (PNAS) published an article describing how the first line of defence of the human immune system distinguishes between microbes and the body's own structures.

5 Feb 2011

Lampreys may have dual immune defense system similar to that of humans

Biologists have discovered that primitive, predatory lampreys have structures within their gills that play the same role as the thymus, the organ where immune cells called T cells develop in mammals, birds and fish.

4 Feb 2011

GSA commends '2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans'

The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) - the nation's largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging - commends the federal government's recent release of the "2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans" and particularly applauds its inclusion of specific advice for older adults.

4 Feb 2011

Method to comprehensively characterize human embryonic stem cell lines and iPS cell lines

Ever since researchers devised a recipe for turning adult cells into cells that look and act like embryonic stem cells, there has been lingering doubt in the field about just how close to embryonic stem cells each of those cell lines really is at a molecular and functional level. Now, researchers reporting in the February 4th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication, have developed a systematic way to lay those doubts about quality to rest.

4 Feb 2011

How body's first line of defence distinguishes between microbes and own structures

4 Feb 2011

Immune System News and Research

Drugs against protective action of bacteria's antitoxin molecules

Babies born to HIV-infected mothers have lower antibody levels against bacterial infections

Researchers report promising new approach to treat diabetic wounds, bed sores

Sun exposure reduces risk of multiple sclerosis: Study

Total flu cover with one shot

Researchers identify immune cell population that acts as body's border patrol with the outside world

NKT, DSM sign contract to develop therapeutics based on natural killer T cells

Munich research team provides promising alternative to DNA-based procedures

Immune system genes linked to personality traits, mental illness and suicidal behaviour

Nutritional deficiencies among indigenous populations: two studies

XDx and LabCorp enter non-hospital provider agreement for AlloMap molecular expression tests

Human Vaccines journal publishes paper on Inovio's new DNA vaccine delivery technology

Allergies appear to reduce glioma risk

Blood vessels for heart bypass could be available ‘off-the-shelf’ soon: Study

Technique that cleared mouse of HIV-like virus sparks hope for new therapy

New understanding of how host and foreign structures are distinguished by front-line defence mechanism

Lampreys may have dual immune defense system similar to that of humans

GSA commends '2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans'

Method to comprehensively characterize human embryonic stem cell lines and iPS cell lines

How body's first line of defence distinguishes between microbes and own structures

Immunology eBook

Discover how SciY empowers scientists

Why use light scattering to analyze proteins and viral vectors?

Changing the landscape of R&D to build clinical success from the ground up

Latest News