Autoimmune Disease News and Research

RSS

Autoimmune Disease is a condition in which the body recognizes its own tissues as foreign and directs an immune response against them.

Peanut allergy could be switched off

Now researchers may have discovered how to switch off food allergies. Researchers from Northwestern University found a way to tweak the immune system so that it doesn’t react when foods like peanuts and eggs are encountered – in mice.

12 Oct 2011

Tantalizing glimmers about roles of CCR2 gene, Th17 cell and a missing monocyte

An estimated 1.3 million people in the United States suffer from rheumatoid arthritis. The causes behind this chronic disease — which can exhibit itself as pain, swelling, stiffness, deformation, and loss of function in the joints — have eluded scientists for centuries. A new study by UNC researchers offers tantalizing glimmers about the roles of a gene called CCR2, an immune system cell called Th17 cell, and a missing monocyte.

11 Oct 2011

Third Annual Walk for Lupus Now! to take place in Richmond on Oct. 29

Purple passion will cap a month of pink ribbons—raising funds and awareness for people with lupus, a still-unknown disease. More than 1,000 people with lupus, their families, friends and co-workers dressed in purple will carry butterflies in the Third Annual Walk for Lupus Now! Richmond on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 3:00 p.m.

1 Oct 2011

UCI study shows promise of metabolic therapy for autoimmune diseases

A glucosamine-like dietary supplement suppresses the damaging autoimmune response seen in multiple sclerosis, according to a UC Irvine study.

1 Oct 2011

Study demonstrates how the intestine maintains 'immune tolerance' under healthy conditions

Imagine a single drug that would treat most, if not all, autoimmune disorders, such as asthma, inflammatory bowel disease, and Lupus. That might not be so hard to do thanks to a team of researchers who have discovered a molecule normally used by the body to prevent unnecessary immune reactions.

30 Sep 2011

HealthyWomen launches web-based initiative to manage RA

Managing RA: The Strong Woman's Approach, is an online resource designed to educate and empower women living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), launched today at HealthyWomen.org.

28 Sep 2011

Asthmatic kids with type 1 diabetes have tougher time maintaining healthy sugar levels: Study

The reason why asthma might complicate pediatric diabetes care remains unclear, however, and is “something that needs to be explored more,” said Dr. Anita Swamy, a pediatric endocrinologist and medical director of the Chicago Children's Diabetes Center at La Rabida Children's Hospital in Chicago. She was not involved in the new study. The study appears in the October issue of Pediatrics.

27 Sep 2011

JDRF, iCo Therapeutics collaborate for iCo-007 Phase 2 trial in DME

iCo Therapeutics Inc. today announced that the company has entered into a research collaboration agreement with JDRF, the worldwide leader for research to cure, treat, and prevent type 1 diabetes (T1D), to support the previously announced Phase 2 investigator sponsored clinical trial investigating iCo-007 in Diabetic Macular Edema.

26 Sep 2011

Adamis receives patents for APC-200 prostate cancer drug in South Africa, Singapore

Adamis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, today announced the technology which constitutes its compound APC-200 was recently granted patents in Singapore and South Africa. These patents significantly strengthen the Adamis APC-200 patent portfolio for the use of APC-200 in the treatment of early and late stage prostate cancer.

23 Sep 2011

Bortezomib drug may also treat pulmonary fibrosis or scleroderma

A drug used to treat cancer may also be effective in diseases that cause scarring of the internal organs or skin, such as pulmonary fibrosis or scleroderma.

23 Sep 2011

HealthWell Foundation introduces new lupus fund

The HealthWell Foundation, a nonprofit organization providing financial assistance to insured patients facing a variety of chronic and life-altering illnesses, announces the launch of a new fund supporting treatment for Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE), the most common form of lupus.

22 Sep 2011

Long-term immunosuppressants improve survival for lupus patients with ESKD

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have shown that close supervision by rheumatologists and the use of immunosuppressant drugs improve the survival of lupus patients with end-stage kidney disease—a finding that could reverse long-standing clinical practice.

21 Sep 2011

Ono, Bristol-Myers Squibb partner to develop BMS-936558/ONO-4538 and ORENCIA

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., today announced an agreement to expand Bristol-Myers Squibb's territorial rights to develop and commercialize the anti-PD-1 antibody known as BMS-936558/ONO-4538, and to create a strategic alliance for the co-development and co-commercialization of ORENCIA in Japan.

21 Sep 2011

New report finds decline in clinical trial recruitment for autoimmune disorders

The number of patients recruited to clinical trials for autoimmune disorders has waned in the last ten years, according to a new report available on companiesandmarkets.com.

19 Sep 2011

Venus Williams withdraws from US Open due to Sjogren syndrome

Sjogren syndrome was in the news recently when tennis player, Venus Williams, was forced to withdraw form the US Open tennis tournament due to symptoms from the disease.

17 Sep 2011

Adult stem cells hold hope for treatment of lupus

With a patient's own adult stem cells, there is new hope for the intractable autoimmune disease lupus - systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) - which is difficult to cure.

17 Sep 2011

FDA grants Orphan Drug Designation for Accentia's Revimmune to prevent GVHD

Accentia Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. and its majority-owned subsidiary, Biovest International, Inc., today jointly announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug Designation to Revimmune, the Company's proprietary system-of-care based on high-dose administration of Cytoxan, for the prevention of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) following bone marrow transplant.

14 Sep 2011

InnoCentive, JDRF announce $100,000 Challenge to uncover solutions for insulin-dependent diabetes

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), the worldwide leader for research to cure, treat, and prevent type 1 diabetes, and InnoCentive, Inc., the pioneer in open innovation and crowdsourcing, today announced a $100,000 Challenge calling for innovative ways to approach the discovery and development of a glucose-responsive insulin drug as a means to treat insulin-dependent diabetes.

9 Sep 2011

Scientists uncover new ways to stimulate pancreatic beta cell growth

One of the holy grails in diabetes research is to discover molecules that stimulate beta cell growth and to find drugs that target these molecules. Now, JDRF-funded researchers in collaboration with the pharmaceutical company Hoffmann-La Roche, have done both, discovering not only a protein that regulates beta cell growth, but also a chemical compound that stimulates it.

7 Sep 2011

Discovery of a key protein’s role in cell clearance could impact future treatments of autoimmune diseases, obesity and atherosclerosis

The healthy human body is extremely efficient at cleaning house. Every day, we purge 100 to 200 billion dead or dying cells – a process called cell clearance, which is fundamental in our ability to maintain a healthy physiological balance and prevent a number of chronic diseases. Professional cleaning cells, called phagocytes, are responsible for ridding the body of dead, or ‘apoptotic,’ cells.

6 Sep 2011