Immunodeficiency News and Research

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Immunodeficiency (or immune deficiency) is a state in which the immune system's ability to fight infectious disease is compromised or entirely absent.

MRI tracks survival of pancreatic islets after transplantation

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with an approved contrast agent may provide a practical way of monitoring the survival of transplanted pancreatic islets.

12 Sep 2006

Bill Gates says protecting against HIV/AIDS can't be left to men

Microsoft founder Bill Gates says all the money in the world will not conquer HIV/AIDS unless more progress is made in preventing new infections. Gates says women and other high-risk groups must be given the ability to protect themselves.

14 Aug 2006

HIV virus can survive efforts to destroy it by hiding in the mucosal tissues of the intestine

UC Davis researchers have discovered that the human immunodeficiency virus, the virus that causes AIDS, is able to survive efforts to destroy it by hiding out in the mucosal tissues of the intestine.

6 Aug 2006

Darunavir - first molecule to treat drug-resistant HIV

Doctors have their first FDA-approved tool to treat drug-resistant HIV thanks to a new molecule created by a Purdue University researcher.

2 Aug 2006

Researchers determine why gene therapy treatment caused leukemia in some X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency patients

Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have developed a mouse model of a severe disease of the immune system that helps explain why gene therapy used to treat children with this disease at an institution in Europe caused some of them to develop leukemia.

2 Aug 2006

Latest sequencing targets for NHGRI

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) has announced several new sequencing targets including the Northern white-cheeked gibbon (Nomascus leucogenys).

19 Jul 2006

Highly active antiretroviral therapies associated with reduced infections in HIV-infected children

Since the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapies, there has been a substantial reduction of opportunistic infections and other infections in HIV-infected children, such as pneumonia and tuberculosis.

19 Jul 2006

FDA approves Atripla three-drug combination tablet for treatment of HIV-1

FDA approves Atripla Tablets, a fixed-dose combination of three widely-used antiretroviral drugs.

12 Jul 2006

Male circumcision the key to controlling the spread of AIDS in Africa

In what is being coined as a 'landmark' trial, researchers have found evidence that male circumcision (MC) could reduce the chance of becoming infected with HIV.

10 Jul 2006

Proteolytic activity monitored by fluorescence resonance energy transfer through quantum-dot-peptide conjugates

Using a synthetic peptide modeled after the protein that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) uses to enter cells, a multi-institutional research team has created quantum dots that can penetrate the cell membrane and image internal structures in a cell.

10 Jul 2006

New diagnostic approach for carriers of recessive genetic disorders

Scientists Vivian Cheung and Warren Ewens from the University of Pennsylvania have developed a new approach for the diagnosis of medical disorders that are inherited in a recessive manner.

3 Jul 2006

Researchers develop T-cells from human embryonic stem cells

Human embryonic stem cells can be genetically manipulated and coaxed to develop into mature T-cells, raising hopes for a gene therapy to combat AIDS.

3 Jul 2006

3-drug pill will help fight HIV/AIDS

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the U.S. has granted approval for a three-ingredient fixed dose tablet for use as an antiretroviral treatment for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) infection in adults.

3 Jul 2006

FDA approves Prezista (darunavir)

FDA approves Prezista (darunavir), a new drug for adults whose infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has not responded to treatment with other antiretroviral drugs.

26 Jun 2006

AIDS might be an accident of evolution

The virulence characteristic of HIV-1 - the virus predominantly responsible for human AIDS - might amount to an accident of evolution, new evidence reveals.

18 Jun 2006

Birthplace of AIDS found

After a 10-year search for the origin of HIV, scientists say they have finally traced the initial source of the global pandemic presently affecting more than 40-million people worldwide.

29 May 2006

Study sheds light on cancer susceptibility and disease involving bone-marrow failure

Defective protein production can occur in cells even when the genes controlling those proteins are normal, according to a new study to be published May 12 in Science.

12 May 2006

Transitions to injecting drug use among noninjecting heroin users

In a study reported in the current issue of the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, scientists from the National Development and Research Institutes, Inc. (NDRI) report on a study of street-recruited heroin users in New York City, who were not injecting, to determine the incidence and predictors of making a transition to injecting.

11 May 2006

Therapeutic gene suspected to cause cancer

One of the few gene therapy studies that had ever been successful was terminated in 2003, because several of the treated children had developed leukemia.

3 May 2006

New study describes molecular basis of NeuroAIDS

Using multi-disciplinary analysis that included cognitive, neurophysiologic, virologic, and molecular techniques, the team found both a low-level viral infection in the brain and immune cells that had infiltrated the brain in order to protect against the virus.

3 May 2006