Autoimmunity News and Research

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

Salt can induce and worsen pathogenic immune system responses in mice

For the past few decades, health officials have been reporting increases in the incidence of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS). Now researchers at Yale School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute have identified a prime suspect in the mystery - dietary salt.

7 Mar 2013

Synthetic progesterone birth control injections have vulnerability to certain infections: Research

Women who are pregnant or using synthetic progesterone birth control injections have a conspicuous vulnerability to certain infections including malaria, Listeria, HIV, and herpes simplex virus.

2 Mar 2013

AARDA to mark National Autoimmune Disease Awareness Month with new initiatives

March is National Autoimmune Disease Awareness Month 2013. To mark the annual event, the American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association Inc. (AARDA) is encouraging the national and local media around the country to report stories on autoimmune diseases (AD) and autoimmunity as a category of disease.

13 Feb 2013

Case Western Reserve receives $220,000 grant to study gastric cancers

The Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has received a $220,000 grant from the DeGregorio Family Foundation to study gastric cancers, which remain among the most deadly forms of disease.

11 Feb 2013

Scientists identify specific cellular events that appear key to lupus

A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has identified specific cellular events that appear key to lupus, a debilitating autoimmune disease that afflicts tens of millions of people worldwide. The findings suggest that blocking this pathway in lupus-triggering cells could be a potent weapon against the disease.

5 Feb 2013

Mcl-1 gene essential for survival of antibody-producing cells

Scientists have identified the gene essential for survival of antibody-producing cells, a finding that could lead to better treatments for diseases where these cells are out of control, such as myeloma and chronic immune disorders.

3 Feb 2013

Scientists discover role of OTUD7B enzyme as TRAF3's protector

Marked for death with molecular tags that act like a homing signal for a cell's protein-destroying machinery, a pivotal enzyme is rescued by another molecule that sweeps the telltale targets off in the nick of time.

21 Jan 2013

Early life exposure to gut microbes protects against autoimmune disease

Early life exposure to normal bacteria of the GI tract (gut microbes) protects against autoimmune disease in mice, according to research published on-line in the January 17 edition of Science. The study may also have uncovered reasons why females are at greater risk of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus compared to males.

18 Jan 2013

New insights into relationship between autoimmunity and brain function

A study published in the current issue of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics by a group of French investigators of the University of Paris unravels new insights as to the relationship between autoimmunity and brain function.

30 Nov 2012

Study shows how PTPN22 variant linked with T1D influences susceptibility to autoimmunity

As part of their ongoing research on the role of genes in the development of type 1 diabetes, Joslin Diabetes Center scientists, in collaboration with scientists at the University of Würzburg, have demonstrated how a genetic variant associated with type 1 diabetes and other autoimmune diseases influences susceptibility to autoimmunity. The findings appear in the upcoming issue of Diabetes.

29 Nov 2012

High-resolution real-time images show how nerves may be damaged during earliest stages of MS

High-resolution real-time images show in mice how nerves may be damaged during the earliest stages of multiple sclerosis. The results suggest that the critical step happens when fibrinogen, a blood-clotting protein, leaks into the central nervous system and activates immune cells called microglia.

28 Nov 2012

Complix to accelerate development of CPABs against intracellular disease targets

Complix announces that it has been awarded a €1.9 million grant (approximately USD$2.4 million) from the Flanders government through IWT (Agency for Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders).

30 Oct 2012

Autoantibody aids identification of hyperexcitability disorders

Researchers have found that testing for a glycine receptor autoantibody aids the identification of a broad spectrum of autoimmune brainstem/spinal cord hyperexcitability disorders.

29 Oct 2012

Regulatory B cells may provide effective treatment for severe autoimmune diseases

Reproducing a rare type of B cell in the laboratory and infusing it back into the body may provide an effective treatment for severe autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis or rheumatoid arthritis, according to researchers at Duke University Medical Center.

15 Oct 2012

New data from Genzyme's AUBAGIO and LEMTRADA clinical trials to be presented at ECTRIMS

Genzyme, a Sanofi company, announced today new data from Genzyme's clinical development programs for AUBAGIO (teriflunomide) and LEMTRADATM (alemtuzumab) will be presented at the 28th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) in Lyon, France, October 10-13.

9 Oct 2012

BRI scientists receive two major grant awards for research into autoimmunity prevention

Benaroya Research Institute at Virginia Mason (BRI) recently received two major grant awards to explore how to regulate the immune system, as part of a nationwide collaborative program to prevent autoimmune diseases.

11 Sep 2012

Researchers identify three genetic regions associated with primary biliary cirrhosis

Researchers have newly identified three genetic regions associated with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), the most common autoimmune liver disease, increasing the number of known regions associated with the disorder to 25.

10 Sep 2012

Absence of Puma and Bim protein leads to autoimmune diseases

Researchers at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have discovered that a pair of molecules work together to kill so-called 'self-reactive' immune cells that are programmed to attack the body's own organs.

7 Sep 2012

Potassium-channel autoimmunity linked to chronic pain

A substantial proportion of patients with voltage-gated potassium channel-complex autoimmunity experience chronic idiopathic pain, although the specific antigenic complex associated with pain remains to be determined, conclude US scientists.

3 Sep 2012

Sleep disorder treatment: an interview with Dr Seth Lederman, President and CEO of Tonix Pharmaceuticals

Sleep disorders are a large area. We are focused on one particular type of sleep disturbance called “non-restorative” sleep. People with this problem do sleep, but they don’t wake up feeling refreshed or feeling that their sleep has had the restorative effects of healthy sleep.

29 Aug 2012