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.

Researchers identify genetic risk factors of SLO, study provides insights on human nail diseases

The immune-mediated disease SLO can lead to severe claw problems in dogs. Researchers have now identified genetic risk factors underlying this disease. The obtained results that were recently reported in the scientific journal PLoS ONE can lead to increased knowledge about similar nail diseases that affect humans.

27 Aug 2010

Novartis presents 2010 Immunology prizes at 16th International Congress of Immunology in Kobe

The Novartis 2010 Immunology Prizes were presented at the 16th International Congress of Immunology in Kobe, Japan. Since 1992, the Novartis Prizes for Immunology have been awarded every third year for outstanding contributions to basic and clinical immunology. The prizes recognize individual achievement and provide financial support for further research by the recipients. The prizes are a major feature of the triennial International Congress of Immunology.

24 Aug 2010

Common genetic variation in HLA region associated with late-onset sporadic Parkinson's disease: Research

A team of researchers has discovered new evidence that Parkinson's disease may have an infectious or autoimmune origin. "Common genetic variation in the HLA region is associated with late-onset sporadic Parkinson's disease" appears online in Nature Genetics.

16 Aug 2010

Obesity diabetes link found

Melbourne researchers from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have found that inflammatory cells in fat tissue cause the body to become resistant to the effects of insulin – a common precursor to type II diabetes.

16 Aug 2010

Trubion Pharmaceuticals signs definitive merger agreement with Emergent BioSolutions

Trubion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement with Emergent BioSolutions Inc., in which Emergent has agreed to acquire Trubion. Under the terms of the agreement, each share of Trubion common stock will be converted into the right to receive an upfront payment of $1.365 per share in cash and 0.1641 shares of Emergent BioSolutions common stock.

13 Aug 2010

Emergent BioSolutions enters agreement to acquire Trubion Pharmaceuticals

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. announced today it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Trubion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for upfront consideration of $96.8 million of value and up to $38.7 million of success-based milestones, resulting in a total consideration of up to $135.5 million. The acquisition will diversify Emergent's product development pipeline with the addition of Trubion's two clinical-stage product candidates focused on the targeted disease areas of oncology and autoimmunity.

13 Aug 2010

ALLOZYNE signs worldwide, co-exclusive licensing agreement with Sigma-Aldrich

ALLOZYNE Inc. announced today the signing of a worldwide, co-exclusive licensing agreement with Sigma-Aldrich giving ALLOZYNE a license for the use of cycloaddition chemistry in the development of therapeutics and diagnostics. Sigma-Aldrich currently holds broad, worldwide intellectual property for the use of cycloaddition chemistry to conjugate biomolecules.

12 Aug 2010

Certain human leukemias can be treated by targeting stem-cell microRNAs: Research

Hematopoietic stem cells provide the body with a constant supply of blood cells, including the red blood cells that deliver oxygen and the white blood cells that make up the immune system. Hematopoietic-or blood-stem cells must also make more copies of themselves to ensure that they are present in adequate numbers to provide blood throughout a person's lifetime, which means they need to strike a delicate balance between self-renewal and development into mature blood-cell lineages. Perturb that balance, and the result can be diseases such as leukemia and anemia.

5 Aug 2010

New study reveals potential role of TGF-β1 in kidney disease

Fibrosis in the kidney is one of the key causes of progressive renal failure. High levels of the inflammatory molecule TGF-β1 in the kidney tubules due to tissue damage can cause fibrosis as well as nephron degeneration, resulting in loss of kidney function. To clarify the mechanisms regulating TGF-β1-mediated renal fibrosis, Koesters et al expressed high levels of TGF-β1 in renal tubules of mice. Nephron degeneration in this system was mediated by decomposition of the tubular cells. These data suggest that TGF-β1 may play a novel role in cell death of renal cells, thus contributing to renal fibrosis.

28 Jul 2010

University of Louisville ophthalmology professor receives $60,000 RPB Special Scholar Award

Qingxian Lu, PhD, assistant professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at the University of Louisville School of Medicine, has received the $60,000 William and Mary Greve Special Scholar Award from the Research to Prevent Blindness (RPB) organization. The funds will go toward Lu's research in retinitis pigmentosa, a group of genetic disorders that can lead to night blindness, loss of peripheral vision and total blindness.

15 Jul 2010

Article related to MN-166 mechanism of action included in PNAS USA

MediciNova Inc, a biopharmaceutical company publicly traded on the NASDAQ Global Market and the Hercules Market of the Osaka Securities Exchange (Code Number:4875), today reported that the June 22, 2010 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA included an article related to the mechanism of action of MN-166 (ibudilast), as an emerging therapeutic for neurological disorders.

8 Jul 2010

Research findings link some autoimmune disorders with cancer

Patients with a certain type of scleroderma may get cancer and scleroderma simultaneously, Johns Hopkins researchers have found, suggesting that in some diseases, autoimmunity and cancer may be linked.

8 Jul 2010

PIKAMAB secures exclusive rights to issued U.S. patent from UABRF

PIKAMAB, a biopharmaceutical company specializing in stratified medicine, announced today that it has secured exclusive rights to an issued U.S. patent (US 6,986,987) from the UAB Research Foundation. This patent pertains to the discovery that the functional polymorphism (Ser/Gly248) in the cytoplasmic domain of Fc alpha receptor determines the proinflammatory potential of serum IgA autoantibodies through cell signaling and production of cytokines such as TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-1β in an allele-dependent manner.

1 Jul 2010

Researchers uncover association between free radical-mediated reactions and progression of SLE

University of Texas Medical Branch researchers have uncovered an association between free radical-mediated reactions and the severity and progression of system lupus erythematosus. Higher levels of oxidative and nitrosative stress markers were found in SLE patients with greater disease activity suggesting a causal relationship. Full findings of the study are available in the July issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American College of Rheumatology.

25 Jun 2010

Experimental cure for Type 1 diabetes

Researchers have developed an experimental cure for Type 1 diabetes, a disease that affects about one in every 400 to 600 children and adolescents. They will present their results in a mouse model of Type 1 diabetes on Sunday at The Endocrine Society's 92nd Annual Meeting in San Diego.

21 Jun 2010

Researchers identify peptide that triggers diabetes

Researchers at National Jewish Health and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have identified the precise protein fragment, or peptide, that can trigger diabetes in mice. The finding, published in the June 15, 2010, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, supports an emerging theory about the origins of autoimmunity, and may lead to new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in humans.

17 Jun 2010

White blood cells with receptors for both virus and nerve proteins may assault nerves after fighting infection

A virus infection can incite the body to attack its own nerve tissue by activating unusual, disease-fighting cells with receptors for both viral and nerve proteins. The dual-receptor observation suggests a way brain and spinal cord nerve damage might be triggered in susceptible young adults afflicted with multiple sclerosis.

11 Jun 2010

Baylor Institute of Immunology Research receives nearly $35M as grants in 2009

Even in an economy that's proved devastating to charitable giving and government grants, the Baylor Institute of Immunology Research (BIIR), a component of Baylor Research Institute (BRI), has managed to buck the trend: BIIR received grants totaling nearly $35 million in 2009.

10 Jun 2010

Phase 3 clinical study: Ipilimumab boosts, sustains immune system responses against melanoma tumors

The Cancer Research Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the development of immune system-based treatments for cancer, announced today its celebration of a significant new breakthrough in the treatment of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. The new treatment, a cancer immunotherapy created by Cancer Research Institute Scientific Advisory Council Associate Director James P. Allison, Ph.D., is designed to "take the brakes off the immune system," and is the first treatment ever proven to extend life for patients whose melanomas are unresponsive to existing cancer therapies.

9 Jun 2010

Diagnosis of antiovarian autoantibodies in infertile women help in approaches for assisted reproduction

Studies on the ovarian antigens and its corresponding specific antibodies have showed the relationship between the incidences of antiovarian autoantibodies and the clinical mani-festation of ovarian dysfunction and infertility in women.

4 Jun 2010