Cytokine News and Research

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Addition of L19-IL2 can increase radiation therapy-induced immune response against tumours

Radiation therapy not only kills cancer cells, but also helps to activate the immune system against their future proliferation. However, this immune response is often not strong enough to be able to cure tumours, and even when it is, its effect is limited to the area that has been irradiated.

2 May 2016

Lilly's ixekizumab (Taltz) granted EC marketing authorisation for treatment of plaque psoriasis

Eli Lilly and Company announced today that the European Commission has granted marketing authorisation for ixekizumab (Taltz) for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis in adults in the European Union (EU) who are candidates for systemic therapy.

27 Apr 2016

Newly published manuscripts enhance understanding of the immune system

MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, today announced that it has achieved a significant scientific milestone by publishing three manuscripts in Nature Immunology that advance the understanding of the immune system and highlight underlying mechanisms in two little-understood disease areas -- chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

26 Apr 2016

Study reveals how visceral fat contributes to insulin resistance, inflammation

Researchers have long-known that visceral fat - the kind that wraps around the internal organs - is more dangerous than subcutaneous fat that lies just under the skin around the belly, thighs and rear. But how visceral fat contributes to insulin resistance and inflammation has remained unknown.

26 Apr 2016

TNF-alpha protein involved in autoimmune diseases may also promote tissue healing

As its name suggests, inflammatory bowel disease, which afflicts more than 1.6 million Americans, involves chronic inflammation of all or some of the digestive tract. An autoimmune disease known to have a strong genetic component, its symptoms are abdominal cramps, bloody diarrhea, and fever and, sometimes, weight loss. IBD, which is a group of inflammatory conditions, includes Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

21 Apr 2016

LAP defects may lead to lupus-like autoimmune disorder

A casual observation about size differences in mice has led to the discovery that defects in a process for digesting dead cells called LC3-associated phagocytosis (LAP) may lead to a lupus-like autoimmune disorder. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists led the research, which appears as an advance online publication today in the scientific journal Nature.

21 Apr 2016

Pre-TKI cytokine profiling predicts CP-CML outcome

Measuring levels of transforming growth factor-α and interleukin-6 may help identify patients with newly diagnosed chronic phase-chronic myeloid leukaemia at risk of a poor outcome from tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy, research suggests.

20 Apr 2016

Penn researchers report results of CAR therapy trial in brain cancer patients

Immune cells engineered to seek out and attack a type of deadly brain cancer known as glioblastoma (GBM) were found to have an acceptable safety profile and successfully migrate to and infiltrate tumors, researchers from Penn Medicine and Harvard University reported at the AACR Annual Meeting 2016.

19 Apr 2016

M10 peptide could help protect systemic sclerosis patients against fibrotic damage

The results of preclinical studies by investigators at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) reported in the April 2016 issue of Translational Research suggest that the M10 peptide could help protect against fibrotic damage in patients with systemic sclerosis, particularly in those who develop interstitial lung diseases (ILD), its deadliest complication.

15 Apr 2016

Cell-signaling protein holds key to understanding autoantibody formation in lupus patients

A signaling molecule called interferon gamma could hold the key to understanding how harmful autoantibodies form in lupus patients. The finding could lead to new treatments for the chronic autoimmune disease, said researchers at Penn State College of Medicine.

12 Apr 2016

CRPS rank higher on pain scales than childbirth, cancer, amputation

Imagine pain in an arm or leg so intense that the sufferer would rather undergo an amputation than put up with it any longer. For those with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), this is not just a hypothetical nightmare—it is reality.

25 Mar 2016

Targeted therapies suppress T cell activity that could actually help fight tumors

In many cases, targeted therapies for cancer are preferred as treatments over chemotherapy and surgery because they attack and kill cancer cells with specific tumor-promoting mutations while sparing healthy, normal cells that do not express these mutations.

23 Mar 2016

Psoriasis patients experience widespread bone loss

Researchers from the Genes, Development and Disease Group, headed by Erwin Wagner at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre have discovered that psoriasis patients experience a widespread bone loss as a result of the disease.

17 Mar 2016

Differences in certain type of small protein may shed light on lung cancer risk in different races

Research from an investigator at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and colleagues from the National Cancer Institute and other facilities, shows differences in a certain type of small protein vary by race and may contribute differently to the development of lung cancer in African Americans and European Americans.

3 Mar 2016

Protein p62 acts as molecular brake to keep inflammation in check, avoid collateral damage

Inflammation is a Catch-22: the body needs it to eliminate invasive organisms and foreign irritants, but excessive inflammation can harm healthy cells, contributing to aging and sometimes leading to organ failure and death. Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that a protein known as p62 acts as a molecular brake to keep inflammation in check and avoid collateral damage.

26 Feb 2016

Aggregated forms of transthyretin can trigger JIA development

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is a the most common form of arthritis in children and affects approximately 50,000 individuals in the United States alone. Previous research suggested that autoimmune responses cause JIA, but the specific antigens that are responsible for driving autoimmunity have not been identified.

26 Feb 2016

Parvus' novel therapeutic approach employing nanomedicines published in Nature

Parvus Therapeutics today announced the publication in Nature of a seminal paper describing the discovery and applications of a novel therapeutic approach employing nanomedicines, referred to as "Navacims"TM, to reprogram white blood cells to become regulatory cells capable of blunting autoimmune responses and restoring the equilibrium of the immune system.

19 Feb 2016

Study highlights dual role of cytokine in inflammatory bowel disease

Small proteins that affect communication between cells play an important role in regulating inflammation that occurs during inflammatory bowel disease, according to researchers at Georgia State University, Emory University, the University of Michigan and Amgen, a biotechnology company.

17 Feb 2016

Research: Adenosine deaminase may help activate immune system against HIV

New research findings published in the February 2016 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, suggest that a new therapeutic strategy for HIV may already be available by repurposing an existing prescription drug.

3 Feb 2016

Certain viral infections during pregnancy could cause behavioral changes in offspring

A study published in the journal Science found that activation in pregnant mice of a particular immune response, similar to what may occur with certain viral infections during pregnancy, alters the brain structure of the mouse offspring and causes behavioral changes, reminiscent of those observed in humans with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

30 Jan 2016