Immune Response News and Research

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Scripps Research finds molecular cause of a group of rare autoimmune disorders

A team from Scripps Research has found a molecular cause of a group of rare autoimmune disorders in which the immune system attacks the body's own healthy cells.

20 Dec 2018

Scientists investigate potential of nanomaterials to activate the body's antitumor immune response

The importance of research into the role of the immune system in the development and therapy of oncological diseases was emphasized by the Royal Swedish Academy, which recently named James Allison and Tasuku Honjo recipients of the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for launching an effective new way to attack cancer by treating the immune system rather than the tumor.

20 Dec 2018

Viral hepatitis: Liver failure caused by defects in the vascular system

In severe cases, a viral hepatitis infection can result in liver failure. A team from the Technical University of Munich has now discovered how this occurs: by immune cells attacking cells in the vascular system, which disrupts the organ's blood and nutrient supply.

19 Dec 2018

Personalization techniques give a new lease of life to anticancer vaccines

Anticancer vaccines have gained a new lease of life with techniques to personalise them to individual patients.

19 Dec 2018

Chronic fatigue syndrome connected with an overactive immune system

A new study has shown that overactive immune systems may be the trigger that gives rise to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). The study results were published in the latest issue of the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology.

19 Dec 2018

Study finds high prevalence of TB infection among Tibetan refugee schoolchildren

In a tuberculosis screening and treatment initiative covering the entire population of Tibetan refugee schoolchildren in northern India, a team directed by researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine and the University of Wisconsin says it has found not only a startlingly high prevalence of TB disease and infection, but also a potentially workable strategy to eliminate the disease in a large, high-risk group.

19 Dec 2018

Gut microbiome plays role in immune system regulation, study finds

Scientist have long known that bacteria in the intestines, also known as the microbiome, perform a variety of useful functions for their hosts, such as breaking down dietary fiber in the digestive process and making vitamins K and B7.

19 Dec 2018

Combination of a vaccine and checkpoint drugs reduces pancreatic tumors in mice

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center discovered a combination of a cancer vaccine with two checkpoint drugs reduced pancreatic cancer tumors in mice, demonstrating a possible pathway for treatment of people with pancreatic cancers whose response to standard immunotherapy is poor.

18 Dec 2018

Metal-based chemotherapy enhances the effect of cancer immunotherapy

Due to their powerful tumor-killing effect, metal-based chemotherapies are frequently used in cancer treatment. However, it was hitherto assumed that they damaged the immune system, because of their cytotoxic (cell-damaging) effect even against dividing healthy cells.

18 Dec 2018

A promising, effective vaccine for common respiratory disease

Skin vaccination using a microneedle patch that contains the inactivated respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and a compound that stimulates immune responses to the virus has been found to enhance protection against this serious disease and reduce inflammation in the body after exposure to the virus, according to a study led by Georgia State University.

18 Dec 2018

Russian scientists identify molecular 'switch' that could be target for treatment of allergic asthma

A team of Russian scientists identified the role of the interleukin-6 molecule in the development of allergic asthma. Now it can be a new target for the treatment of this disease. The results are published in Frontiers in Immunology.

17 Dec 2018

Researchers reveal how key transcription factor keeps the immune system in check

Our immune systems defend our bodies against dangerous invaders and help clean up when damage is done. But if our bold protectors are left unsupervised, they sometimes do their jobs too well and end up harming healthy tissues.

17 Dec 2018

Recurrence of urinary tract infection may depend on bacterial strain, study shows

Genetically diverse bacterial strains that cause urinary tract infections differ in their ability to trigger protective immune responses in mice, potentially explaining why these infections frequently recur in many patients, according to a study published December 13 in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens by Thomas Hannan and Scott Hultgren of Washington University School of Medicine, and colleagues.

14 Dec 2018

Study shows septin proteins detect and kill gut pathogen, Shigella

Using state-of-the art technologies to image human cells and study infection at the level of a single bacterial cell, the research team, led by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, has uncovered the strongest evidence yet that septins take Shigella prisoner.

13 Dec 2018

Butantan Institute signs collaboration agreement with MSD to develop dengue vaccines

On Wednesday, December 12, 2018, Brazil's Butantan Institute signed a collaboration agreement with Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD) to develop dengue vaccines.

12 Dec 2018

Scientists discover cellular mechanism that triggers pneumonia in humans

The situation is relatively common, especially in winter. You come down with the flu, which lasts longer than usual. A few days later, you discover you have pneumonia.

10 Dec 2018

Insights into protein-protein interactions and methods for designing small molecule inhibitors

Proteins are polymers of amino acids that are linked by peptide bonds and they are one of the major classes of bio-molecules existing in a living organism. Proteins are involved in various cellular functions and events like cell signaling, cell adhesion, metabolic reactions, in the generation of immune response and many more.

10 Dec 2018

VCU researchers test vaccine against opioid abuse

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers are testing a vaccine against opioid abuse developed by the Scripps Research Institute in California. The vaccine is meant to block the effects of heroin and fentanyl in patients with opioid use disorder.

7 Dec 2018

New way of controlling HIV latency to completely eradicate the virus

A new study suggests that a genetic switch that causes latent HIV inside cells to begin to replicate can be manipulated to completely eradicate the virus from the human body. Cells harboring latent HIV are "invisible" to the natural defenses of the immune system.

7 Dec 2018

Study sheds new light on microtubule binding proteins and microtubule dynamics

When bacteria or viruses enter the body, proteins on their surfaces are recognized and processed to activate T cells, white blood cells with critical roles in fighting infections.

6 Dec 2018