Immune Response News and Research

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Inhaled ozone impairs the body's first line of defense

As policy makers debate what levels of ozone in the air are safe for humans to breathe, studies in mice are revealing that the inhaled pollutant impairs the body's first line of defense, making it more susceptible to subsequent foreign invaders, such as bacteria.

1 Oct 2007

Genetic sequence of Giardia complete

Giardia lamblia, one of the most common human parasites in the United States, causes more than 20,000 intestinal infections a year, often through contact with contaminated drinking or swimming water.

27 Sep 2007

Dietary fatty acids may help prevent diabetes

Omega-3 fatty acids have long been touted for their heart-healthy and brain-boosting benefits. Consider cod liver oil, fortified infant formula and enriched eggs.

27 Sep 2007

Researchers uncover likely source of rejection for otherwise well-matched kidney transplants

UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers, collaborating with colleagues in Germany, have for the first time identified antibodies associated with transplant rejection of otherwise healthy kidneys.

27 Sep 2007

Relationship between stress and breast cancer

Women diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer who have also endured previous traumatic or stressful events see their cancer recur nearly twice as fast as other women, according to a report by a University of Rochester Medical Center scientist.

27 Sep 2007

Fluorescence resonance energy transfer technology shows how cancer may take hold

A team, led by researchers at the Carnegie Institution,* has found a key biochemical cycle that suppresses the immune response, thereby allowing cancer cells to multiply unabated.

26 Sep 2007

Manipulating immune response provides new approach to liver failure

If the results of the animal study can be applied in human patients, the approach may be able to keep patients alive until donor organs become available or to support liver function until the organ can regenerate itself, eliminating the need for a transplant.

25 Sep 2007

Study helps determine best treatment for bladder cancer

Cancer specialists and researchers at Princess Margaret Hospital, University Health Network (UHN), are tackling an ongoing controversy about the best way to treat an aggressive form of bladder cancer – immediate radical surgery or a more conservative initial approach using immunotherapy?

25 Sep 2007

Space flight makes bacteria more infectious

Space flight has been shown to have a profound impact on human physiology as the body adapts to zero gravity environments.

25 Sep 2007

How do we choose our mates?

For quite some time now, scientists suspect that it is not for looks or fashion, neither for love or sympathy.

25 Sep 2007

Trials of a new HIV vaccine come to an abrupt halt

Trials of a new HIV vaccine have come to an abrupt halt after it did not prevent volunteers from becoming infected.

24 Sep 2007

Scientists solve genetic code of parasitic worm that causes elephantiasis

More than 150 million people worldwide are infected with filarial parasites -- long, thread-like worms that can live for years inside the human body and cause severe, debilitating diseases such as elephantiasis.

21 Sep 2007

Pregnancy may slow AIDS progression

A new study may help put to rest fears that pregnancy accelerates progression to full-blown AIDS in women with HIV receiving antiretroviral therapy.

20 Sep 2007

Sanofi Pasteur's new H5N1 vaccine shows promise

Sanofi pasteur, the vaccines division of sanofi-aventis Group, has announced data showing that its new investigational H5N1 pandemic influenza vaccine containing a proprietary adjuvant achieved a high immune response at the lowest dose of H5N1 antigen reported to date.

18 Sep 2007

Rheumatoid arthritis genes

A paper published this week in the open access journal PLoS Medicine provides strong evidence that one specific part of the genome is associated with rheumatoid arthritis.

18 Sep 2007

Chronic infection persists by targeting stromal cell network in lymphoid organs

One of the biggest challenges to treating infectious diseases and developing preventive vaccines is the ability of many chronic infections to suppress the immune T-cell response over time.

18 Sep 2007

Nanoparticle that delivers vaccines more effectively

Good news for public health: Bioengineering researchers from the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, have developed and patented a nanoparticle that can deliver vaccines more effectively, with fewer side effects, and at a fraction of the cost of current vaccine technologies.

18 Sep 2007

LL37 peptide provides a new potential target for autoimmune disease

A human peptide that acts as a natural antibiotic against invading microbes can also bind to the body's own DNA and trigger an immune response in the absence of an infection, a research team led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports in an early online publication in Nature.

17 Sep 2007

Immune system police recognize good and bad guys in the body

Immune system police are as good at recognizing bad guys, such as bacteria and viruses, as they are our own tissue, researchers say.

17 Sep 2007

Dendritic cells turn T cells into T regs

Regulatory T cells (also known as T regs) suppress some of the immune system's more inappropriate responses, preventing it from attacking the body's own tissues and stifling its activity once invading microbes have been fought off.

17 Sep 2007