Immune System News and Research

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Key defence mechanism used by the immune system against Listeria identified

A team of University of British Columbia microbiologists has identified a key defence mechanism used by the immune system against Listeria with strong implications for the future development of vaccines.

6 Oct 2009

Inviragen, SingVax merge their complementary vaccine pipelines

Inviragen and SingVax have merged their complementary vaccine pipelines and their international product development capabilities to create a company that is developing a wide range of vaccines for infectious diseases prevalent in emerging economies.

6 Oct 2009

Depression leads to elevated inflammatory proteins in the human body: Study

To help solve this long standing chicken and egg conundrum, researchers led by Jesse Stewart, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis asked two critical questions. Does depression lead to elevated inflammatory proteins in the human body? Or does an increase in these proteins lead to depression? They found that the answer to the first question appears to be "yes," and the answer to the second question may be "no" among healthy adults.

6 Oct 2009

CSL Behring - Canada Research Chair to develop therapies for treating bleeding and immune system disorders

The Centre for Blood Research (CBR) and the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia have announced the establishment of the CSL Behring - Canada Research Chair in Endothelial Cell Biology. Over the next five years, the CBR and CSL Behring Canada, the biopharmaceutical company co-funding the chair program, will collaborate on the research and development of new therapies for patients with bleeding and immune system disorders.

5 Oct 2009

Autistic patients have underlying medical disorders that are amenable to treatment

The National Children's Health Survey published results from a 2007 telephone survey in Pediatrics today in which 78,000 households in the US were asked if their child (ages 2-17) was known to "currently have autism, Asperger's Disorder, pervasive development disorder, or other autism spectrum disorder." The survey showed that 1% of children (one in 100) now have the disorder. Previous estimates from the CDC had reported a prevalence rate of one in 150.

5 Oct 2009

Research confirms that probiotic bacteria promotes health and boosts immune system

Functional food is the food industry's fastest-growing product group, its leading products including dairy products which contain probiotics, that is, bacteria promoting health. Valio's Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (LGG®) is the most frequently studied and used probiotic.

5 Oct 2009

Inovio's SynCon H1N1 achieves protective antibody response against pandemic influenza in ferrets

Inovio Biomedical Corporation, a leader in DNA vaccine design, development and delivery, announced today that a combination of its synthetic consensus (SynConTM) H1N1 influenza vaccine candidates achieved protective antibody responses against the novel pandemic influenza A/H1N1 (2009) in 100% of tested ferrets.

5 Oct 2009

Levels of vitamin C higher in fruit juices than specified on labels

A team of pharmacists from the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) has established that the levels of vitamin C in many fruit juices and soft drinks are far higher than those indicated on their labels by the manufacturers. This finding has been possible owing to a new technique developed by the researchers to determine the content of vitamin C in these kinds of drinks.

5 Oct 2009

Registry to help patients in need of bone marrow transplants

Nearly 70 percent of patients needing a marrow transplant do not have a matching donor in their family, leaving minorities particularly vulnerable to finding a donor who can provide a perfect match of common tissue types, according to Be the Match®, a movement that engages the public to help patients in need of bone marrow or umbilical cord blood transplants.

5 Oct 2009

Phase I clinical trial results to test the safety and immunogenicity of VGX-3100 released

Inovio Biomedical Corporation, a leader in DNA vaccine design, development and delivery, announced today interim safety and immunogenicity data from its therapeutic cervical cancer vaccine (VGX-3100) trial. VGX-3100 is a DNA vaccine targeting the E6 and E7 proteins of human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16 and 18 and is delivered via in vivo electroporation.

5 Oct 2009

Top ten sleep and beauty tips

Bob Hickman, United Feather & Down's Senior Vice Present of Sales and Marketing, and Neil A. Petrocelli, Borghese, Inc.'s Vice President of Marketing, list their top sleep and beauty tips.

5 Oct 2009

Researchers engineer antidotes for blood-thinner aptamers

Imagine a surgical patient on a blood-thinning drug who starts bleeding more than expected, and an antidote that works immediately - because the blood thinner and antidote were designed to work together. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have engineered a way to do this for an entire, versatile class of drugs called aptamers and published their findings in Nature Medicine.

4 Oct 2009

Retinoic acid may provide relief for ulcerative colitis

Here's another reason why you should take your vitamins. A new research report appearing in the October 2009 print issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology (http://www.jleukbio.org) suggests that retinoic acid, the oxidized form of vitamin A, could be a beneficial treatment for people suffering from ulcerative colitis and other irritable bowel diseases.

3 Oct 2009

Quest PharmaTech acquires immunotherapeutic antibody products from Paladin Labs

Quest PharmaTech Inc. ("Quest" or the "Company"), a pharmaceutical company developing and commercializing products for the treatment of cancer, today announced that it has acquired a pipeline of late-stage immunotherapy product candidates from Paladin Labs Inc. ("Paladin").

3 Oct 2009

NK cells keep T cells in check: Study

Natural killer, or NK cells, are part of our innate immune system. A healthy body produces them to respond early during infection. They are activated and they kill cells infected with a given virus.

3 Oct 2009

DelSite's assests acquired by Nanotherapeutics

Nanotherapeutics, Inc., a privately held specialty biopharmaceutical company, announced today that it had acquired certain assets from DelSite (formerly Carrington Laboratories, Inc.) out of Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division.

3 Oct 2009

Researchers screen decades-old frozen infant stool samples to detect norovirus

A search through decades-old frozen infant stool samples has yielded rich dividends for scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health.

3 Oct 2009

EMEA grants positive opinion for Baxter's CELVAPAN H1N1 pandemic vaccine

Baxter International Inc. today announced that the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) of the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) granted its “positive opinion” for CELVAPAN H1N1 pandemic vaccine using Baxter’s Vero cell technology. This positive opinion confirms the acceptability of Baxter’s regulatory submission to obtain final marketing authorization and licensure of the product.

From Baxter International Inc. 3 Oct 2009

$7.2 million grant awarded to develop microbicide-releasing vaginal ring

The National Institutes of Health has awarded Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University a four-year, $7.2 million grant to develop a microbicide-releasing vaginal ring to prevent HIV transmission.

3 Oct 2009

Nasal spray to improve memory

Good news for procrastinating students: a nasal spray developed by a team of German scientists promises to give late night cram sessions a major boost, if a good night's sleep follows.

3 Oct 2009