Immune System News and Research

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Researchers identify nine blood proteins that alter with age

Loss of muscle mass is not only associated with disease, such as HIV and cancer, but also with the normal aging process. Anabolic steroids are sometimes used to reverse loss of lean muscle tissue but they can have unwanted side effects.

20 Jun 2011

Novel vaccine approach for prostate cancer

Mayo Clinic investigators and collaborators from the United Kingdom cured well-established prostate tumors in mice using a human vaccine with no apparent side effects. This novel cancer treatment approach encourages the immune system to rid itself of prostate tumors without assistance from toxic chemotherapies and radiation treatments.

20 Jun 2011

Researchers use DNA library to create potential cancer vaccine

University of Leeds researchers, funded by Cancer Research UK, have used a library of DNA to create a vaccine that could be used to treat cancer, according to a study published in Nature Medicine.

20 Jun 2011

UK’s first larynx transplant

In a first, UK will get its voicebox or larynx transplant in less than a year after the Royal College of Surgeons gave its seal of approval for trials to take place. A report by the college said the pioneering procedure could help people who had cancer of the larynx to speak and breathe normally again.

19 Jun 2011

Boosting immune response may cause cold-induced asthma flare-ups

People often talk about "boosting" their immunity to prevent and fight colds. Nutritional supplements, cold remedies and fortified foods claim to stave off colds by augmenting the immune system.

18 Jun 2011

Cervical ripening that instigates preterm birth is distinct from normal term labor

Cervical ripening that instigates preterm labor is distinct from what happens at the onset of normal term labor, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

18 Jun 2011

Careful, well-designed studies needed for evaluating patients with MS: SIRF panel

Evaluating patients with multiple sclerosis who have narrowed jugular and azygos veins-and the value of widening those veins with angioplasty-warrants careful, well-designed research, noted members of a Society of Interventional Radiology Foundation's Research Consensus Panel.

17 Jun 2011

Study explains why some people experience repeated infections of Lyme disease

The bacteria that cause Lyme disease, one of the most important emerging diseases in the United States, appear to hide out in the lymph nodes, triggering a significant immune response, but one that is not strong enough to rout the infection, report researchers at the University of California, Davis.

17 Jun 2011

Experimental vaccine shows promise for patients with newly diagnosed brain tumors

An experimental vaccine developed by researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center's Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgical Institute targets overactive antigens in highly aggressive brain tumors and improves length of survival in newly diagnosed patients, according to new data that was presented in a poster session at the 47th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

17 Jun 2011

Scientists uncover how immune system responds to invading anthrax bacteria

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences have uncovered how the body's immune system launches its survival response to the notorious and deadly bacterium anthrax.

17 Jun 2011

PEG hydrogel sealant effectively encloses surgical wounds after spinal procedures

A gel that creates a watertight seal to close surgical wounds provides a significant advance in the treatment of patients following spinal procedures, effectively sealing spinal wounds 100 percent of the time, a national multicenter randomized study led by researchers at UC Davis has found.

17 Jun 2011

New Australian drug shows positive response in patients with multiple myeloma blood cancer

Australian monoclonal antibody company, Immune System Therapeutics Limited (IST), today announced it would double patient recruitment in its Phase II trial for a breakthrough antibody treatment for terminal blood cancer.

16 Jun 2011

Adaptimmune melanoma trial opening

Adaptimmune announced today that it has opened a Phase I/II, two cohort, open label clinical trial in metastatic melanoma at Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri.

16 Jun 2011

Boosting immune response could increase inflammation

People often talk about "boosting" their immunity to prevent and fight colds. Nutritional supplements, cold remedies and fortified foods claim to stave off colds by augmenting the immune system.

16 Jun 2011

Positive results from BiondVax Multimeric-001 Phase IIa trial against influenza

BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. today announced positive results from its first Phase II clinical trial of the Multimeric-001 Universal Influenza Vaccine.

16 Jun 2011

UCLA researchers find new potential therapeutic target for preventing HIV

Specific types of "helper" T cells that are crucial to maintaining functioning immune systems contain an enzyme called PDI. This enzyme affects how proteins fold into specific shapes, which in turn influences how the T cells behave.

16 Jun 2011

Children born pre-term have persistent drive to succeed

In the longest running U.S. study of premature infants who are now 23 years old, University of Rhode Island Professor of Nursing Mary C. Sullivan has found that premature infants are less healthy, have more social and school struggles and face a greater risk of heart-health problems in adulthood.

16 Jun 2011

MRE reduces ionizing radiation exposure, detects Crohn's disease as reliably as CT

A new study from Rhode Island Hospital has found that MR enterography (MRE) without the use of an anti-peristaltic agent were as reliable as CT enterography (CTE) in determining the presence of Crohn's disease.

16 Jun 2011

Platelet Derived Growth Factor Receptor-beta plays key role in onset of obesity

A new study from Mount Sinai School of Medicine has found that a cellular signaling pathway governs the differentiation of cells into fat tissue or smooth muscle, which lines the vascular system. Engaging this signaling pathway and its capacity to govern cell differentiation has important implications in preventing obesity and cardiovascular disease.

16 Jun 2011

ISCO discovers novel technology to produce pure hepatocyte population

International Stem Cell Corporation announces the discovery of a novel, patent-pending technology to produce unlimited numbers of liver cells (hepatocytes) that are free of contamination with potentially dangerous undifferentiated cells.

16 Jun 2011