Immune System News and Research

RSS

Cellular 'mechanic' keeps DNA damage in check in cells

CANCER RESEARCH UK scientists have discovered how a protein in immune cells plays an essential role in their development by repairing DNA damage - and if this protein is missing lymphomas can form.

17 May 2011

New avenue for treating breast cancer

Researchers at the CHUM Research Centre and the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Australia have identified a new avenue for treating breast cancer.

17 May 2011

Gastroenterologists have limited knowledge of appropriate immunizations for IBD patients, study finds

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine, along with clinicians from Boston Medical Center, have found gastroenterologist knowledge of the appropriate immunizations to recommend to the inflammatory bowel disease patient is limited.

17 May 2011

New A+PSA assay more accurately detects prostate cancer

A new test for prostate cancer that measures levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA) as well as six specific antibodies found in the blood of men with the disease was more sensitive and more specific than the conventional PSA test used today, according to a study by researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

17 May 2011

World Health Assembly begins in Geneva

As the 64th World Health Assembly gets underway in Geneva, the body will consider "an array of subjects pertaining to reforms of the organisation and its financing, vaccines, fake medicines, and influenza pandemic preparedness, as well as communicable and non-communicable diseases," Intellectual Property Watch reports.

17 May 2011

New biomarker can predict breast cancer recurrence

Researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center have discovered a new biomarker related to the body's immune system that can predict a breast cancer patients' risk of cancer recurrence.

17 May 2011

Novel topically-applied molecular microbicide protects women against HIV infection

Using a technique that silences genes promoting infection, researchers have developed a novel, topically-applied molecular microbicide capable of preventing HIV transmission.

17 May 2011

Pediatric researchers find potential tools for controlling cytokine storm

By analyzing complex interactions of the immune system in an animal study, pediatric researchers have found potential tools for controlling a life-threatening condition called a cytokine storm that may strike children who have juvenile arthritis and other autoimmune diseases.

17 May 2011

Super-resolution microscopy technique reveals how and why cell's defenses fail against plague

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a super-resolution microscopy technique that is answering long-held questions about exactly how and why a cell's defenses fail against some invaders, such as plague, while successfully fending off others like E.coli.

17 May 2011

Hendra virus vaccine to be released soon

According to CSIRO’s early success with testing, the Hendra virus vaccine for horses could be available as early as next year. Hendra virus affects horses and is contracted through contact with flying foxes.

16 May 2011

Early HIV treatment can reduce transmission risk by 96%, preliminary study results show

Preliminary results from a multicountry clinical trial, sponsored by the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), show that HIV-positive people who take combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) can reduce the risk of transmitting the virus to their HIV-negative partners by 96 percent, U.S. researchers announced on Thursday " in what is being hailed as a breakthrough in HIV prevention," the Los Angeles Times reports.

16 May 2011

AIDS spread prevention by vaccine and anti HIV drugs

A latest vaccine against HIV/AIDS has shown to be effective in monkeys and has protected macaques the most widespread primate genus, against the monkey equivalent of HIV, Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). This could provide a fresh approach to an HIV vaccine, a study suggests. US researchers say the vaccine offered protection to 13 of 24 Rhesus macaques treated in the experiment. In 12 of the monkeys, the vaccine was still effective 12 months later.

15 May 2011

Milliman study finds health costs really are increasing

[T]he latest report from the green-eyeshade experts at Milliman does include a few surprises about what is — and isn't — driving [health care] costs higher. ... Last year, health costs rose by 7.3 percent, which is the slowest rate of increase in more than a decade. By comparison, though, the Consumer Price Index rose only about 1.5 percent last year.... So what's driving the increases?

13 May 2011

ZIOPHARM submits IND with FDA for Ad-RTS-IL-12 Phase I study in cancer

ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc., a drug development company employing small molecule and synthetic biology approaches to cancer therapy, today announced that it has submitted an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to begin clinical study of Ad-RTS-IL-12, a novel DNA-based therapeutic candidate.

13 May 2011

Researchers untangle two distinct ways in which tumor-suppressor protein works

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have untangled two distinct ways in which a common, naturally occurring "tumor-suppressor" protein works.

13 May 2011

Researchers uncover unexpected role of estrogen receptors in brain inflammation

Researchers have uncovered an unexpected role for estrogen receptors in the brain in keeping inflammation under control. The findings reported in the May 13 issue of the Cell Press journal Cell may have important implications for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) and many other neurodegenerative diseases.

13 May 2011

UCSD scientists discover steroid hormone that inhibits brain inflammation

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered a steroid hormone that inhibits inflammation in the brain. The findings, to be published in the May 13 issue of the journal Cell, have implications for understanding the exaggerated inflammatory responses that are characteristic features of numerous neurodegenerative diseases.

13 May 2011

Gene manipulation can improve survival rates during sepsis infection

Sepsis is a major killer in hospital intensive care units. Researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have found that manipulating a genetic factor that can launch or throttle the body's defenses can improve survival rates during bacterial infection.

13 May 2011

Early antiretroviral treatment can halt HIV spread in couples

A research study led by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has made a major discovery in the effort to halt the spread of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

13 May 2011

Groundbreaking cancer treatment studies to be unveiled at AAPS National Biotechnology Conference

Cancer studies from Mercer University headline groundbreaking research that will be unveiled at the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists' (AAPS) National Biotechnology Conference (NBC).

13 May 2011