Immune System News and Research

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Scientists develop new model for neurodegenerative disease

A team of scientists at the University of California, San Francisco has developed a new model for how inherited genes contribute to a common but untreatable and incurable neurodegenerative disease.

10 Mar 2011

Biothera announces acquisition of AS1402 anti-cancer monoclonal antibody from Antisoma

Biothera announced today that it has acquired the anti-cancer monoclonal antibody AS1402 from Antisoma for undisclosed terms.

10 Mar 2011

Idera reports $6.0 million net loss for fourth quarter 2010

Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2010.

10 Mar 2011

ISCO achieves major milestone in stem cell banking program

International Stem Cell Corporation, announced today the achievement of a major milestone in its efforts to establish a bank of immune-matched parthenogenetic stem cells in the United States by receiving the statutory approvals required to move forward with the next phase of its stem cell banking program.

10 Mar 2011

Scientists mark important step toward universal RBCs production

Scientists are reporting an "important step" toward development of a universal blood product that would eliminate the need to "type" blood to match donor and recipient before transfusions.

10 Mar 2011

Caltech students receive Lemelson-MIT Prize for innovative disease diagnostic technology works

California Institute of Technology graduate student Guoan Zheng is the recipient of the 2011 $30,000 Lemelson-MIT Caltech Student Prize.

10 Mar 2011

Caspase inhibition can prevent brain inflammation in neurological diseases

Neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's are partly attributable to brain inflammation. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet now demonstrate in a paper published in Nature that a well-known family of enzymes can prevent the inflammation and thus constitute a potential target for drugs.

10 Mar 2011

Novel sortase-based techniques allow modification of a large variety of different proteins

Whitehead Institute scientists have created a method that site-specifically modifies proteins to exert control over their properties when administered therapeutically. The technique should be useful to increase potency, slow metabolism, and improve thermal stability of therapeutically useful proteins, such as interferon alpha 2 (IFN-alpha 2), which is used to treat variety of diseases, including leukemia, melanoma, and chronic hepatitis C.

10 Mar 2011

Immunologists identify key cell component that triggers allergic responses to cat dander

A breakthrough by scientists at The University of Nottingham could provide hope for any allergy sufferers who have ever had to choose between their health and their household pet.

10 Mar 2011

Salmonella may serve as valuable tool to fight against cancer

University of Minnesota researchers are using salmonella - the bacteria commonly transmitted through food that sickens thousands of U.S. residents each year - to do what was once unthinkable: help people.

10 Mar 2011

Researchers pinpoint a protein responsible for fat storage in the body

Scientists have shed light on why some people are apple-shaped and others are pear-shaped.

10 Mar 2011

Illicit drug users may face increased risk of microbial infections

Illicit drug users are at increased risk of being exposed to microbial pathogens and are more susceptible to serious infections say physicians writing in the Journal of Medical Microbiology.

10 Mar 2011

Lowering cholesterol could help fight infections

British researchers have found that lowering cholesterol levels could help the body’s immune system fight infections. The team at the University of Edinburgh conducted the experiments on mice and found a direct link between the workings of the immune system and cholesterol levels.

9 Mar 2011

MabCure presents ovarian cancer diagnostic blood test study results at SGO meeting

Biotechnology company MabCure, Inc. is presenting the results of its recently completed study on the diagnosis of ovarian cancer utilizing its proprietary monoclonal antibodies at the annual meeting of the Society of Gynecological Oncologists.

9 Mar 2011

Variation in exposure to sunlight may affect sensitivity of individuals to drugs

A study from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet has shown that the body's ability to break down medicines may be closely related to exposure to sunlight, and thus may vary with the seasons.

9 Mar 2011

Survey: Most HIV-positive patients die of cancer

Most HIV-positive patients die of cancer. In the latest issue of Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, Manfred Hensel's research group presents epidemiological data.

9 Mar 2011

LRI announces 12 new research grants to drive innovation in lupus

The Lupus Research Institute today announced the award of 12 new research grants, building on its decade-long commitment to drive innovation and discover novel approaches to understand and treat one of the world's most confounding and elusive diseases - lupus.

9 Mar 2011

USPTO grants new patent to Intellect's Alzheimer's vaccine

Intellect Neurosciences, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company with an internal preclinical and clinical-stage pipeline and licenses with major pharmaceutical companies covering products in late-stage clinical trials, announced today that it has received a new patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office in relation to the Company's RECALL-VAXTM technology platform.

9 Mar 2011

NHMRC awards $38.4M for cancer and blood cell research

Institute research into how cancer develops and blood cell production and function will today be awarded $38.4 million under the National Health and Medical Research Council's (NHMRC) program grants scheme.

9 Mar 2011

Chemotherapy drugs also kill malaria parasite

A group of researchers from EPFL's Global Health Institute (GHI) and Inserm (Institut National de la Sant- et de la Recherche M-dicale, the French government agency for biomedical research) has discovered that a class of chemotherapy drugs originally designed to inhibit key signaling pathways in cancer cells also kills the parasite that causes malaria. The discovery could quickly open up a whole new strategy for combating this deadly disease.

9 Mar 2011