Macrophage News and Research

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A macrophage is a type of white blood cell that surrounds and kills microorganisms, removes dead cells, and stimulates the action of other immune system cells.

Study identifies potential therapeutic targets for treatment of multiple sclerosis

Treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) and other inflammatory diseases may benefit by new findings from a study that identified potential therapeutic targets for a devastating disease striking some 2.3 million people worldwide.

26 Jan 2016

Neurons protect intestinal tissue from over-inflammation

The immune system exercises constant vigilance to protect the body from external threats--including what we eat and drink. A careful balancing act plays out as digested food travels through the intestine. Immune cells must remain alert to protect against harmful pathogens like Salmonella, but their activity also needs to be tempered since an overreaction can lead to too much inflammation and permanent tissue damage.

25 Jan 2016

MGH researchers find how metformin drug prevents progression of pancreatic cancer

Massachusetts General Hospital investigators may have uncovered a novel mechanism behind the ability of the diabetes drug metformin to inhibit the progression of pancreatic cancer.

17 Jan 2016

Malaysian scientists join forces with Harvard experts to help revolutionize lung disease treatment

Malaysian scientists are joining forces with Harvard University experts to help revolutionize the treatment of lung diseases -- the delivery of nanomedicine deep into places otherwise impossible to reach.

12 Jan 2016

Drexel biomedical engineer identifies immune cell as potential strategy for growing blood vessels

In what could be a pivotal step toward repairing non-healing wounds and damaged organs, a Drexel University biomedical engineer has identified an immune cell as a potential strategy for growing blood vessels.

7 Jan 2016

Scientists demonstrate workings of CCL2 mechanism that stimulates nerve regeneration

The peripheral nervous system is a vast network of nerves that exists primarily outside of brain and spinal cord and connects to the far reaches of the body. The very expanse of peripheral nerves makes them highly vulnerable to injuries such as blunt-force blows, cuts, and leg and arm fractures, as well as diseases that attack peripheral nerves such as diabetes, Charcot-Marie-Tooth, and Guillain-Barre syndrome.

6 Jan 2016

Infusing small dose of cytokine can prevent or reverse diabetes-related kidney failure

Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, and scientists have found that infusing just a small dose of a cytokine, thought to help cause that failure, can instead prevent or reverse it.

29 Dec 2015

New footage shows how AIDS vaccine candidate recruits immune cells to destroy infected cells

Using innovative technology, scientists from the Institut Pasteur and Inserm have filmed in vivo the process by which an AIDS vaccine candidate, developed by the French Vaccine Research Institute and the ANRS, triggers the immune response.

23 Dec 2015

Small airway-on-a-chip enables analysis of human COPD and asthma

A research team at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University leveraged its organ-on-a-chip technology to develop a model of the human small airway in which lung inflammatory diseases, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the third leading cause of mortality worldwide, and asthma can be studied outside the human body.

22 Dec 2015

Nuvo Research announces topline results from WF10 Phase 2 trial for treatment of allergic rhinitis

Nuvo Research Inc., a life sciences company with growing revenues and a diverse portfolio of topical products, today announced the results of its investigational Phase 2 clinical trial of WF10 (Trial) for the treatment of allergic rhinitis.

21 Dec 2015

Cancer drug may protect kidneys from damage caused by chemotherapy agent cisplatin

A class of drugs used increasingly to help fight cancer may have the additional benefit of protecting the kidneys when packaged with the powerful chemotherapy agent cisplatin.

16 Dec 2015

TET proteins needed to maintain genome instability, say researchers

Members of the TET (short for ten-eleven translocation) family have been known to function as tumor suppressors for many years, but how they keep a lid on the uncontrolled cell proliferation of cancer cells had remained uncertain. Now, researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology demonstrate that TET proteins collectively constitute a major class of tumor suppressors and are required to maintain genome instability.

9 Dec 2015

Macrophages play key role in maintaining healthy arteries after inflammation

Researchers from the University of Toronto have found that a specific cell type plays a key role in maintaining healthy arteries after inflammation. It's a discovery that could provide treatment options for cardiovascular disease -- one of the leading causes of death in Canada.

8 Dec 2015

Study reveals how MGCs dispose waste that obstructs normal physiological processes

If rubbish is too big and unwieldy for normal household waste, its removal becomes the job of specialized experts. Researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have now discovered, in cooperation with colleagues from the UK, how large, fused cells help our body to deal with bulky items that may otherwise obstruct normal physiological processes.

7 Dec 2015

People with viral infections and identical gene mutations may be prone to hyperinflammatory disorder

A group of people with fatal H1N1 flu died after their viral infections triggered a deadly hyperinflammatory disorder in susceptible individuals with gene mutations linked to the overactive immune response, according to a study in The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

25 Nov 2015

High-fat diet appears to prompt immune cells to start consuming connections between neurons

When a high-fat diet causes us to become obese, it also appears to prompt normally bustling immune cells in our brain to become sedentary and start consuming the connections between our neurons, scientists say.

24 Nov 2015

Researchers successfully create infinitely reproducing tissue cultures

Most cases of small cell lung cancer are only diagnosed after the tumour has already formed metastases. Until now it has not been possible to investigate the reasons for this rapid metastasis, because of a lack of sufficient tumour material from patients. Now, the group of researchers led by Gerhard Hamilton, University Department of Surgery at Medical University of Vienna has succeeded in creating infinitely reproducing tissue cultures.

22 Nov 2015

MCG researchers explore how neurofibromatosis puts young patients at risk for cardiovascular disease

It's a fairly common genetic condition that can surface as a series of dark skin spots and result in a host of maladies from tumors to premature cardiovascular disease. Medical College of Georgia researchers hope their studies of how neurofibromatosis 1, or NF1, can dangerously thicken or thin blood vessel walls will one day help physicians better identify and treat these young patients at cardiovascular risk.

20 Nov 2015

Gamma interferon may have potential to prevent Ebola infection

The recent Ebola outbreak in West Africa has claimed more than 11,300 lives and starkly revealed the lack of effective options for treating or preventing the disease. Progress has been made on developing vaccines, but there is still a need for antiviral therapies to protect health care workers and local populations in the event of future outbreaks.

18 Nov 2015

UCLA researchers find new way to reduce ascites with minimal side effects

Women who have ovarian cancer often develop a condition called ascites, which is a buildup of fluids in the abdomen. The most common treatment for ascites is puncturing the abdomen and manually draining the fluid, which is painful and risky and must be repeated every few weeks.