Phagocytes News and Research

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Potential new therapies for multiple sclerosis

In every MS patient cells of their body's own immune system migrate to the brain, where they destroy the myelin sheath.

20 Apr 2020

Combination of exercise and cell-aging drug could help people with chronic inflammatory myopathy

Exercise can only improve strength in muscle-degenerating diseases when a specific type of muscle cell ages, report a Hokkaido University researcher and colleagues with Sapporo Medical University in Japan. Their findings utilizing mice models were published in the journal Nature Communications.

31 Mar 2020

New approach may lead to targeted treatments for certain macrophages or their mechanisms

Can phagocytes act like a Trojan horse, transporting tumour cells within themselves and thereby causing metastases in cancer patients?

5 Mar 2020

How malaria evades the body’s immune response

Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes. In 2018, there were over 200 million cases of malaria worldwide. Now, a team of researchers found evidence that the malaria parasite can detect a molecule released by approaching immune cells, using it to protect itself and evade the attack by the body’s immune system.

19 Feb 2020

HIV antibody therapy improves immune function

A new study published in the journal Nature Medicine in February 2020 reports that the administration of neutralizing antibodies against HIV improve the recipient’s specific T cell responses against the virus.

3 Feb 2020

Discovery about how cancer cells hide from the immune system could improve treatments

Researchers have shed light on the mechanism through which cancer cells become camouflaged to escape immune system detection and attack.

31 Jan 2020

Turning stink into therapy for atherosclerosis

In an amusing but amazing turnaround, it seems the most foul-smelling compound on earth, called putrescine, could help relieve chronic inflammation, most importantly in the arterial thickening called atherosclerosis. This discovery is reported in the journal Cell Metabolism in January 2020.

30 Jan 2020

Attacking HIV at the source

A new study published on November 26, 2019, in the journal Cell Reports, details a new discovery that may help avert HIV infection right at the start. The virus is known to take a long time to infect a person, and the scientists say they have found a period during which it can be weakened or killed, in the very first hours after it has entered a host. They call this the window of vulnerability.

26 Nov 2019

New way to thwart HIV infection at early stages

1.7 million. That's how many people are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) each year worldwide. 1.7 million people who are condemned to lifelong antiretroviral therapy (ART) or risk developing fatal AIDS . Out of the 37.9 million people living with HIV (PLWH), 22.3 million have access to ART, allowing them to have an almost normal lifespan.

26 Nov 2019

White blood cells control final moments of their death

La Trobe University researchers have revealed for the first time how white blood cells control the final moments of their death, helping their own removal from the human body.

12 Nov 2019

Discovery of molecular mechanism behind spread of leishmania infection

Researchers from the Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique (INRS) have made a breakthrough in understanding the reason behind the virulence of leishmania parasite. The leishmania parasite is responsible for causing leishmaniasis which affects over 12 million people across the globe and is a chronic parasitic disease.

14 Aug 2019

Scientists find surprising insight into Legionnaires’ disease

The incidence of Legionnaires' disease has increased in the past two decades. The natural habitat of Legionella is freshwater biotopes, where they mainly reproduce in amoebae.

24 Jul 2019

Comprehensive gene activity database could significantly reduce animal use

A comprehensive database of gene activity in mice across ten disease models, which could significantly reduce animal use worldwide, has been developed by scientists at the Francis Crick Institute, which gives a full picture of the immune response to different pathogens.

29 Jun 2019

Immunotherapeutic antibody therapy to kill cancer has now progressed to patient testing

Developed by researchers at the University of Turku in Finland, an immunotherapeutic antibody therapy re-educates macrophages to activate passivated cytotoxic T cells to kill cancer. The antibody therapy prevented the growth of tumors in several mouse models.

20 Feb 2019

Researchers create new map of the brain's own immune system

A team of researchers under the direction of the Medical Center - University of Freiburg has created an entirely new map of the brain's own immune system in humans and mice.

19 Feb 2019

Neuropeptide Y may hold key to exacerbating severe influenza

Severe influenza virus infection is characterized by a strong inflammatory response and profuse viral replication in lungs. These viruses, such as the notorious avian flu, have a high rate of death and to date there are no effective treatments.

10 Jan 2019

Study reveals how molecular mechanisms regulate lysosomal exocytosis by phagocytes

Lysosomes are filled with more than 50 different hydrolytic enzymes, which are capable of digesting most cellular components.

23 Dec 2018

Microglia show distinct responses under inflammatory conditions

The NorLux Neuro-Oncology Laboratory at LIH's Department of Oncology conducts research on brain diseases, with a special emphasis on glioma biology, drug resistance and systems approaches.

26 Nov 2018

Scientists succeed in increasing stability, biocompatibility of light-transducing nanoparticles

A team of scientists from the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, in collaboration with researchers from Monash University Australia, has succeeded in significantly increasing the stability and biocompatibility of special light-transducing nanoparticles.

13 Nov 2018

Neurons play active role in triggering a defense mechanism that leads to their own damage

Rasmussen's encephalitis is a rare autoimmune disease that primarily affects children and can lead to seizures.

31 Aug 2018