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A study contradicting the phenotypical relationship between plasmablasts and developing neutrophils

A team of scientists from Australia challenges the findings of a recent study by Wilk et al. demonstrating that plasmablasts transdifferentiate into developing neutrophils in severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The Australian study is currently available on the bioRxiv preprint server.

29 Sep 2020

Optimal antibody combinations and Fc binding inhibit SARS-CoV-2 in vivo

A recent study by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and The Rockefeller University and published on the preprint server bioRxiv in September 2020 shows that a combination of neutralizing antibodies with intact Fc effector function can effectively reduce the viral load and prevent infection.

17 Sep 2020

Circadian rhythm affects SARS-CoV-2 infection and host immune response

In an interesting bioRxiv preprint paper, French researchers show that the time day can affect infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), as well as guide subsequent host immune response – implying that circadian rhythm may well be a novel target for managing viral progression.

14 Sep 2020

Study shows role of pathogens in shaping human evolution

Every human cell harbors its own defenses against microbial invaders, relying on strategies that date back to some of the earliest events in the history of life, researchers report.

10 Sep 2020

Convalescent plasma fails to improve outcome of COVID-19 in India

A new study based in India and published on the medRxiv preprint server explores the role of convalescent plasma (CP) in the treatment of moderate COVID-19 within the limitations on resources faced in a developing country.

9 Sep 2020

A potential new way of treating Alzheimer’s Disease

In this interview, Dr. Brad. L. Heckman speaks to News-Medical about a new pathway that could potentially treat Alzheimers disease.

7 Sep 2020

Antibody and cellular immunity in severe vs. mild COVID-19

Now, a new study published in the journal Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy in August 2020 shows that while humoral and T-cell immune responses are more robust in severe infection, the disease activates memory T cells as part of the adaptive immune system in COVID-19 patients irrespective of disease severity.

18 Aug 2020

Researchers report a liquid biopsy for COVID-19

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in July 2020 reports the potential of cell-free DNA as a marker of the severity of disease in COVID-19. This could help triage patients as well as provide a prognostic marker.

30 Jul 2020

CU researchers discover key role of specific brain cells during development

Researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine have identified how specific brain cells interacting during development could be related to neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases, including some that occur later in life.

9 Jul 2020

How an ignored white blood cell may cause COVID-19 deaths

News-Medical speaks to Professor Lola Eniola-Adefeso about her research investigating how an ignored white blood cell may cause COVID-19 deaths.

19 Jun 2020

Anti-RBD antibodies shown to neutralize active SARS-CoV-2

A new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv* in June 2020 reports the discovery of multiple severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies in samples from healthy donors, collected before the pandemic. These antibodies are capable of inhibiting the binding of the spike protein of the virus to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) molecule and can neutralize active infection of cells in culture.

9 Jun 2020

Stem cell model sheds new light on the devastating process of neurodegeneration

A new study published today in Neuron led by The New York Stem Cell Foundation Research Institute's Valentina Fossati, Ph.D., creates astrocytes - an integral support cell in the brain - from stem cells and shows that in disease-like environments, these normally helpful cells can turn into neuron-killers.

1 Jun 2020

Microbiome controls the fitness of our immune system

Working alongside colleagues in Mainz, Bern, Hannover and Bonn, researchers from Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the Berlin Institute of Health and the German Rheumatism Research Center Berlin were able to show how the microbiome helps to render the immune system capable of responding to pathogens.

11 May 2020

Using neutralising antibodies in the fight against COVID-19

While many scientists and pharmaceutical companies are racing to develop a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine, there is also an urgent need for a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) treatment. The potent virus has now spread to 210 countries and territories, affecting more than 3.04 million people. Now, a team of German scientists is working on using antibodies to prevent and treat COVID-19.

27 Apr 2020

Combination therapy boosts the immune system's appetite for cancer

A combination of immunotherapy agents that encourages some immune cells to eat cancer cells and alert others to attack tumors put mice with a deadly type of brain cancer called glioblastoma into long-term remission, a new study led by UT Southwestern scientists suggests.

24 Apr 2020

Microglia play a dual role in regulating the permeability of blood-brain barrier, study shows

The blood-brain barrier is a layer of cells that covers the blood vessels in the brain and regulates the entry of molecules from the blood into the brain.

28 Feb 2020

Study sheds new light on the immune system’s ability to deal with co-infection

The body’s immune response to fungal infections changes when a patient is also infected by a virus, according to new research which investigated the two types of infection together for the first time.

26 Feb 2020

Lipid signaling from beta cells linked to inflammatory macrophage polarization

Do the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas unwittingly produce a signal that aids their own demise in Type 1 diabetes?

23 Feb 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

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