Thymus News and Research

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Inflammation causally linked to functional decline in aging

Inflammation is the common denominator of many chronic age-related diseases such as arthritis, gout, Alzheimer's, and diabetes. But according to a Yale School of Medicine study, even in the absence of a disease, inflammation can lead to serious loss of function throughout the body, reducing healthspan - that portion of our lives spent relatively free of serious illness and disability.

23 Oct 2013

UCSF scientists identify new way to manipulate immune system from autoimmune diseases

Scientists from UC San Francisco have identified a new way to manipulate the immune system that may keep it from attacking the body-s own molecules in autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis.

10 Sep 2013

Gene expression profile test accurately predicts likelihood of metastasis in thymoma patients

Patients diagnosed with thymoma, a rare cancer of the thymus gland, may be able to avoid certain cancer treatments associated with severe adverse events if the results of a new test reveal they are at low risk of metastasis, according to a study published today in the journal PLOS ONE.

25 Jul 2013

Researchers discover mechanism that prevents immune system from spinning out of control

A team led by a University of Arizona researcher has discovered a previously unknown mechanism that prevents the immune system from going into overdrive, shedding light not only on how our body controls its response to pathogens but on conditions such as autoimmune diseases, allergies and chronic inflammation as well.

24 Jul 2013

Researchers provide new model for studying drug targets and therapies for AIH

A gene mutation disrupts the activity of certain immune cells and causes the immune system to erroneously attack the liver, according to a new animal study from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

24 Jul 2013

New study could lead to better and more targeted drugs for arthritis and cancer

The increased risk of heart attack or stroke associated with many arthritis drugs may be avoidable, according to a new international study co-authored by researchers at Imperial College London.

5 Jul 2013

Scientists find that mice develop age-related progressive motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease

The presence of Lewy bodies in nerve cells, formed by intracellular deposits of the protein α-synuclein, is a characteristic pathologic feature of Parkinson's Disease (PD). In the quest for an animal model of PD that mimics motor and non-motor symptoms of human PD, scientists have developed strains of mice that overexpress α-synuclein.

10 Jun 2013

Research suggests medullary thymic epithelial cells may have evolved from cortical-thymic TECs

Medullary thymic epithelial cells (mTECs) allow the thymus to ensure that the body's T cells are able to distinguish between potentially harmful foreign antigens and those that are produced by the body itself.

3 Jun 2013

UCSF researchers create first functioning human thymus tissue from embryonic stem cells

Raising hopes for cell-based therapies, UC San Francisco researchers have created the first functioning human thymus tissue from embryonic stem cells, in the laboratory. The researchers showed that, in mice, the tissue can be used to foster the development of white blood cells the body needs to mount healthy immune responses and to prevent harmful autoimmune reactions.

17 May 2013

Better understanding of cells' development has implications in study of inflammatory diseases

Labs around the world, and a core group at Penn, have been studying recently described populations of immune cells called innate lymphoid cells. Some researchers liken them to foot soldiers that protect boundary tissues such as the skin, the lining of the lung, and the lining of the gut from microbial onslaught. They also have shown they play a role in inflammatory disease, when the body's immune system is too active.

15 May 2013

Implications for manipulating immune response for some inflammatory disorders

Cytokines are molecules produced by immune cells that induce the migration of other cells to sites of infection or injury, promote the production of anti-microbial agents, and signal the production of inflammatory mediators.

14 May 2013

Researchers say tiny thymus teaches immune system to ignore foreign bacteria in gut

The tiny thymus teaches the immune system to ignore the teeming, foreign bacteria in the gut that helps you digest and absorb food, researchers say.

30 Apr 2013

MD Anderson scientists demonstrate new way to restore tumor suppression

Tumor suppression, the family business of the sibling genes p53, p63 and p73, is undermined from within by the split personalities of p63 and p73, which each produce protein forms that not only block the work of the other two genes but also shut down its own cancer-stifling fraternal twin.

10 Apr 2013

Research shows immune system can destroy HIV through deactivation of vif gene

Human cells have an intrinsic capacity to destroy HIV. However, the virus has evolved to contain a gene that blocks this ability. When this gene is removed from the virus, the innate human immune system destroys HIV by mutating it to the point where it can no longer survive.

29 Mar 2013

Metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) therapy: an interview with Charles A. Nicolette, Ph.D., CSO of Argos Therapeutics

Metastatic renal cell carcinoma is a devastating disease. There are roughly 20-25,000 new cases per year in the United States and it is increasing for some reason.

12 Feb 2013

Mature CD4+ helper T lymphocytes can be re-programed to gain killing functions

The fate of mature T lymphocytes might be a lot more flexible than previously thought. New research from the RIKEN Center for Allergy and Immunology (RCAI) in Japan and La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology (LIAI) in the USA shows for the first time that mature CD4+ helper T lymphocytes can be re-programed to become killer-like CD8+ T lymphocytes and gain killing functions.

21 Jan 2013

Brake for skin inflammation discovered

The absence of a protein called Ctip2 in the skin allows increased levels of T-helper 2 cytokines and may have a role in conditions such as atopic dermatitis, research in mice suggests.

4 Jan 2013

Molecule imitating a virus may trigger inappropriate immune response

Why would our immune system turn against our own cells? This is the question that the combined Inserm/CNRS/ Pierre and Marie Curie University/Association Institut de Myologie have strived to answer in their "Therapies for diseases of striated muscle", concentrating in particular on the auto-immune disease known as myasthenia gravis.

21 Dec 2012

GSK, MD Anderson partner to develop new therapeutic antibodies against cancer

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) have signed a research collaboration and license agreement to develop new therapeutic antibodies that promote an immune system attack against cancer.

10 Dec 2012

Myasthenia gravis therapies: an interview with Professor Daniel Drachman

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease that produces weakness and fatiguability of muscles. It affects between 1 and 7 people per 10,000, according to the best statistics.

15 Nov 2012