Thymus News and Research

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Study offers means of activating T cells to fight disease without antigenic triggers

For much of the time our T cells-the white blood cells that act as the police of the immune system-are in what immunologists call a "quiescent state," a sort of standby mode. For years, scientists have wondered if quiescence occurred by default or whether T cells need to work at remaining silent.

6 May 2011

Attacks by specific type of immune cells cause inflammations of heart muscle

Scientists of the German Cancer Research Center, jointly with colleagues in the United States, have found out that inflammations of the heart muscle are caused by attacks of a specific type of immune cells. These immune cells attack the body's own tissue because during their maturation they did not have the chance to develop tolerance against a protein that is only found in the heart muscle.

30 Mar 2011

Protein α-myosin could be a promising therapeutic target for myocarditis

Myocardits is an inflammation of the heart muscles that is a major cause of heart failure in young patients. In some cases, the disease is caused by viral infection, but in other patients it is linked to an autoimmune attack on the heart muscle. There are few effective treatment options for myocarditis, in part because the molecular mechanisms that underlie the defect are poorly defined.

24 Mar 2011

Scientists reveal protein target that can trigger myocarditis

People with type 1 diabetes, whose insulin-producing cells have been destroyed by the body's own immune system, are particularly vulnerable to a form of inflammatory heart disease caused by a different autoimmune reaction.

24 Mar 2011

Lampreys may have dual immune defense system similar to that of humans

Biologists have discovered that primitive, predatory lampreys have structures within their gills that play the same role as the thymus, the organ where immune cells called T cells develop in mammals, birds and fish.

4 Feb 2011

Head, neck radiation exposure increases thyroid cancer in children

When children are exposed to head and neck radiation, whether due to cancer treatment or multiple diagnostic CT scans, the result is an increased risk of thyroid cancer for the next 58 years or longer, according to University of Rochester Medical Center research.

17 Dec 2010

Geisinger Medical Center performs first transcervical thymectomy

The Department of Thoracic Surgery at Geisinger Medical Center (GMC) recently performed its first transcervical thymectomy, joining other major academic medical centers nationwide that perform the minimally invasive surgical procedure.

9 Dec 2010

New approaches to explore causes of autoimmunity and immune deficiency diseases

A newly identified regulatory process affecting the biology of immune system T cells should give scientists new approaches to explore the causes of autoimmunity and immune deficiency diseases.

20 Oct 2010

New development of genetic tool to speed discovery of novel genes involved in cancer

Researchers have developed a genetic tool in mice to speed the discovery of novel genes involved in cancer. The system - called PiggyBac - has already been used by the team to identify novel candidate cancer-causing genes.

15 Oct 2010

Pancreas releases new NANETS guidelines on rare group of cancers

Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are a group of rare cancers that pose unique challenges in diagnosis and treatment. In a recent issue of Pancreas, official journal of the American Pancreatic Association, presents the newly developed consensus guidelines of the North American Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (NANETS).

22 Sep 2010

Research on immune system can develop new therapy for inflammation, tumors

In two closely related studies, two teams of Scripps Research Institute scientists have discovered the underlying mechanisms that activate a type of immune cell in the skin and other organs. The findings may lead to the development of new therapies to treat inflammation, wounds, asthma, and malignant tumors.

3 Sep 2010

Study enhances use of stem cells for organ regeneration

Cindy Morrissey, President and CEO of Emerging Healthcare Solutions, Inc., called the results of a recent study on Friday an 'encouraging step' towards the use of stem cells to regenerate human organs.

24 Aug 2010

New avenues for stem cell research

According to researchers at the University of NSW a new way has been found to generate stem cells from human skin - known as induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. A paper outlining the breakthrough was published this week in the US-based international online journal PLoS One.

19 Aug 2010

Research reveals possibility to convert one stem type to another without genetic modification

Scientists have reprogrammed stem cells from a key organ in the immune system in a development that could have implications for tissue regeneration.

19 Aug 2010

Discovery on stem cell can create new opportunity in organ regeneration field

Taking one type of cell and transforming it into another type is now possible. Cells taken from the thymus have been transformed into skin cells,a discovery that may have important ramifications for the field of organ regeneration.

19 Aug 2010

Study links high-fat diet as potential cause of prostatic diseases

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in men with an estimated 192,280 new cases diagnosed in the US in 2009 (Jemal 2009). Diet is considered one of the most important controllable risk factors for inflammation and prostate diseases including benign prostatic hyperplsia, prostatitis, and prostate cancer.

15 Jul 2010

Research provides understanding of EGME's effects on metabolism

Metabolon, Inc., the leader in global metabolism, biomarker discovery and analysis, announces the publication of "Ethylene Glycol Monomethyl Ether-Induced Toxicity is Mediated through the Inhibition of Flavoprotein Dehydrogenase Enzyme Family", in the journal Toxicological Sciences on July 8, 2010. The paper was co-authored by Dr. Makoto Takei and colleagues at Daiichi-Sankyo in collaboration with Metabolon scientists.

14 Jul 2010

Further analysis on Bcl11b gene and T-cell behaviouur from Caltech Biologists

When does a cell decide its particular identity? According to biologists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), in the case of T cells-immune system cells that help destroy invading pathogens-the answer is when the cells begin expressing a particular gene called Bcl11b.

3 Jul 2010

Researchers identify peptide that triggers diabetes

Researchers at National Jewish Health and the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have identified the precise protein fragment, or peptide, that can trigger diabetes in mice. The finding, published in the June 15, 2010, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, supports an emerging theory about the origins of autoimmunity, and may lead to new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies in humans.

17 Jun 2010

Research sheds light on prenatal heart formation, chromosome 22q.11 deletion syndrome

Researchers studying the common genetic disorder chromosome 22q.11 deletion syndrome have identified key proteins that act together to regulate early embryonic development. One protein is essential to life; in animal studies, embryos without the protein do not survive past the first few days of gestation.

13 May 2010