Thymus News and Research

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Rare Cells Capable of Transforming into Leukemia may Provide new Insight into Leukemic Landscape

In our latest interview, News Medical speaks to Adam G. Schrum, PhD, Associate Professor of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology and Surgery at the University of Missouri, about how dysfunction in an unusual type of thymocyte cell may develop into leukemia in some patients.

8 Jul 2022

Human milk immune activity may both lower and increase infants’ infectious disease risk

Researchers discuss the short-term effects of the immune system of breast milk on infant health.

7 Jul 2022

Study identifies a new mechanism that explains how immune cells learn to discern friend from foe

The human immune system is a nearly perfect defense mechanism. It protects the body from disease-causing bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens. It detects nascent tumors and eradicates them. It cleans up cellular debris at the site of injury or infection.

28 Jun 2022

Unusual type of thymocyte cells capable of transforming into blood cancer discovered

Dysfunction involving an unusual type of thymocyte cell found in small amounts in every person may be the reason why some people develop a form of leukemia called T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) that affects more than 6,000 Americans each year.

28 Jun 2022

Duke Children's Hospital & Health Center retains No. 1 rank in North Carolina

Duke Children's Hospital & Health Center continues to rank as the No. 1 children's hospital in North Carolina by U.S. News & World Report, with nine pediatric specialties ranked among the best in the nation.

14 Jun 2022

Stress accelerates aging of the immune system

Stress - in the form of traumatic events, job strain, everyday stressors and discrimination - accelerates aging of the immune system, potentially increasing a person's risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease and illness from infections such as COVID-19, according to a new USC study.

13 Jun 2022

Study investigates the cause of lymphopenia as seen in COVID-19 patients

Researchers explored the underlying mechanism resulting in thymic atrophy and subsequent lymphopenia in COVID-19 patients.

9 May 2022

New study helps explain the immune system’s response to skin infections and skin cancers

It is well established that older adults are more susceptible to infection and their immune systems less capable of generating a strong immune response.

4 May 2022

Study reveals how zinc supports immunity, suggests ways it could be used to improve health

Zinc's immune-boosting properties are well-established, but scientists haven't known exactly how it works.

1 Apr 2022

Study reveals the potential of novel antiviral drug combinations to stop COVID-19 spread

Researchers from Columbia Engineering, Fiocruz's Center for Technological Development in Health and the Oswaldo Cruz Institute in Brazil, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, and Rockefeller University recently reported that, by combining inhibitors of polymerases and exonucleases--enzymes that allow SARS-CoV-2 to reproduce--they were able to reduce SARS-CoV-2 replication 10 times more than when using just the polymerase inhibitors.

7 Mar 2022

Study reveals new way viruses trigger autoimmunity

Autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and Type 1 diabetes are thought to arise when people with a genetic susceptibility to autoimmunity encounter something in the environment that triggers their immune systems to attack their own bodies.

28 Feb 2022

Yale researchers confirm the health benefits of moderate calorie restrictions in humans

Decades of research has shown that limits on calorie intake by flies, worms, and mice can enhance life span in laboratory conditions. But whether such calorie restriction can do the same for humans remains unclear.

11 Feb 2022

Treatment with immune-boosting protein and radiation improves survival in mice with glioblastoma

Glioblastoma, an aggressive cancer in the brain or spinal cord, has proven stubbornly resistant to newer immunotherapies. And radiation and chemotherapy, the standard treatment for glioblastoma, result in fewer than 10% of patients surviving longer than five years after diagnosis.

19 Jan 2022

Study opens up prospects for using virotherapy to treat central nervous system tumors

In a study conducted at the University of São Paulo's Human Genome and Stem Cell Research Center (HUG-CELL) in Brazil, serial systemic injections of zika virus into mice with brain tumors destroyed the cancer without causing neurological damage or injuring other organs, and increased the animals' survival rate.

11 Jan 2022

White-tailed deer are efficient carriers of SARS-CoV-2

Researchers demonstrate the susceptibility of white-tailed deer to SARS-CoV-2.

20 Dec 2021

NYU Langone Health performs second successful investigational xenotransplantation procedure

Less than two months after the first breakthrough surgery, NYU Langone Health has performed its second successful investigational xenotransplantation procedure using a genetically engineered pig kidney.

13 Dec 2021

First investigational xenotransplantation marks a major step towards adequate organ supply

The first investigational transplant of a genetically engineered, nonhuman kidney to a human body was recently completed at NYU Langone Health—marking a major step forward in potentially utilizing an alternative supply of organs for people facing life-threatening disease.

21 Oct 2021