Thymus News and Research

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Researchers find presence of Aire gene in lymph nodes

The thymus is the organ in which T cells differentiate. T cells express various T cell receptors for reacting with various pathogenic microbes and viruses.

11 Apr 2019

People born with short telomeres found to have short-lived immune system cells

Scientists at Johns Hopkins say they have found that people born with abnormally short chromosome endcaps, or telomeres, have immune system cells that age and die prematurely.

27 Mar 2019

Study identifies protein regulator that induces Th17 cells to cause multiple sclerosis

Inflammatory and autoimmune diseases such as psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis (MS) are a major healthcare burden worldwide and are life-altering conditions for afflicted patients.

14 Feb 2019

New bioengineered device enhances the production of T-cells

Bone marrow transplants, also known as hematopoietic stem cell transplants, are life-saving treatments for aggressive diseases, such as leukemia and multiple myeloma, and infections such as HIV. The procedure entails infusion of blood stem cells from a matched donor into the patient to 'reset' the blood and immune system.

12 Feb 2019

Study: Prolonged presence of precursor cells in thymus may give rise to leukemia

Acute T-cell lymphoblastic leukemia is a rare type of blood cancer that affects mostly children. This blood cancer appears from the precursor cells that produce T lymphocytes.

28 Jan 2019

UCLA researchers demonstrate new technique to develop cancer-fighting T cells

A study by UCLA researchers is the first to demonstrate a technique for coaxing pluripotent stem cells -- which can give rise to every cell type in the body and which can be grown indefinitely in the lab -- into becoming mature T cells capable of killing tumor cells.

18 Jan 2019

Scientists develop new surgical process for studying the thymus

Elisa Oltra, head of the Genetic Exppression and Immunity group of the Faculty of Medicine at the Catholic University of Valencia, in collaboration with Alejandro Caicedo, professor of the Department of Medicine of the University of Miami, have developed a surgical process which makes it possible to place functional fragments of the thymus in the anterior chamber of the eyes of mice.

26 Nov 2018

Study sheds light on mechanisms that prevent autoimmune attack

Understanding the mechanisms that prevent our immune system damaging healthy cells, whilst fighting infection and cancer, could lead to the development of novel immune-regulating treatments.

14 Nov 2018

Study finds that thymus plays key role during normal pregnancy

The immune system of a pregnant woman is altered during pregnancy, but not in the way previously believed, according to results from a study at Linköping University, Sweden.

9 Nov 2018

Mapping the trillion cells in the human body

The human body is made up of 100 trillion cells and a team of scientists are now planning on cataloguing and imaging each of these cells in the body and creating a 3D human body map.

26 Sep 2018

Brain tumors trap immune cells needed to fight cancer in the bone marrow, finds research

Certain brain cancers are associated with low numbers of immune system T-cells circulating in the peripheral blood. Low T-cell numbers can be a side-effect of cancer treatment. But it now appears that there is more to the story of these missing T-cells.

20 Aug 2018

Duke researchers track missing T-cells in glioblastoma patients

Glioblastoma brain tumors can have an unusual effect on the body's immune system, often causing a dramatic drop in the number of circulating T-cells that help drive the body's defenses.

13 Aug 2018

Scientists map regulatory landscape of mouse genome at single-cell resolution

Scientists have completed a major effort to map the regulatory landscape of the mouse genome at a single-cell resolution.

2 Aug 2018

Researchers use DNA editing tool to reveal mechanisms behind autoimmune diseases

A group of researchers at the University of São Paulo in Brazil used a DNA editing tool called CRISPR/Cas9 to manipulate on of the genes associated to the autoaggressive T lymphocytes responsible for inducing autoimmune diseases such as autoimmune polyglandular syndrome type 1 and type 1 diabetes.

2 Aug 2018

Protein complex that helps shape destiny of developing T cells identified

Like a mentor helping medical students choose between specialties, a protein complex helps shape the destiny of developing T cells, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have reported.

9 Jul 2018

Customising T-cells for cancer immunotherapy

T-cell immunotherapy is revolutionizing cancer treatments. CD8+ T cells are modified to recognize tumor-specific antigens and induce an immune response.

12 Jun 2018

Study provides blueprint of how fruit flies can be used to screen potentially pathogenic human genes

It all began with one young patient; a 7-year old boy who was born without a thymus, an important organ of the immune system, and without functional immune cells. The boy also presented with cardiac and skeletal defects, dysmorphic craniofacial features and some signs of autistic behaviors.

23 May 2018

Mice study reveals important role of pTreg cell population in autoimmune diabetes

In autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes, some of the immune system's T cells mistakenly attack the body's own cells, while protective T regulatory cells try to defend against that attack.

6 Apr 2018

Cycling keeps the body young and healthy

Not surprisingly, a new study has shown that keeping active can keep the body young and healthy. The study comes from the researchers at the University of Birmingham and King's College London who were looking at the health of older adults who had been exercising most of their adult lives. The research has been reported in two papers published this week in the journal Aging Cell.

8 Mar 2018

Study reveals increased disease risk after early heart surgery

Infections and autoimmune diseases are more common among people who have undergone heart surgery as children and had their thymus removed at the same time, which is often done to get access to the heart. This is evident in a study published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

21 Feb 2018