Dendritic Cell News and Research

Latest Dendritic Cell News and Research

Molecular 'trip switch' shuts down inflammatory response

Like a circuit breaker that prevents electrical wiring from overheating and bringing down the house, a tiny family of three molecules stops the immune system from mounting an out-of-control, destructive inflammatory response against invading pathogens, researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have found.

14 Dec 2007

Molecular foreman discovered for brain wiring

Researchers have identified a master regulatory molecule that is responsible for triggering the remodeling of neuronal connections that is critical for learning.

21 Nov 2007

CD200 stifles anti-tumor immunity

The prognosis for individuals with metastatic melanoma (MM) is not good. Therapeutic strategies to enhance the immune response have some clinical benefit; however, most patients eventually succumb to progressive disease, in part because their immune cells known as dendritic cells (DCs) fail to sustain an effective antitumor T cell immune response.

16 Nov 2007

Epilepsy-induced brain cell damage blocked in lab experiments

For some epilepsy patients, the side effects of epilepsy can be as troubling as the seizures.

29 Oct 2007

Immune cells can simultaneously stimulate and inhibit killer cell activity

Dendritic cells, which are responsible for teaching other immune cells to attack infected or mutated cells, face a dangerous predicament.

22 Oct 2007

Immune cells found to promote formation of new blood vessels - potential for endometriosis treatments

A discovery in mice of immune cells that promote the formation of new blood vessels could lead to new treatments for endometriosis, a painful condition associated with infertility that affects up to 15 percent of women of reproductive age.

19 Oct 2007

Clinical trial to evaluate glioblastoma multiforme vaccine commences at NYU

A clinical trial evaluating a brain cancer vaccine in patients with newly diagnosed brain cancer has begun at NYU Medical Center.

19 Oct 2007

Researchers create modular, multi-functional drug delivery system

There are two aspects to creating an effective drug: finding a chemical compound that has the desired biological effect and minimal side-effects and then delivering it to the right place in the body for it to do its job.

8 Oct 2007

Specific immune deficiency pinpointed as likely cause of ulcerative colitis

In a series of mouse experiments, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) have pinpointed a specific immune deficiency as the likely fundamental cause of ulcerative colitis, a chronic, sometimes severe inflammatory disease of the colon or large intestine that afflicts half a million Americans.

4 Oct 2007

Discovery of molecular recycling plant provides new insights into learning and memory function

A molecular "recycling plant" permits nerve cells in the brain to carry out two seemingly contradictory functions - changeable enough to record new experiences, yet permanent enough to maintain these memories over time.

20 Sep 2007

Nanoparticle that delivers vaccines more effectively

Good news for public health: Bioengineering researchers from the EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, have developed and patented a nanoparticle that can deliver vaccines more effectively, with fewer side effects, and at a fraction of the cost of current vaccine technologies.

18 Sep 2007

LL37 peptide provides a new potential target for autoimmune disease

A human peptide that acts as a natural antibiotic against invading microbes can also bind to the body's own DNA and trigger an immune response in the absence of an infection, a research team led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports in an early online publication in Nature.

17 Sep 2007

Dendritic cells turn T cells into T regs

Regulatory T cells (also known as T regs) suppress some of the immune system's more inappropriate responses, preventing it from attacking the body's own tissues and stifling its activity once invading microbes have been fought off.

17 Sep 2007

Potential new drug target for preventing postmenopausal bone loss

Scientists have discovered new information about an immune pathway in mice that explains how oxidative stress that results from acute estrogen deficiency leads to the loss of bone.

11 Sep 2007

Schizophrenia-linked gene keeps new adult brain cells under control

The study reveals that the gene, known as Disrupted-In-Schizophrenia 1 (DISC1), directs the incorporation of new neurons into the adult brain and keeps the process under control. The gene's newly discovered roles might help to explain why schizophrenia's symptoms generally arise in adolescence or early adulthood, the researchers suggested.

10 Sep 2007