Immunology News and Research

Latest Immunology News and Research

Study: Roundworm protein can suppress inflammation in patients with sepsis

Research by the University of Liverpool has found that systemic inflammation caused by sepsis can be suppressed by a protein which occurs naturally in a type of roundworm.

8 Mar 2011

New discovery in childhood respiratory disease

Researchers have identified a critical part of the process by which one of the world's most common and dangerous early childhood infections, respiratory syncytial virus, causes disease.

8 Mar 2011

Institute for Genome Sciences plays key role in investigation of anthrax attacks

Researchers at the Institute for Genome Sciences at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and collaborators at the FBI, the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases and Northern Arizona University have published the first scientific paper based on their investigation into the anthrax attacks of 2001.

8 Mar 2011

New insight into multiple sclerosis

Scientists have blocked harmful immune cells from entering the brain in mice with a condition similar to multiple sclerosis.

8 Mar 2011

Fumaric acid salts may protect against Multiple Sclerosis

Fumaric acid salts have been in use against severe psoriasis for a long time. About ten years ago, researchers in Bochum speculated that they may also have a favourable effect on Multiple Sclerosis as a result of their TH2 polarizing mechanisms.

8 Mar 2011

New Lupus drug marching towards approval

A new drug for lupus from the Human Genome Sciences Inc is all set to get clearance in the US this week. If all goes through, this drug will offer patients the first approved treatment option in a half-century, setting the manufacturer up for huge sales.

7 Mar 2011

FDA says no cause for alarm on vaccines for meningitis and pneumonia

According to US health officials there are no reports that arouse new safety concerns over two children’s vaccines that have been suspended in Japan following the deaths of four babies.

7 Mar 2011

Scientists identify regulatory T cells responsible for limiting immune response

Scientists from the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute have identified the key immune cell population responsible for regulating the body's immune response.

6 Mar 2011

Pending merger transaction between Grifols, Talecris has been extended

Grifols S.A. and Talecris Biotherapeutics Holdings Corp. today announced that the outside date under their merger agreement for closing their pending merger transaction has been extended to June 30, 2011 (from March 6, 2011).

5 Mar 2011

BJC, WUSM use IBM software to provide better care for patients worldwide

IBM today announced that BJC Healthcare and Washington University School of Medicine are using IBM business analytics software to quickly extract key data from more than 50 million documents in medical records, speeding up research to ultimately provide better care for patients worldwide.

5 Mar 2011

Sangamo's preclinical ZFN-gene modification studies for HIV/AIDS treatment presented at CROI

Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. announced that data from its programs to develop ZFN-based therapeutic approaches for the treatment of HIV/AIDS were discussed in four oral presentations at the 18th Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections, held in Boston from February 27 to March 2, 2011.

4 Mar 2011

New discovery holds promise for TB treatment

New findings on how tuberculosis bacteria develop multi-drug tolerance point to ways TB infections might be cured more quickly.

4 Mar 2011

New computer-controlled system to create cell assembly line

Borrowing a page from modern manufacturing, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have built a microscopic assembly line that mass produces synthetic cell-like compartments.

4 Mar 2011

Executioner enzyme may short circuit second form of cell death

An enzyme viewed as an executioner, because it can push cells to commit suicide, may actually short circuit a second form of cell death, researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have discovered.

4 Mar 2011

ATS releases new report detailing emerging trends in HIV-linked pulmonary disease management

The American Thoracic Society has released a new report detailing recent global changes in the management of human immunodeficiency virus-associated pulmonary disease.

4 Mar 2011

Talecris granted EU orphan drug designation for Plasmin (human) to treat acute peripheral arterial occlusion

Talecris Biotherapeutics, Inc. (TLCR) announced today that it has been granted orphan drug designation by the European Commission for the development of Plasmin (human) to treat acute peripheral arterial occlusion (aPAO). Talecris is currently investigating Plasmin in a phase II clinical trial designed to assess its ability to treat aPAO, a condition in which arterial blood flow to the extremities, usually the legs, is blocked by a clot.

4 Mar 2011

Stem cell research updates

Two studies have been published this Wednesday in the journal Nature that show that work remains before so-called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells are ready for use in laboratory studies or clinical therapies. These iPS cells are body cells that are programmed to unwind back into an embryonic state. Like embryonic stem cells, they have potential to develop into any other type of cell in the body. However researchers are showing that these cells do not reprogram perfectly.

3 Mar 2011