Immunology News and Research

Latest Immunology News and Research

MicroRNAs may increase cancer susceptibility

New evidence indicates that small pieces of noncoding genetic material known as microRNAs (miRNAs) might influence cancer susceptibility.

24 May 2007

Breakthrough in understanding how cancers spread

The University of Manchester study used embryonic stem (ES) cells to investigate how some tumours are able to migrate to other parts of the body, which makes the treatment of cancer much more difficult.

From The University of Manchester 24 May 2007

Discovery of fungi that uses radioactivity as an energy source

Scientists have long assumed that fungi exist mainly to decompose matter into chemicals that other organisms can then use.

24 May 2007

Cigarette use may explain asthma epidemic in children

The rise in cigarette use by adults over the past century may explain the asthma epidemic in children according to a study by researchers at the Mailman School of Public Health.

22 May 2007

Scientists develop method to track immune system enzyme in live animals

Scientists supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) at the National Institutes of Health have created two mouse strains that will permit researchers to trace, in a live animal, the activity of an enzyme believed to play a crucial role both in the normal immune response as well as autoimmunity and B cell tumor development.

18 May 2007

Scientists convert the sequence of proteins into music

UCLA molecular biologists have turned protein sequences into original compositions of classical music.

17 May 2007

The risk of developing food allergy in premature or low-birth-weight children

Premature infants do not have an increased risk of developing food allergies than normal-birth-weight infants, according to new research in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (JACI) .

17 May 2007

Herpes infection may be symbiotic

Mice with chronic herpes virus infections can better resist the bacterium that causes plague and a bacterium that causes one kind of food poisoning, researchers report in Nature.

17 May 2007

Complement receptor 3 sends a signal to dampen the immune system

Researchers from The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and The University of Pennsylvania reported that complement receptor 3 (CR3), a protein found on cell surfaces, inhibits dendritic cells, the sentinels of the immune system, from setting off an alarm signal that brings on a full immune response.

16 May 2007

Research into poverty-conditioned diseases

As part of a new funding initiative, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) is promoting projects in which German and African scientists carry out joint research on infectious diseases.

15 May 2007

Glucosamine-like dietary supplement suppresses autoimmune response in multiple sclerosis and type-1 diabetes mellitus

This finding shows the potential of using a dietary supplement to help treat autoimmune diseases, said Demetriou, an assistant professor of neurology, and microbiology and molecular genetics.

15 May 2007

Peanut allergies overstated

Despite hundreds of families being told their children have peanut allergies every year, many of the children may be able to eat peanuts safely, a study by the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and Sydney Children's Hospital has found.

15 May 2007

U.S. decline in the number of qualified allergists-immunologists

A growing shortage of allergists in the United States may soon impact the quality of patient care for asthma and other allergic diseases, according to a report published by the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI).

15 May 2007

Breakthrough on cytomegalovirus transmission

Researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology have shown that cytomegalovirus (CMV) in the salivary glands can be reduced , and in some cases eliminated , through the use of antibodies to enhance the disease-fighting power of the immune system.

11 May 2007

Molecule that destroys bone also protects it

An immune system component that is a primary cause of bone destruction and inflammation in autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis actually protects bone in the oral cavity from infectious pathogens that play a major role in periodontal disease in humans, research at the University at Buffalo has shown.

7 May 2007

New study on cat allergens and babies

The study published by Chih-Mei Chen et al. in the May edition of the distinguished Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology did not approve earlier papers, according to which contact with cat allergens during the first few months of a child's life has a protective effect.

4 May 2007