T Cell News and Research

Latest T Cell News and Research

Empa physicist analyzes structure and composition of soot particles

Since June 2012, it is official: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has classified diesel soot as a lung carcinogen. Artur Braun, a physicist at Empa and an X-ray spectroscopy expert, has made crucial contributions to analyzing the structure and composition of soot particles.

6 Aug 2012

New research center to expedite study of gene transfer approach

In an alliance aimed at bringing a new, personalized immunotherapy approach to patients with a wide variety of cancers, the University of Pennsylvania and Novartis announced today an exclusive global research and licensing agreement to further study and commercialize novel cellular immunotherapies using chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) technologies.

6 Aug 2012

TWi Pharmaceuticals completes AC-201 phase II study on type II diabetes

TWi Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company based in Taiwan, today announced its fully owned subsidiary, TWi Biotechnology, Inc. has completed a multinational phase II dose-ranging study of AC-201, an orally available IL-1 Beta modulator, in 259 patients with type II diabetes uncontrolled on up to three oral medications.

6 Aug 2012

Scientists identify key factor that drives resistance to cancer drug

Developing resistance to chemotherapy is a nearly universal, ultimately lethal consequence for cancer patients with solid tumors - such as those of the breast, prostate, lung and colon - that have metastasized, or spread, throughout the body. A team of scientists led by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has discovered a key factor that drives this drug resistance - information that ultimately may be used to improve the effectiveness of therapy and buy precious time for patients with advanced cancer.

6 Aug 2012

Genocea announces new data that supports novel approach for development of HSV-2 vaccine

Genocea Biosciences announced today the presentation of new data supporting its novel approach to developing a first-in-class, protein subunit therapeutic vaccine for Herpes Simplex Virus type 2 (HSV-2).

6 Aug 2012

Neutrophils play an unexpected role in mediating insulin resistance

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine say neutrophils, an abundant type of white blood cell typically tasked with attacking bacteria and other foreign invaders, also plays an unexpected role in mediating insulin resistance - the central characteristic of type 2 diabetes, which afflicts an estimated 26 million Americans.

6 Aug 2012

Researchers make major advance in efforts to regenerate damaged hearts

Researchers have made a major advance in efforts to regenerate damaged hearts. Grafts of human cardiac muscle cells, grown from embryonic stem cells, coupled electrically and contracted synchronously with host muscle following transplantation in guinea pig hearts.

6 Aug 2012

Novartis, Penn partner to study and commercialize novel cellular immunotherapies for cancer

6 Aug 2012

TAU research identifies protein group that may kick-start allergic reactions

Allergies, or hypersensitivities of the immune system, are more common than ever before. According to the Asthma and Allergies Foundation of America, one in five Americans suffers from an allergy - from milder forms like hay fever to more severe instances, like peanut allergies which can lead to anaphylactic shock.

6 Aug 2012

Human HLA genes are evolving much more rapidly than previously thought

Human HLA genes - the genes that allow our immune system to tell the difference between our own cells and foreign invaders - are evolving much more rapidly than previously thought, according to an article online on August 3rd in Trends in Genetics. The resulting degree of variation improves our ability to fight off disease, but could also present challenges to current worldwide efforts aimed at identifying potential donors for patients undergoing stem cell transplantation.

6 Aug 2012

Mammalian cells divide when their growth rate hits a specific threshold

It's a longstanding question in biology: How do cells know when to progress through the cell cycle? In simple organisms such as yeast, cells divide once they reach a specific size. However, determining if this holds true for mammalian cells has been difficult, in part because there has been no good way to measure mammalian cell growth over time.

6 Aug 2012

Sanofi-aventis receives FDA approval for Zaltrap to treat colorectal cancer

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Zaltrap (ziv-aflibercept) for use in combination with a FOLFIRI (folinic acid, fluorouracil and irinotecan) chemotherapy regimen to treat adults with colorectal cancer.

6 Aug 2012

Drug molecules designed for influenza may be adapted to treat other viruses

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital study shows how compounds blocking an enzyme universal to all influenza viruses may allow development of new antiviral drugs that also avoid the problem of drug resistance

3 Aug 2012

Similar molecular pathways involved in intellectual disability due to Fragile X and Down syndromes

Intellectual disability due to Fragile X and Down syndromes involves similar molecular pathways report researchers in The EMBO Journal. The two disorders share disturbances in the molecular events that regulate the way nerve cells develop dendritic spines, the small extensions found on the surface of nerve cells that are crucial for communication in the brain.

3 Aug 2012

'Fight' between bacteria in the intestines linked to chronic disease

Results from a study conducted at Georgia State University suggest that a "fight" between bacteria normally living in the intestines and the immune system, kicked off by another type of bacteria, may be linked to two types of chronic disease.

3 Aug 2012

New role for oncogenic signaling pathway in embryonic stem cell self-renewal

Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, the University of Manchester, and the MD Anderson Cancer Center have found a new role for an oncogenic signaling pathway in embryonic stem cell (ESC) self-renewal and in reprogramming adult cells into an ESC-state, which will aid in the development of future cancer therapies.

3 Aug 2012

DNA inherited from mother can speed up male ageing

Women outlive men by about five to six years but why? By age 85 there are roughly six women to every four men and by age 100 the ratio is more than two to one.

3 Aug 2012

Mechanism provides beneficial characteristics of energy-burning brown fat to white fat

Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers have identified a mechanism that can give energy-storing white fat some of the beneficial characteristics of energy-burning brown fat. The findings, based on studies of mice and of human fat tissue, could lead to new strategies for treating obesity and type 2 diabetes.

3 Aug 2012

Planarian flatworms now a model system for studying eye development and eye diseases

Planarian flatworms have come under intense study for their renowned ability to regenerate any missing body part, even as adults. But now they may take on a starring role as a model system for studying eye development and eye diseases in vertebrates, including humans.

3 Aug 2012

Strawberry extract protects against UVA rays

An experiment has shown that strawberry extract added to skin cell cultures acts as a protector against ultraviolet radiation as well as increasing its viability and reducing damage to DNA. Developed by a team of Italian and Spanish researchers, the study opens the door to the creation of photoprotective cream made from strawberries.

3 Aug 2012