T Cell News and Research

Latest T Cell News and Research

Bone marrow stem cells used to protect gastrointestinal tissue from autoimmune attack

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators have found that infusions of a particular bone marrow stem cell appeared to protect gastrointestinal tissue from autoimmune attack in a mouse model.

20 Aug 2008

New discovery on how rheumatoid arthritis destroys bone

Researchers have discovered key details of how rheumatoid arthritis (RA) destroys bone, according to a study published in the Aug. 22 edition of the Journal of Biological Chemistry. The findings are already guiding attempts to design new drugs to reverse RA-related bone loss and may also address more common forms of osteoporosis with a few adjustments.

20 Aug 2008

Scientists trace evolution of the nerve cell

University of Queensland researchers have traced the origins of one of the most important steps in animal evolution - the development of nerves.

20 Aug 2008

Lycopene molecules in tomatoes could help fight cancer

Turning up the heat on the red tomato during processing has the potential to give the popular garden staple added disease-fighting power, Ohio State University research suggests.

20 Aug 2008

Scientists synthesize promising anti-cancer product from marine algae

Duke University chemists have patented an efficient technique for synthesizing a marine algae extract in sufficient quantities to now test its ability to inhibit the growth of cancerous cells while leaving normal cells unaffected.

20 Aug 2008

Newly uncovered cells may be critical in psoriasis

Psoriasis, one of humanity's oldest known diseases, has also been one of its most misunderstood. But in a new study that could change researchers' perspective of the skin disorder and potentially lead to powerful new drug targets, Rockefeller University scientists have found that the source of psoriasis may be a single population of inflammatory cells that act as instigators by priming the body's immune system for self-attack.

20 Aug 2008

Simple bowel cancer test spots deadliest tumours

British scientists say a simple bowel cancer test could save thousands of lives by spotting the deadliest tumours.

20 Aug 2008

Scientists discover how mutation in the copper-regulating protein ATP7B causes Wilson disease

Using a combination of computer simulations and cutting-edge lab experiments, physical biochemists at Rice University have discovered how a small genetic mutation -- which is known to cause Wilson disease -- subtly changes the structure of a large, complex protein that the body uses to keep copper from building up to toxic levels.

19 Aug 2008

Clinical-scale generation of functional red blood cells from human embryonic stem cells

Advanced Cell Technology, Inc. reported that it is feasible to differentiate and mature human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) into functional oxygen-carrying red blood cells (RBCs) under conditions suitable for scale-up.

19 Aug 2008

Stanford develop method to overcome multiple drug resistant diseases

Many drugs once considered Charles Atlases of the pharmaceutical realm have been reduced to the therapeutic equivalent of 97-pound weaklings as the diseases they once dispatched with ease have developed resistance to them.

18 Aug 2008

Evolution in the ribosome

A new study of the ribosome, the cell's protein-building machinery, sheds light on the oldest branches of the evolutionary tree of life and suggests that differences in ribosomal structure between the three main branches of that tree are "molecular fossils" of the early evolution of protein synthesis.

18 Aug 2008

Scientists discover platelets play an important early role in promoting cerebral malaria

Platelets - those tiny, unassuming cells that cause blood to clot and scabs to form when you cut yourself - play an important early role in promoting cerebral malaria, an often lethal complication that occurs mostly in children.

18 Aug 2008

New sickle cell unrelated transplant trial

Children's National Medical Center immunologist and blood and marrow transplant physician Naynesh Kamani, MD, will serve as the study co-chair for a new national clinical trial of unrelated donor marrow and umbilical cord blood transplants for severe sickle cell disease.

18 Aug 2008

Researchers uncover attack mechanism of illness-inducing bacterium found in shellfish

An infectious ocean-dwelling bacterium found in oysters and other shellfish kills its host's cells by causing them to burst, providing the invader with a nutrient-rich meal, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

18 Aug 2008

Antibodies to 1918 flu pandemic may provide means to tackle bird flu threat

Scientists in the United States have discovered that elderly survivors of the original 1918 flu pandemic, still have immunity to the virus.

18 Aug 2008

Researchers create synthetic heparin

Robert Linhardt has spent years stitching together minuscule carbohydrates to build a more pure and safer alternative to the commonly used and controversial blood thinner heparin. At the national conference of the American Chemical Society on August 17, 2008, Linhardt announced that his research team may have accomplished this task by building the first fully synthetic heparin. Their creation is the largest dose of heparin ever created in the lab.

17 Aug 2008

Spice-based compound to fight against cancer

Seeking to improve on nature, scientists used a spice-based compound as a starting point and developed synthetic molecules that, in lab settings, are able to kill cancer cells and stop the cells from spreading.

17 Aug 2008

Hyaluronic hydrogels provide scaffolding for growth of bone cells

Hyaluronic hydrogels developed by Carnegie Mellon University researchers may provide a suitable scaffolding to enable bone regeneration.

17 Aug 2008

Alternative vaccine strategy shows promise in prostate cancer patients

New research indicates that giving patients a continuous low dose of an immune system booster, a method known as metronomic dosing, as part of a therapeutic prostate cancer vaccine strategy is safe and produces similar immune responses and fewer side effects than the more common dosing method, which is not well tolerated by many patients. This study, led by researchers at that National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, was published in the Aug. 15, 2008, issue of Clinical Cancer Research.

17 Aug 2008

By amplifying cell death signals, scientists make precancerous cells self-destruct

When a cell begins to multiply in a dangerously abnormal way, a series of death signals trigger it to self-destruct before it turns cancerous. Now, in research to appear in the August 15 issue of Genes & Development, Rockefeller University scientists have figured out a way in mice to amplify the signals that tell these precancerous cells to die. The trick: Inactivating a protein that normally helps cells to avoid self-destruction.

17 Aug 2008