A new study, led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute, reveals a surprising twist in immune biology, suggesting that members of a cluster of microRNAs work together throughout the different stages of immune cell generation.
A type of targeted therapy that has shown promising results treating advanced melanoma could also be used to help speed up how the skin repairs itself from injury, UCLA researchers have found, providing a potential new way to accelerate healing of acute and chronic wounds.
Roche today announced approval of the VENTANA PD-L1 (SP142) Assay1 by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a complementary diagnostic to provide PD-L1 status on patients who are considering treatment with the FDA approved Roche immunotherapy TECENTRIQ™ (atezolizumab) for metastatic urothelial cancer (mUC). This test is the first to evaluate patient PD-L1 status using immune cell staining and scoring within the tumor microenvironment, providing clinicians with information that may guide immunotherapy decisions2.
One of the main mysteries confounding development of an HIV vaccine is why some people infected with the virus make the desired antibodies after several years, but a vaccine can’t seem to induce the same response.
New research from Roswell Park Cancer Institute offers clinicians treating patients with advanced liver cancer a way of determining which patients may benefit most from the targeted therapy sorafenib.
Sam Sanderson, Ph.D., a research associate professor in the UNMC College of Pharmacy, recently secured an R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health to find a workable solution to the problem of antibiotic resistance.
Announcement of winners of the 2016 William B. Coley and Frederick W. Alt Awards, celebrating key scientific contributions to the fields of immunology, tumor immunology (also known as immuno-oncology), and cancer immunotherapy.
Exposure to airborne dust and high temperatures are significant risk factors for bacterial meningitis, a new study by the University of Liverpool's Institute of Infection and Global Health has found.
Research published today in the journal, Nature Communications, provides new insights into the evolution of Mucorales fungi, which cause a fatal infection in ever-increasing segments of patient population, and several molecular pathways that might be exploited as potential therapeutic or diagnostic targets.
UAB has implemented a new application suite to improve clinical trial management, and enhance communication among trial sites and with study participants.
Scientists at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute (SBP) have identified over 100 new genetic regions that affect the immune response to cancer. The findings, published in Cancer Immunology Research, could inform the development of future immunotherapies—treatments that enhance the immune system’s ability to kill tumors. By analyzing a large public genomic database, the scientists found 122 potential immune response drivers—genetic regions in which mutations correlate with immune cell infiltration into tumors.
Scientists at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) and the Max F. Perutz Laboratories (MFPL) in Vienna have discovered a new way to turn the immune system’s weapons against fungal invaders. This knowledge could lead to the development of new and improved anti-fungal treatments.
WORCESTER, MA - A long non-coding RNA (lincRNA) - called lincRNA-EPS - responsible for regulating innate immunity has been identified by a team of scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. Abundantly found in macrophages, lincRNA-EPS keeps the genes that trigger inflammation turned off until a pathogen is encountered. This discovery points to an unrecognized role for lincRNAs in the immune system and may lead to new insights into inflammatory diseases caused by uncontrolled immune responses such as lupus or inflammatory bowel disease.
University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers report a new quality-control checkpoint function in developing B cells, cells that produce antibodies to protect the body from pathogens.
In a report appearing in the July 12 issue of JAMA, an HIV/AIDS theme issue, Huldrych F. Gunthard, M.D., of University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland, and colleagues with the International Antiviral Society-USA panel, updated recommendations for the use of antiretroviral therapy in adults with established HIV infection, including when to start treatment, initial regimens, and changing regimens, along with recommendations for using antiretroviral drugs for preventing HIV among those at risk, including preexposure and postexposure prevention.
Philadelphia, PA, July 7, 2016 - Patients with multiple sclerosis have higher rates of depression than the general population, including people with other life-long disabling diseases. Symptoms of multiple sclerosis arise from an abnormal response of the body's immune system. Immune response has also been linked to depression, leading researchers to think it could be a shared pathological mechanism that leads to the increased rates of depressive symptoms in patients with multiple sclerosis.
Research from life scientists at The University of Manchester has shone new light on the way cells tune in to different inflammatory signals to understand what is happening in the body.
A receptor, first known for its role in mediating the harmful effects of the environmental pollutant dioxin in our body, is now understood to play other important roles in modulating the innate immune response.
A powerful arm of the immune system is production of antibodies that circulate through the blood and neutralize invading pathogens. Although B cells actually manufacture antibody proteins, the process is aided by neighboring T cells, which shower B cells with cytokines to make them churn out high-quality antibody proteins—and remember how to do so. Given the essential function of "helper" T cells, researchers have long sought to define biological signals that encourage their development.
Viruses must avoid a host’s immune system to establish successful infections—and scientists have discovered another tool that viruses use to frustrate host defenses. New research demonstrates a novel mechanism by which viruses shut down alarm signals that trigger immune responses. This finding may open the door to future tools for controlling unwanted inflammation in severe infections, cancers and other settings.
The immune system in the elderly is dysfunctional and infections are more prevalent, more severe, and harder to defeat. Drinking alcohol has a variety of damaging effects on the immune system and organs – like the gut, liver and lung – which can be worsened by pre-existing conditions as well as consumption of prescription and over-the-counter medications that aged individuals often take. This presentation addresses how alcohol affects the elderly more dramatically, and also suppresses their ability to battle infections, like pneumonia, much more severely than it does younger individuals.
Mosquito bite sites are not just itchy, irritating nuisances - they also make viral infections spread by the insects far worse, new research has found.
A pathological and very complex autoimmune reaction of the skin": This is the definition doctors and scientists use to describe psoriasis, a disease that affects one to three percent of the population. It is characterised by accelerated cell division in the upper dermal layers with proliferated skin cells and an inflammation of the skin beneath. Many different cells are involved in the complex processes: skin cells (keratinocytes) and cells of the immune system, among others T lymphocytes, macrophages, mast cells and others.
A new study led by a Berkeley Lab scientist and UC Berkeley professor establishes for the first time copper’s role in fat metabolism, further burnishing the metal’s reputation as an essential nutrient for human physiology.
A new metastatic melanoma study suggests that a combination of two immunotherapies may be better than one: One treatment uses a patient’s own T cells modified in the lab to more powerfully recognize and attack tumors; The other treatment, a “checkpoint inhibitor,” releases the brakes on the body’s natural immune system.
In collaboration with Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., scientists from Aarhus University have used X-rays to understand how the therapeutic antibody eculizumab prevents our immune system from destroying red blood cells and damaging kidney tissue.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital investigators report promising preliminary results at the annual meeting of ASCO for an experimental monoclonal antibody when combined with chemotherapy for newly diagnosed patients.
Malnourished children are most likely to die from common infections, not starvation alone, and immune disorder may be part of the cause, according to a review led by Queen Mary University of London.
As part of its ongoing 25th Anniversary celebration, American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) announced today its May Autoimmune Heroes – private family foundations and individuals whose personal experience with autoimmune disease has led them to be incredible research fundraisers.
A major type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) may be caused in part by genetic variants that prevent beneficial bacteria in the gut from doing their job, according to a new study published today in the journal Science.
When It Comes to Spring Allergies, Oak Pollen More Potent Than Pine; Food Allergies of Low-Income Kids Are Poorly Managed; Flowers Not to Blame for Allergies, and More in the Allergies Channel