People who have self-reported penicillin allergy may have a three times greater chance of suffering from chronic hives. And people who have chronic hives tend to self-report penicillin allergy at a three times greater rate than the general population. Authors of a new study think it's not coincidence.
For his research project to determine whether therapies can be designed to modulate the immune system to prevent vision loss and blindness in glaucoma patients, Stuart J. McKinnon, MD, PhD was awarded the 2016 Shaffer Prize for Innovative Glaucoma Research.
In a small pilot study, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai determined that a simple swab to transfer vaginal microbes from a mother to her C-section-delivered newborn can alter the baby's microbial makeup (microbiome) in a way that more closely resembles the microbiome of a vaginally delivered baby.
A new study finds that providing zinc supplements to older adults in nursing homes increased their serum zinc levels and improved their immune response, providing potential protection against infection. The research group’s previous work found that nursing home residents had low zinc levels.
University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers have found a previously unknown step in the pathway that leads to asthma, a discovery that may offer new therapeutic approaches to this incurable disease. Asthma affects more than 25 million people in the United States, including about 7 million children.
Researchers have begun to explore in earnest the concept of "mixed vascular dementia," but until recently there was no reliable animal model. When Donna Wilcock of the UK Sanders-Brown Center on Aging discovered that a special diet deficient in B vitamins induced cognitive impairment in mice, she gave science the animal model it needed, plus the potential for a modifiable biomarker for vascular cognitive impairment.
Treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) and other inflammatory diseases may benefit by new findings from a study that identified potential therapeutic targets for a devastating disease striking some 2.3 million people worldwide.
Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston (UTMB) reported today in the journal Cell that they have isolated human monoclonal antibodies from Ebola survivors which can neutralize multiple species of the virus.
Our ability to fight off recurrent infections, such as a colds or flu, may lie in the ‘immunological memory’ found in a newly discovered class of gene regulatory elements, according to research from the University of Birmingham, supported by the BBSRC and Bloodwise.
Search for new inflammatory disease drugs may be aided by detailed structure of distinct ubiquitin ligase complex
A new study led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute shows how dangerous autoimmune responses, seen in diseases such as lupus and multiple sclerosis, might be “dialed down” without compromising the immune system’s ability to fight viruses and bacteria.
Plasma cells play a key role in our immune system. Now scientists at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna, Austria, and at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) in Melbourne, Australia, succeeded in characterizing a central regulator of plasma cell function. The results of both teams are published in two back-to-back papers in “Nature Immunology” today.
The destructive ability of bacteria to organize an infection or block pathways such as intestines, medical stents and wastewater pipes relies on communication with one another.
A hormone that extends lifespan in mice by 40% is produced by specialized cells in the thymus gland, according to a new study by Yale School of Medicine researchers. The team also found that increasing the levels of this hormone, called FGF21, protects against the loss of immune function that comes with age.
Researchers found that the inherent flexibility of the immune system is even more complex than previously understood. Study reveals more about how memory cells arise after infections.
A UA researcher and clinician team has discovered that genetic mutations in a protein associated with asthma can affect a person’s susceptibility to a variety of lung diseases — and could lead to new treatments.
Financier and philanthropist Tom Gores and his wife Holly have made a $5 million commitment to establish a new pediatric allergy treatment center at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
The human gut harbors a teeming menagerie of over 100 trillion microorganisms, and researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder have discovered that exercising early in life can alter that microbial community for the better, promoting healthier brain and metabolic activity over the course of a lifetime.
A first-of-its-kind (anti-PD-1) immunotherapy was approved today by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration as first-line treatment for metastatic melanoma—allowing greater access to this therapy for patients without having to previously receive other prior treatments.
Scientists have shown for the first time that an enzyme crucial to keeping our immune system healthy “surfs” along the strands of DNA inside our cells.
new cellular structure responsible for previously unexplained rejection of organ transplants has been identified by researchers at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM.) This discovery could one day revolutionize transplantation practice by modifying risk assessment of rejection in people who receive heart, lung, kidney, or liver transplants
In newly published research, scientists at The Wistar Institute show that continued semen exposure in sex workers sustains changes in the cervical and vaginal microenvironment that may actually increase HIV-1 resistance. This information may lead the way to better preventative strategies that block the transmission of the virus and improved designs for future HIV vaccine studies that can monitor the described changes when recruiting sex workers into vaccine trials.
Researchers from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health, in collaboration with the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, have identified a molecule expressed by Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi) that may facilitate the parasite’s evasion of the host’s immune system.
The holiday season may bring major stress. When this is added to winter colds and the flu your immune system is under attack. All Vitamin C products are not the same in terms of rates of absorption so check for Vitamin C with Fast-C.
UT Southwestern Medical Center and California researchers today provide the first report that an enzyme previously known solely for its role in cell division also acts as an on-off switch in the innate immune system ¬– the body’s first defense against infection.
Gene therapy can safely rebuild the immune systems of older children and young adults with X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID-X1), a rare inherited disorder that primarily affects males, scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, have found. NIAID's Suk See De Ravin, M.D., Ph.D., is scheduled to describe the findings at the 57th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida.
Biomedical researchers have suspected that a specific set of immune cells are responsible for causing disease in late-stage lupus patients, but until now they haven’t known for sure. An immunologist has found that these cells do not, in fact, contribute to late-stage lupus in mice.
Radiotherapy and Immunotherapy in Combination Found to Enhance Tumor Response to Treatment
University of North Carolina School of Medicine collaborators uncovered an epigenetic mechanism that could be the cause of painful chronic ear infections that plague people with chromosomal and genetic conditions.
Scientists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) have successfully used dead bacteria to kill colorectal cancer cells.
Introducing certain bacteria into the digestive tracts of mice with melanoma can help their immune systems attack tumor cells. The gains were comparable to treatment with anti-cancer drugs known as checkpoint inhibitors. The combination of bacteria and anti-PD-L1 nearly abolished tumor outgrowth.
New research has uncovered an important mechanism in the drive to understand immunological processes that protect us against infection, allergy and cancer.
A new therapeutic vaccine, GTL001, developed by Genticel to clear HPV strains 16 and 18 – the types most likely to cause cancer – is being evaluated for safety in a Phase I clinical trial at the University of Louisville, along with Philadelphia and Columbus, Oh.
One virus creates a long-lived immune reaction in parts of our bodies that serve as our first line of defense against infections, making it a strong candidate for a variety of vaccines.
Proteins called cytokines are known to influence immune cell fate, but the process is complex. Researchers examined how a specific cytokine, interleukin-15, influences gene expression patterns in T helper cells.
The Weizmann Institute of Science’s Prof. Yair Reisner and team have identified a subtype of immune cells – perforin – that appears to prevent metabolic syndrome. Mice that lack perforin become obese and develop the syndrome, no matter how healthy their diet is. The study may also shed light on autoimmunity.
A study led by the University of Utah School of Medicine has identified molecular mechanisms that control an immune cell’s ability to remember. They found that in helper T cells, the proteins Oct1 and OCA-B work together to put immune response genes on standby so that they are easily activated when the body is re-exposed to a pathogen. The research, which could inform strategies for developing better vaccines, was performed in collaboration with scientists from The Broad Institute and University of Michigan, and published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.
Animal science researchers at Iowa State University have identified a pair of genetic mutations that cause immune deficiencies in pigs that make them uniquely good models for testing potential medical therapies for people. The work advances previous ISU research on pigs with severe combined immunodeficiency.
The most severe strep infections are often the work of one strain known as M1T1, named for the type of tentacle-like M protein projecting from the bacterium’s surface. Researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences have uncovered a new way M1 contributes to strep virulence — the protein’s ability to hold off antimicrobial peptides. The study is published October 14 by Cell Host & Microbe.
Research from Indiana University has found that sexual activity triggers physiological changes in the body that increase a woman's chances of getting pregnant, even outside the window of ovulation.
A study of influenza infection in animals broadens understanding of the immune response to flu virus, showing that the process is more dynamic than usually described. The findings may offer key insights for developing better vaccines.
For the first time, an immune checkpoint inhibitor has been proven to increase survival among patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC), a patient population for whom treatment options are currently limited.
Researchers have silenced genes within human cells to induce immunity to the parasite E. histolytica, demonstrating the effectiveness of a new approach to protecting people from infectious diseases.
Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Princeton University have designed a new online tool that predicts the role of key proteins and genes in diseases of the human immune system.
Agent shows efficacy in inhibiting inflammation and preventing or delaying uterine contractions and premature delivery in murine models – without adversely affecting the fetus or the mother. This discovery is a giant step towards preventing prematurity, the world's leading cause of infant death.
Multi-institutional, multidisciplinary study looks past antibiotics and sanitation to a third strategy to control infectious disease: Adjusting the landscape of the human body to remove the mechanism that allows pathogens to cause disease.
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health researchers say they have discovered a new way that the most prevalent disease-causing fungus can thwart immune system attacks.
Investigating how the microbiome impacts human health, the labs of Dr. Eran Elinav and Prof. Eran Segal at the Weizmann Institute of Science took a fresh approach: measuring the growth rate of the bacteria. The findings led Dr. Elinav to say, “microbial growth rate reveals things about our health that cannot be seen with any other analysis method.”
In its first clinical trial, a breakthrough antibody therapy produced at least partial remissions in a third of patients with multiple myeloma who had exhausted multiple prior treatments, investigators at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and other organizations report.
Working with human cancer cell lines and mice, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and elsewhere have found a way to trigger a type of immune system “virus alert” that may one day boost cancer patients’ response to immunotherapy drugs. An increasingly promising focus of cancer research, the drugs are designed to disarm cancer cells’ ability to avoid detection and destruction by the immune system.
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