New research suggests that the immune system’s ability to respond to spinal cord injuries diminishes with age – and identifies potential avenues to improve that response and help patients heal.
Individuals who are immunocompromised are considered at higher risk for severe or longer disease with COVID-19. Understanding the systemic immune response is vital for research efforts to reduce its effects on multiple organs.
Health professionals are in urgent need of new antibiotics to tackle resistant bacteria. Researchers at the University of Zurich and the company Spexis have now modified the chemical structure of naturally occurring peptides to develop antimicrobial molecules that bind to novel targets in the bacteria’s metabolism.
Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital found key “on” switch, NLRP12, for innate immune cell death in diseases that cause red blood cells to rupture, which can lead to inflammation and multi-organ failure.
Scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology show that T cells can recognize several different viral targets, called "antigens," shared between most coronaviruses, including common cold coronaviruses and SARS-CoV-2. They also looked more in-depth at what fragments of these antigens, called “epitopes,” are recognized and how conserved they are across different coronaviruses.
A team at Sandia National Laboratories is developing materials to tackle what has become one of the biggest problems in the world: human exposure to a group of chemicals known as PFAS through contaminated water and other products. Sandia is now investing more money to take their research to the next level.
Below are summaries of recent Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center research findings and other news. If you’re covering the American Society for Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting, June 2-6 in Chicago, Illinois, see our list of Fred Hutch research highlights at ASCO and contact [email protected] to set up interviews with experts.
Read about new melanoma treatment practices, how models provide information about a rare adrenal cancer, a potential oral medication for brain cancer, and clinical trials for cancer patients with HIV.
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy amplifies the immune system’s ability to recognize and kill cancer cells. The first CAR T-cell therapy was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2017. Today, there are 6 FDA-approved CAR-based therapies to treat certain types of leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma, all of which are available at The University of Kansas Cancer Center.
La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) is pleased to welcome biophysicist and immune system researcher Tal Einav, Ph.D., to the Institute’s faculty. His laboratory at LJI will develop new tools in computational biology and shed light on how human antibodies neutralize deadly viruses.
Scientists have spent years trying to develop an effective HIV vaccine, but none have proven successful. Based on findings from a recently published study, a Johns Hopkins Medicine-led research team may have put science one step closer to that goal.
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is one of the most prevalent herpesviruses worldwide. Depending on the geographical area, it can affect between 40% and 90% of the population and, although it does not produce symptoms in healthy people, the control of this chronic infection requires constant work by the immune system, which is constantly fighting to keep it at bay.
A new study by researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) has demonstrated that IgA acts as a “tuner” that regulates the number of microbes the body sees every day, restraining the systemic immune response to these commensal microbes and limiting the development of systemic immune dysregulation.
In a new study, published in Nature Cell Biology, scientists at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) explored the location, function, gene expression, and metabolism of MAIT cells in the mouse lung.
Investigators from Cedars-Sinai Cancer, working in collaboration with colleagues in Colorado and the Netherlands, have identified a specific type of bladder cancer most likely to resist first-line treatment.
Despite intensive research since the beginning of the pandemic, it is still unclear which components of the immune system are involved in the early control of virus replication in the respiratory tract and which therefore could help prevent COVID-19 taking a severe course.
A new study published in JCI Insight, led by Angela Wahl, PhD, Raymond Pickles, PhD, and J. Victor Garcia, PhD, with the International Center for the Advancement of Translational Science (ICATS), the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases (IGHID) at the UNC School of Medicine has shown that human T cells have an important role to play in controlling infection.
University of Delaware researchers in the lab of Aditya Kunjapur, assistant professor in the College of Engineering’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, have engineered bacteria to synthesize an amino acid that contains a rare functional group that others have shown to have implications in the regulation of our immune system. The researchers also taught a single bacterial strain to create the amino acid and place it at specific sites within target proteins.
During last year’s mpox outbreak, the virus spread for the first time outside Africa, causing over 85,000 cases of the disease to date. Men who have sex with men account for the most infections, with a marked skew towards the young.
Paul B. Rothman, MD, has been appointed as a member of the USC Health System Board, which provides strategic oversight and governance over Keck Medicine of USC and university clinical services.
A global phase 3 clinical trial that included Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago found that a year-long immunotherapy through a skin patch safely desensitized toddlers with peanut allergy, lowering the risk of a severe allergic reaction from accidental exposure. Results of this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial for children 1-3 years of age, funded by DBV Technologies, were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The latest space experiments from UC San Diego and Axiom Space will explore therapies for breast and colorectal cancer aboard the ISS, and monitor astronauts’ stem cell health over time.
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) today announced the creation of The Marie-Josée Kravis Center for Cancer Immunobiology (CCI), a hub for immunotherapy research that will elevate, centralize, and prioritize the full spectrum of immuno-oncology research across the institution. The CCI, made possible by a generous $40 million gift from Henry R. Kravis to honor the visionary leadership of his wife, Marie-Josée Kravis, Vice Chair of the MSK Board of Trustees and a renowned champion of science, will establish a strategic research infrastructure that will seamlessly unite MSK scientists and physicians to further accelerate immunotherapy treatments for people with cancer.
Researchers in UNC’s School of Medicine’s department of Microbiology and Immunology and the UNC-NC State Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering have developed a new strategy to improve drug-delivery into chronic wounds infections.
HealthPartners Institute researchers have published new data in JAMA Network Open that shows monovalent COVID-19 booster vaccinations administered in early pregnancy (before 20 weeks’ gestation) were not associated with miscarriage. The research adds to the growing understanding about the safety of COVID-19 booster vaccinations among people who are pregnant.
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, a class of corticosteroids called glucocorticoids (GCs) have become established as one of the main treatment options, especially for severe cases, thanks to their anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant action. Brazilian researchers recently discovered new ways in which these drugs influence the organism’s inflammatory response during an infection.
Tissue engineering research has shown that a skin cell type could be a new therapeutic target to accelerate the healing of burns and possibly other wounds.
Researchers from Rice University have created drug-filled microparticles that can be engineered to degrade and release their therapeutic cargo days or weeks after administration. By combining multiple microparticles with different degradation times into a single injection, the researchers could develop a drug formulation that delivers many doses over time.
This month, the World Health Organization declared an end to the Mpox emergency and urged a transition to a “robust, proactive and sustainable” response to Mpox.
ربما تكون قد سمعت عن ارتباط عَدوى فيروس الورم الحليمي البشري بالإصابة بأنواع معينة منسرطان عنق الرحم، ولكن هل كنت تعلم أن عَدوى فيروس الورم الحليمي البشري مرتبطة أيضًا بارتفاع خطر الإصابة بسرطان الفم والحلق؟
Talvez você já tenha ouvido falar sobre a relação entre a infecção por papilomavírus humano (HPV) e certos tipos de cânceres cervicais, mas você sabia que a infecção por HPV também está relacionada a um maior risco de câncer bucal e de garganta?
Es posible que haya escuchado acerca de la conexión entre la infección por el virus del papiloma humano (VPH) y ciertos tipos de cáncer del cuello del útero, pero ¿sabía que la infección por el VPH también está relacionada con un mayor riesgo de presentar cáncer de boca y de garganta?
A study led by researchers at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center suggests that IL-21, a soluble molecule involved in activating the immune system, can be a potential therapeutic target to help reduce endocrine autoimmune side effects caused by checkpoint inhibitor cancer therapy.
Researchers at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have developed a computational platform capable of discovering tumor antigens derived from alternative RNA splicing, expanding the pool of cancer immunotherapy targets. The tool, called “Isoform peptides from RNA splicing for Immunotherapy target Screening” (IRIS), was described in a paper published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Skin cancer is the most prevalent form of cancer in the United States, with over 5 million cases diagnosed annually. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that melanoma alone accounts for more than 8,000 deaths each year. Thankfully, skin cancer is highly preventable, making it crucial to prioritize protection. Below are some of the latest headlines in the Dermatology channel.
Giving people at high risk of PFAS exposure the opportunity to easily self-test could improve access to testing for these “forever chemicals” and lead to the early detection of detrimental health conditions, according to a new Michigan State University study. The study tested an improved approach for people to collect their own blood samples to test for PFAS without being part of an academic research study.
A team from the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center and School of Dentistry, led by Yu Leo Lei, D.D.S., Ph.D., have identified a mechanism in mice for how obesity affects some oral cancers’ ability to escape from the immune system.
Seemingly healthy people whose blood contained antibodies associated with a condition called antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) were significantly more likely to experience a cardiovascular event such as a heart attack or stroke than those without, a study led by UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists shows
Investigators at Cedars-Sinai Cancer found that fatty liver, a condition closely associated with obesity, promotes the spread of colorectal cancer to the liver. Their study, published today in the peer-reviewed journal Cell Metabolism, details the process at the cellular level and could change the way doctors manage the disease in some patients.
A study publishing May 11th in PLOS Biology by Ophelia Venturelli at University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, and colleagues suggests that between-species interactions within the gut microbiome may impact the efficacy of antibiotics aimed at treating C. difficile infections.
Van Andel Institute scientists have pinpointed how a specific gene mutation triggers an inflammatory cascade that may drive development of treatment-resistant cancers.
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center’s Research Highlights showcases the latest breakthroughs in cancer care, research and prevention. These advances are made possible through seamless collaboration between MD Anderson’s world-leading clinicians and scientists, bringing discoveries from the lab to the clinic and back.
Ludwig Cancer Research congratulates Douglas Hanahan, Ludwig Distinguished Scholar at the Lausanne Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, on his election as Foreign Member of the Royal Society.
An international study led by MELIS-UPF researchers from the Infection Biology and Molecular Virology laboratories has identified and characterized Schlafen 12 (SLFN 12) as a novel HIV restriction factor.
Experts from Indiana University are available to comment on trending topics for the week of May 8, including the Writer's Guild of America strike, the ongoing investigation into the leak of classified military documents on Discord, and the role of climate change in an early allergy season.
The immune system has a biological telecommunications system — small proteins known as interleukins that send signals among the leukocyte white blood cells to control their defense against infections or nascent cancer.
At the 184th ASA Meeting, Ashley Alva of the Georgia Institute of Technology will describe how attaching microbubbles to macrophages, a type of white blood cell, can create high-resolution and sensitive tracking images useful for disease diagnosis. Because of the attached microbubbles, the cells sent back an echo when hit with ultrasound, which is nonionizing and noninvasive and has great depth of penetration. This allowed the team to visualize the macrophages in vivo with high resolution and sensitivity. Visualizing macrophages in vivo could also provide a powerful tool for understanding immune responses and monitoring therapeutic efficacy.
A recent clinical trial showed that the drug combination of cemiplimab plus platinum chemotherapy can prolong survival in patients with advanced lung cancer when compared with placebo plus platinum chemotherapy. Now an analysis published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, indicates that cemiplimab plus platinum chemotherapy also affects quality of life compared to chemotherapy alone.