Feature Channels: Immunology

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American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association (AARDA) announced today its July Autoimmune Heroes.

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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.

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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.

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UAB has implemented a new application suite to improve clinical trial management, and enhance communication among trial sites and with study participants.

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The two teams will receive a total of more than $5 million to study immune defense mechanisms in the intestine.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The American Autoimmune Related Diseases Association, Inc. (AARDA) is spotlighting two new research studies originally reported in ScienceDaily.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Wide-ranging species may have different levels of bacterial immunity than their rarer relatives, new research suggests.

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Previous exposure to the dengue virus may increase the potency of Zika infection, according to research from Imperial College London.

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Go here for the latest research, experts and features on Zika in the Zika Virus News Source

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Mosquito bite sites are not just itchy, irritating nuisances - they also make viral infections spread by the insects far worse, new research has found.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Click here to go directly to the Cell Biology News Source

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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.

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Saint Louis University's article in "Trends in Immunology" explains why using a more accurate animal model could improve cancer research.

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UofL dental researcher explores microbiological mechanisms as World Health Organization urges for a day of abstinence from tobacco use on May 31

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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.

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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.

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Click to visit the Children's Health Channel

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Building on their groundbreaking research, Temple University scientists make another breakthrough in a potential cure for HIV.

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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.

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T cells use a kind of mechanical handshake, or tug test, to determine whether a cell they encounter is a foreign invader.

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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

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Pinellas County a Model for Mosquito-Borne Disease Surveillance, Scientists Unravel the Genetic Evolution of Zika Virus, Worm Infection Counters Inflammatory Bowel Disease and more in the Infectious Diseases News Source

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Probiotic supplements protected female mice from the loss of bone density that occurs after having their ovaries removed, researchers at Emory University School of Medicine and Georgia State University have shown.

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The addition of a house dust mite (HDM) sublingual allergen immunotherapy (SLIT) tablet to maintenance medications improved time to first moderate or severe asthma exacerbation during a period of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) reduction among adults with HDM allergy-related asthma not well controlled by ICS, according to a study appearing in the April 26 issue of JAMA.

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Evelo Biosciences and the University of Chicago have announced that they have entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement to develop and commercialize a microbiome-based cancer immunotherapy.

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While scientists have known for many years that there are cells living in the cavities surrounding various organs such as the heart, lung and liver, their function has remained unknown. A recent Cumming School of Medicine study examined these cells, and discovered they play an integral role in fast tissue repair. The study was published in the journal Cell this month.

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click to visit the Cancer Channel

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The April 19, 2016 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) features an editorial by two Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) medical oncologists who specialize in melanoma: Dr. Shailender Bhatia and Dr. John Thompson. Their editorial addresses the state of immunotherapy drugs, specifically PD-1 blockade, in the treatment of melanoma.

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Women account for approximately half of all individuals living with HIV worldwide, and researchers wanted to identify the risk factors that increase susceptibility of women to genital infection.

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Removing an immunomodulatory protein called osteopontin improves the symptoms of mice with muscular dystrophy by changing the type of macrophages acting on damaged muscle tissue, according to a paper published in The Journal of Cell Biology. The study, “Osteopontin ablation ameliorates muscular dystrophy by shifting macrophages to a pro-regenerative phenotype” by Joana Capote and colleagues, adds support to the idea that osteopontin inhibitors could be used to treat patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.