by Vasu Appanna, The Conversation Bacteria are at the center of all life forms on planet earth and are the essential building blocks that make living organisms the way they are. Both the mitochondrion —found in most organisms, which generates energy in the cell —and the chloroplast —the solar energy-harvester located in plants —can be traced to their bacterial...
Category: <span>Immunology</span>
Post
Women’s stronger immune response to flu vaccination diminishes with age
Study of flu vaccine responses in humans and mice finds evidence that estrogen boosts vaccine immunity while testosterone lowers it JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY BLOOMBERG SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH Women tend to have a greater immune response to a flu vaccination compared to men, but their advantage largely disappears as they age and their estrogen levels decline, suggests...
Post
Immune cells reprogrammed to kill HIV-infected T cells
There exists a group of HIV-positive people who have the rare ability to naturally control the HIV infection. Now, after years of research, a team of scientists from the Institut Pasteur in Paris, has successfully reprogrammed cells that lack this ability, giving them the same incredible, antiviral potency. Less than one percent of people living...
Post
Shingles vaccine safely prevents outbreaks among stem cell transplant patients
The study could offer hope to others with severely compromised immune systems DUKE UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER DURHAM, N.C. – A newer form of shingles vaccine reduced outbreaks of the painful rash among patients who were transplanted with their own stem cells, according to a study led by a Duke Health researcher and published today in...
Post
A near-fatal Valley Fever case opens doors to new treatment method
by Ryan Hatoum, University of California, Los Angeles Of the 8,000 Californians who will contract Valley Fever this year, most will recover without treatment, and those with more serious cases will require an antifungal medication that clears the infection. But a few will experience a life-threatening form of the disease that ravages the body for reasons unknown. Now, an experimental...
Post
Medicines made of solid gold to help the immune system
By studying the effects of gold nanoparticles on the immune cells related to antibody production, researchers at UNIGE, at Swansea University and at the NCCR ‘Bio-inspired Materials’ are paving the way for more effective vaccines and therapies UNIVERSITÉ DE GENÈVE Over the past twenty years, the use of nanoparticles in medicine has steadily increased. However, their safety and effect...
Post
Discovery of new autoimmune disease triggered by testicular cancer
Scientists have discovered a new autoimmune disease that is specifically triggered by testicular cancer. Utilizing a newly developed diagnostic tool, the research revealed how the cancer can cause the immune system to target the brain, bringing on severe neurodegenerative disease. Neurological diseases are usually tracked by applying a bio-specimen sample from a patient to a...
Post
Renegade immune cells found to raid aging brains and choke new neuron generation
Rich Haridy New work led by Stanford University scientists has revealed killer immune cells have been found to collect in parts of the brain where new nerve cells are generated. This damaging proliferation seems to naturally increase as a brain ages and the researchers hypothesize this may be a mechanism that underpins general age-related cognitive...
Post
Compound puts pancreatic cancer in Immunotherapy’s sights
Nick Lavars Immunotherapy is a form of cancer treatment that seeks to supercharge the body’s natural immune defenses, and it’s become a viable therapy for certain types of the disease. Pancreatic cancer is one that has so far been able to evade its advances, but scientists are now reporting a discovery that might help the immune system regain the upper...
Post
Study: Phenols in cocoa bean shells may reverse obesity-related problems in mouse cells
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, NEWS BUREAU CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists may have discovered more reasons to love chocolate. A new study by researchers at the University of Illinois suggests that three of the phenolic compounds in cocoa bean shells have powerful effects on the fat and immune cells in mice, potentially reversing the chronic inflammation and insulin resistance associated with obesity. Visiting scholar in food...