by Tony St. Leger, The Conversation You may be familiar with the idea that your gut and skin are home to a collection of microbes—fungi, bacteria and viruses—that are vital for keeping you healthy. But did you know that your eyes also host a unique menagerie of microbes? Together, they’re called the eye microbiome. When these microbes are out of...
Category: <span>Immunology</span>
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Pathogen engineered to self-destruct underlies cancer vaccine platform
by American Society for Microbiology A team of investigators has developed a cancer vaccine technology using live, attenuated pathogens as vectors. A feature of the vaccine causes these bacteria to self-destruct once they’ve done their job, making it safe for use in humans. The research is published in Infection and Immunity, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology. Unlike “prophylactic” vaccines that protect...
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How bacteria kill host cells from the inside
by Public Library of Science Phagocytosed P. aeruginosa PAO1 first resides in a vacuole, before escaping the phagosome and promoting macrophage lysis. Live imaging of macrophages infected with fluorescent P. aeruginosa allows to follow the lysis of a specific macrophage (white arrow on the picture). MgtC and OprF act positively on the expression of T3SS, which is involved in cell...
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Researchers identify enzyme that suppresses immune system in breast cancer
by Duke University Medical Center Immunotherapies have transformed cancer care, but their successes have been limited for reasons that are both complex and perplexing. In breast cancer especially, only a small number of patients are even eligible to undergo treatment with immunotherapies, and most see little benefit. But in a pre-clinical study led by the Duke Cancer Institute, researchers outlined...
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Sugars that coat proteins are a possible drug target for pancreatitis
by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Pancreatitis is an inflammation of the pancreas that accounts for 275,000 hospitalizations in the United States annually. Patients who suffer from hereditary pancreatitis have a 40 to 50 percent lifetime risk of developing pancreatic cancer. Dannielle Engle, a former Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Cancer Center postdoctoral fellow who was recently appointed Assistant Professor...
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Waning potency of pertussis vaccine a significant contributor to recent whooping cough outbreaks
by Kaiser Permanente In a large new Kaiser Permanente study, children who were up to date on their pertussis vaccine schedule were far less likely to develop the disease than unvaccinated children. However, most pertussis cases were in fully vaccinated children. The risk of vaccinated children becoming ill increased with the time since vaccination, suggesting that...
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Women caught in a pickle by their own immune systems
ASU scientists develop new hypothesis explaining sex differences in human diseases ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY Women get autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis eight times more than men do. On the other hand, women have a smaller risk of getting non-reproductive cancers such as melanoma, colon, kidney and lung cancer. And while there are some...
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After 2 Years, Immunotherapy Shows Doubled Median Survival Time for Advanced Lung Cancer Patients
A large, randomized immunotherapy clinical trial continues to show improved overall survival and progression-free survival in advanced lung cancer patients, researchers reported at this year’s American Society for Clinical Oncology meeting. The update on the KEYNOTE-189 trial provides nearly two years data on use of the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy as a first-line treatment for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. “The primary takeaway is that we saw continued benefit, even with...
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Scientific discovery may lead to a treatment for lupus
By Dr. Liji Thomas, MD When there is an excessive number or hyperactivation of immune cells, very high levels of proteins known as cytokines are released, resulting in a cytokine storm that causes severe and often irreversible tissue damage. This accounts for the crippling nature of many autoimmune disorders such as lupus. Now, an international team of...
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New regulator of immune responses discovered
Scientists have identified a new internal regulator that helps control the body’s response to fight infection. The discovery could be a target for new drugs to tackle autoimmune diseases, such as lupus and scleroderma, where healthy tissues are attacked by the body’s own immune system. The international collaboration was led by the University of Leeds and University of Pennsylvania and involved researchers from...