by Jeff Hansen, University of Alabama at Birmingham Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease that damages the insulating sheaths of nerve cells of the central nervous system. People with the disease can lose vision, suffer weak limbs, show degenerative symptoms and exhibit impaired cognition. While multiple sclerosis has 17 approved therapies to modify the disease, none is able to halt disease...
Category: <span>Immunology</span>
Post
A new molecule to boost modern cancer therapies
Posted Today Highly effective modern cancer therapies rely on immune cells to attack and shrink tumours. Medicine instructs body’s immune system to attack cancer cells, which is a safer approach, but scientists from the University of Edinburgh found a way to boost this effect. They found a molecule that boosts the function of immune cells and allows patient’s body to launch a powerful anti-cancer immune response. The molecule is...
Post
Newly discovered immune cell linked to type 1 diabetes
Rogue defender’ mistakenly spurs attacks on insulin-producing cells in pancreas JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICINE In a discovery that might be likened to finding medicine’s version of the Loch Ness monster, a research team from Johns Hopkins Medicine, IBM Research and four collaborating institutions is the first to document the existence of long-doubted “X cell,” a “rogue hybrid” immune system cell that...
Post
Bacteria in fermented food signal the human immune system, explaining health benefits
by Public Library of Science Researchers have discovered that humans and great apes possess a receptor on their cells that detects metabolites from bacteria commonly found in fermented foods and triggers movement of immune cells. Claudia Stäubert of the University of Leipzig and colleagues report these findings in a new study published 23rd May in PLOS Genetics. Consuming lactic acid bacteria—the kind that turn...
Post
New study reveals gut segments organized by function
by Daniel Mucida, Rockefeller University As food enters the intestine, it embarks on windy, lengthy journey. For most of the route, its surroundings don’t appear to change much. But new research from Rockefeller’s Daniel Mucida shows that the food-processing canal consists of compartments that pace the immune system’s reactions to the food passing through—with less aggressive defenses in...
Post
Dead cells disrupt how immune cells respond to wounds and patrol for infection
by University of Sheffield Dead cells disrupt immune responses and undermine defence against infection, new research has found. The study, led by scientists at the University of Sheffield, revealed that cellswhich are programmed to die, a process known as apoptosis, can disrupt the normal function of immune cells, called macrophages. This can impact on how well they respond to wounds and patrol the body to seek out infection. Our macrophages are needed at...
Post
Snapshot of chikungunya could lead to drugs, vaccines for viral arthritis
by Tamara Bhandari, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis Chikungunya virus, once confined to the Eastern Hemisphere, has infected more than 1 million people in the Americas since 2013, when mosquitoes carrying the virus were discovered in the Caribbean. Most people who become infected develop fever and joint pain that last about a week. But...
Post
Surprising research result: All immature cells can develop into stem cells
by University of Copenhagen A sensational new study conducted at the University of Copenhagen disproves traditional knowledge of stem cell development. The study reveals that the destiny of intestinal cells is not predetermined, but instead determined by the cells’ surroundings. The new knowledge may make it easier to manipulate stem cells for stem cell therapy. The results have been published in Nature. All cells in the foetal gut have...
Post
Exploring New Treatments for Autoimmune Diseases
More than 50 million Americans are affected by an autoimmune disease, with women at an increased risk for developing one. “Autoimmune conditions can be debilitating for patients,” says Dinesh Khanna, M.D., M.Sc., a professor of rheumatology and the director of the Michigan Medicine Scleroderma Program. “As a National Institutes of Health Autoimmunity Center of Excellence site, we have the opportunity at Michigan Medicine to...
Post
A question of time
by University of Freiburg A team led by the Freiburg biologists Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Schamel and Prof. Dr. Wilfried Weber conducted an experiment in which they controlled the duration of the interaction of a specific protein with T cells, a type of white blood cells, thereby showing how the immune system differentiates between self and non-self molecules. The scientists published their results in the journal eLife. The function of the immune system is to distinguish between the body’s own cells...