A Ludwig Cancer Research study shows that ovarian cancer, which has proved resistant to currently available immunotherapies, could be susceptible to personalized immunotherapy. Led by Alexandre Harari and George Coukos, director of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Lausanne, the study shows that ovarian tumors harbor highly reactive killer T cells, which kill infected and...
Category: <span>Immunology</span>
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Researchers develop exciting new vaccine adjuvant
Associate Professors Bridget Stocker and Mattie Timmer from the School of Chemical and Physical Sciences worked with scientists from Japan to develop an adjuvant which can kick-start a powerful immune response and trigger a specific type of T-cell response. Adjuvants are substances that improve the body’s immune response to an antigen. Current vaccines tend to...
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Scientists discover treatment target for sepsis
In a study published in Nature Communications, Northwestern Medicine scientists demonstrated the key role a molecule called oxPAPC plays in regulating the inflammatory response—findings which could inform the development of new therapies for the body’s life-threatening response to serious infections. Lan Chu, a sixth-year doctoral student in Feinberg’s Driskill Graduate Program in Life Sciences (DGP),...
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New autoimmune disease triggered by thymomas
New autoimmune disease is triggered by thymomas. A Japanese research group has discovered that a newly-identified autoimmune endocrine disease that leads to hypopituitarism is caused by thymomas (a type of tumor originating from the thymic gland). These underlying mechanisms could help to understand and develop a treatment for similar autoimmune diseases. These findings were published...
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Novel small molecule drug may help to ease symptoms in lupus sufferers
Lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease, has proved difficult to treat, but a new international study co-led by a Rush University Medical Center researcher suggests that a drug starting through the pipeline could ameliorate or even eliminate the symptoms in most sufferers. The study, published March 6 in the prestigious Journal of Clinical Investigation, showed that certain...
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Study finds genetic mutation causes ‘vicious cycle’ in most common form of ALS
IMAGE: PETER TODD, M.D., PH.D.’S UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN TEAM FINDS GENETIC MUTATION CAUSES ‘VICIOUS CYCLE’ IN MOST COMMON FORM OF ALS. University of Michigan-led research brings scientists one step closer to understanding the development of neurodegenerative disorders such as ALS. A study published today in Nature Communications details what the researchers describe as a vicious cycle of toxic...
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Novel compound restores immune response in patients with melanoma
A novel compound may restore immune response in patients with melanoma, according to a study presented at the ESMO Immuno Oncology Congress 2017. “Checkpoint inhibitors are a standard of care immunotherapy for metastatic melanoma,” said lead author Dr Sapna Patel, Assistant Professor, Department of Melanoma Medical Oncology, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston,...
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Study provides insights on immune cells involved in kidney disease
Researchers have uncovered new information on cells involved in the body’s immune response following kidney injury. The findings, which appear in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN), may lead to new strategies to help protect individuals’ kidney health. Dendritic cells are a type of immune cell thought to form...
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Divide and conquer: Pitting pathogens against each other helps fight drug resistance
Researchers have developed a way to turn pathogens against each other in order to fight drug-resistance in parasites Bacteria are becoming increasingly resistant to our best drugs and antibiotics, and if we aren’t careful we could prescribe ourselves into a future where even the most routine treatments and surgeries become deadly again. Now, researchers at the...
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Gene therapy shows promise against blood-clotting disease
This Saturday, Dec. 2, 2017 photo provided by Jay Konduros, left, shows him and his brother, Bill, at Jay’s home in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. The brothers, who have hemophilia, were involved in a gene therapy study for their condition. Gene therapy has freed 10 men from nearly all symptoms of hemophilia for a year...