Introduction Metastatic cancers remain an incurable disease for the great majority of patients, as the intrinsic genomic instability common to all cancers facilitates the escape from cytotoxic or targeted therapies. The recent breakthroughs in the understanding of tumor immune biology and the development of newer generation of cancer immunotherapies have opened a brand new chapter...
Category: <span>Immunology</span>
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Study of complex genetic region finds hidden role of NCF1 in multiple autoimmune diseases
IMAGE: BETTY PEI-TIE TSAO, PH.D., IS THE RICHARD M. SILVER ENDOWED CHAIR FOR INFLAMMATION RESEARCH AT THE MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA AND SENIOR AUTHOR ON THE NATURE GENETICS ARTICLE…. view more Investigators at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) report pre-clinical research showing that a genetic variant encoded in neutrophil cystolic factor 1 (NCF1) is associated with...
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T cell type that promotes damaging immune response discovered
For the first time, researchers have identified a type of T cell that plays a key role in promoting the damaging autoimmune response that inflames and attacks the joints in rheumatoid arthritis. The discovery – made with technologies that help to analyze just a “handful of cells” – offers vital new clues to the biology...
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Scientists reveal potential way of boosting immune system's memory to fight cancer
Scientists from the University of Southampton have discovered an important way that the immune system can learn to recognize and fight cancers. The team, led by Professor Aymen Al-Shamkhani and funded by Cancer Research UK, has shown that a protein called Akt, is vital for the way the body remembers a cancer it has eradicated....
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Bodywide immune response important for fighting cancer, researchers say
Edgar Engleman and his colleagues have found that a systemwide immune response is needed to effectively attack a tumor. Fighting off cancer requires the concerted efforts of immune molecules throughout the body, rather than just in the tumor itself, according to a new study of laboratory mice by researchers at the Stanford University School of...
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Curb your immune enthusiasm
Salk Institute researchers discovered that inhibiting a protein called phospholipid scramblase 1 (PLSCR1) controls the infected cell’s antiviral response and provides long-term protection from immune attack and excessive inflammation. Salk Institute researchers discovered that inhibiting the protein PLSCR1 controls the infected cell’s antiviral response and provides long-term protection from immune attack and excessive inflammation. In...
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Enzyme found to limit collateral damage from immune system
MPO gives the immune system a sniper-like ability to burn holes in bacteria When unwanted microbes enter your body, your white blood cells rush to the scene to begin fighting them off. But much like a battalion of soldiers, the process by which the cells fight off the invaders needs to be extremely precise, otherwise...
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Tracking movement of immune cells identifies key first steps in inflammatory arthritis
Identification of molecule required for immune cells to enter joint could lead to new treatment approaches In the image on the left, many green-labeled neutrophils carrying the C5a receptor have moved out from the grey blood vessel into the joint of a mouse in which inflammatory arthritis has been induced. In an animal lacking expression...
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‘Goldilocks’ drug prevents chronic kidney disease in primates
A new monoclonal antibody reduces ischemia/reperfusion injury in a primate model by binding target molecule without activating it Cells in any organ will die if their blood supply is cut off — such as during a heart attack, stroke, or organ transplant — but restoring circulation can also cause damage. Now a Massachusetts General Hospital...
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Vaccine Shows Promising Results for Early-Stage Breast Cancer Patients
TAMPA, Fla. – Immunotherapy is a fast growing area of cancer research. It involves developing therapies that use a patient’s own immune system to fight and kill cancer. Moffitt Cancer Center is working on a new vaccine that would help early-stage breast cancer patients who have HER2 positive disease. The HER2 protein is overexpressed in nearly 25 percent...