by Luxembourg Institute of Health Scientists at the Department of Infection and Immunity of the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) revealed a novel mechanism through which the immune system can control autoimmunity and cancer. In the special focus of the researchers were regulatory T cells—a specific type of white blood cells that in general act...
by La Jolla Institute for Immunology roducing brain cells of patients with Parkinson’s disease. T cells that react to alpha-synuclein are most abundant when patients are first diagnosed with the disease. Credit: La Jolla Institute for Immunology A new study co-led by scientists at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) adds increasing evidence that...
by John Hewitt , Medical Xpress The immune system uses its mitochondria to self-stimulate innate and adaptive responses to infection. Reactive oxygen species (ROS), immunogenic mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), and even whole mitochondria are locally mobilized in a delicate balance to create hot spots of inflammatory action. When normal limiting feedback on these processes is compromised,...
by Research Institute of Molecular Pathology B cells are white blood cells that generate antibodies against an almost unlimited number of pathogens, a capacity that is vital for any higher organism. However, establishing a diverse repertoire of pathogen recognition comes at a price, as some B cells will inevitably go wild and turn against the...
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...
RUDN biochemists suggested a new mechanism by which the human body prevents the development of autoimmune diseases, allergies, and implant rejection. They report that regulatory T-cells are able to suppress the reproduction of autoimmune cells. The work was published in Molecular Immunology. Plastic plate with a medium for cell growth. Credit: Dmitry Zhdanov The ability of...
Researchers at the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy in the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center discovered inhibiting a previously known protein could reduce tumor burdens and enhance the effectiveness of immunotherapy treatments. In order to investigate the role of the Yes-associated protein, or YAP, in T-cells in the cancer setting, scientists used mice genetically engineered to lack YAP in several...
Researchers from the Medical College of Georgia (GA, USA) have evidence that a daily dose of baking soda may help the spleen to promote an anti-inflammatory environment. This could be therapeutic for the inflammation caused by autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. The results, published in the Journal of Immunology, suggest that baking soda could be...
Researchers in Germany have found further evidence to support the idea that Parkinson’s could be an autoimmune disease. Using a stem cell model, they showed how immune cells attacked dopamine-producing cells derived from people with Parkinson’s disease but not from people without it. Dopamine is a chemical messenger that supports many important brain functions. These include functions that deal with...
The results of a study presented at the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology (EULAR 2018) demonstrates increased levels of gum disease, and disease-causing bacteria, in individuals at risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). “It has been shown that RA-associated antibodies, such as anti-citrullinated protein antibodies, are present well before any evidence of joint disease. This suggests...
