by University of California – Santa Cruz New findings support a model of blood cell differentiation in which the production of red blood cells is the default fate of hematopoietic stem cells, which can also produce platelets and white blood cells. Credit: Boyer et al., 2019 A healthy adult makes about 2 million blood cells every...
Tag: <span>Immune cells</span>
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Inflammation: Study explains loss of protective abilities of T cells
First author of the study Dr. Garima Garg (left) and Dr. Andreas Muschaweckh, two scientists of the Experimental Neurimmunology at TUM, are working with a flow cytometer (FACS, Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting). Credit: Astrid Eckert / Technical University of Munich (TUM) Regulatory T cells (Tregs) ensure that immune responses are not too strong and that inflammation...
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Protein engineering extends the language of immune cells
Small infections can be fatal: Millions of people die each year from sepsis, an overreaction of the immune system. A new immune signaling molecule, designed by a research team from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), now provides the basis for potential new approaches in sepsis therapy. IMAGE: THIS THE MODIFIED HUMAN INTERLEUKIN-27-ALPHA. INSPIRED BY...
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In rare case, patient developed resistance to CAR-T after cancer cell began hiding in ‘plain sight’
To make CAR-T therapies, the pioneering cancer treatments, scientists introduce a gene into the body’s immune cells that turns them into cancer-homing attackers. But in one case described by scientists Monday, the gene was inadvertently delivered to a cancer cell instead, camouflaging it from the therapy and allowing cancer to develop resistance to treatment. Image:...
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Breakthrough in schizophrenia identifies importance of immune cells
Researchers from NeuRA and UNSW have made a major discovery in schizophrenia research that could open doors to new treatments, research, and therapies. In one of the biggest breakthroughs in schizophrenia research in recent times, Professor Cynthia Shannon Weickert from Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA) and UNSW Sydney have identified immune cells in greater amounts in the brains of some...
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Random fraction of specialized immune cells leads the charge in battling invaders
Plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) are a rare type of immune cells that secrete large quantities of type 1 interferon (I-IFN), a key driver of immunity to infectious invaders and cancer. However, the mechanisms that control the I-IFN secretion are still poorly understood. Researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology and Radboud University Nijmegen have developed a groundbreaking, high-throughput...
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First in-depth profile of CAR T-cell signals suggests how to improve immunotherapy
August 21, 2018, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center CAR T-cell therapy, which reprograms immune cells to fight cancer, has shown great promise in people with some blood cancers who have not responded to other treatments. But until now, the underlying biological pathways enabling anti-cancer responses have not been thoroughly examined. CAR-T cells with stronger signaling intensity were less...
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New Insights to Improve CAR T Cells’ Safety
Drugs approved to treat rheumatoid arthritis block cytokines, the molecules responsible for severe side effects from the immunotherapy, and reduce symptoms in mice. Chimeric antigen receptor, or CAR, T-cell therapy has proven itself to benefit some patients with leukemia, lymphoma, and other cancers when traditional treatments have failed to save them—even producing some long-term remissions...
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Immune cells hold promise in slowing down ALS
Recent research from Houston Methodist Hospital showed that a new immunotherapy was safe for patients with ALS and also revealed surprising results that could bring hope to patients who have this relentlessly progressive and fatal disease. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a nervous system disorder in which nerve cells that...
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Efficient genetic modification of immune cells
A new method enables genes in living T-cells in mice to be modified quickly and efficiently. It makes use of plasmids, a tried-and-tested method of genetic engineering. Researchers from the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Basel and University Hospital Basel reported these findings in the Journal of Immunology. Molecular biological methods such as CRISPR-Cas9...