The bacterium that causes syphilis likely uses a single gene to escape the immune system, according to new research. The finding may explain how syphilis can hide in the body for decades, frustrating the immune system’s attempts to eradicate it. It might also account for the bacterium’s ability to re-infect previously infected people who should...
Tag: <span>Immune system</span>
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Immunologist: How the body’s defense system takes on viruses, and why sometimes it loses
A powerful immune reaction called a cytokine storm is claiming the lives of some coronavirus patients. Credit: ingimage You’ve probably heard that your best defenses against the coronavirus are washing your hands, practicing social distancing, and having a healthy immune system. It’s that last part—the part you can’t really control for sure—that may have you...
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Nutrient deficiency in tumor cells attracts cells that suppress the immune system
by IDIBELL-Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute Some solid tumors have a very high growth rate, which often leads to a lack of vascularization due to the impossibility to develop, at the same time, the blood vessels that accompany and nourish it. The team of Dr. Cristina Muñoz Pinedo, from the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) and...
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Pain, but not as we know it: Neuropathic pain and the immune system
by CNBP There are three main types of pain: nociceptive pain, the type we’re most familiar with, from bee stings and ankle strains to inflammatory arthritis. There’s neuropathic pain, arising from damage to the peripheral nervous system or the brain itself due to disease or injury. Then there are functional pain disorders arising from complex...
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Too much salt weakens the immune system
by University of Bonn A high-salt diet is not only bad for blood pressure, but also for the immune system. This is the conclusion of a current study under the leadership of the University Hospital Bonn. Mice fed a high-salt diet were found to suffer from much more severe bacterial infections. Human volunteers who consumed...
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COVID-19: The immune system can fight back
Melbourne researchers have mapped immune responses from one of Australia’s first novel coronavirus (COVID-19) patients, showing the body’s ability to fight the virus and recover from the infection UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE Melbourne researchers have mapped immune responses from one of Australia’s first novel coronavirus (COVID-19) patients, showing the body’s ability to fight the virus and...
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Rejuvenating the immune system supports brain repair after injury
UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND Researchers have identified a major shift in how to treat brain injuries, after rejuvenating immune cells to support the repair process. The University of Queensland study focused on the brain’s learning and memory centre, the hippocampus, and its unique ability to produce new brain nerve cells during adult life, which is critical...
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Nanosize device ‘uncloaks’ cancer cells in mice and reveals them to the immune system
JOHNS HOPKINS MEDICINE Scientists at Johns Hopkins report they have designed and successfully tested an experimental, super small package able to deliver molecular signals that tag implanted human cancer cells in mice and make them visible for destruction by the animals’ immune systems. The new method was developed, say the researchers, to deliver an immune...
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Revving up immune system may help treat eczema
by Washington University School of Medicine Brian S. Kim, MD, examines eczema patient Casey Richards. Kim has found that boosting the number of natural killer cells in the blood is a possible treatment strategy for the skin condition and also may help with related health problems, such as asthma. The aggravating skin condition eczema is...
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Using the immune system, hydrogels, and bacteria to treat and prevent intestinal diseases
by Lindsay Brownell Each one of us carries about 38 trillion bacteria around with us in our gut every day—if you wanted to count them all, it would take you more than a million years. How can such a veritable zoo of microbes reside peacefully in our guts without triggering our immune systems to attack...