by Allessandra DiCorato, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard Cytokine production map by cell type. Credit: Nature (2023). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06816-9 The immune system can carry out many biological processes, from killing viruses to fighting cancer, thanks in large part to approximately 100 key cell-signaling proteins called cytokines, which instruct immune cells what to do. Cytokines are...
CONN HASTINGS MEDICINE, NANOMEDICINE, ONCOLOGY Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have developed a nanotechnology platform that can make cancer cells more vulnerable to immune attack in the body. The researchers call their system the bispecific tumor-transforming nanoconjugate (BiTN) platform. The idea is to make solid tumors more appealing for the...
July 26, 2023 2:33 PM ET By Bec Roldan An image of the hepatitis C virus Image made from a transmission electron microscopy. The virus is adept at evading the immune system. BSIP/Universal Images Group via Getty Images How do viruses do their job of infecting humans? Some of them are experts at evading the immune...
GOETHE UNIVERSITY FRANKFURT FRANKFURT. The specific or acquired immune system of vertebrates is a powerful weapon against pathogens and pathologically altered body cells. Here, T cells play a special role. After activation, they can systematically kill off target cells that have degenerated or are infected with a virus. They carry a receptor on their surface...
YALE UNIVERSITY New Haven, Conn. — Simply the smell of seafood can make those with an allergy to it violently ill — and therefore more likely to avoid it. The same avoidance behavior is exhibited by people who develop food poisoning after eating a certain meal. Scientists have long known that the immune system played a...
by Aarhus University Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that uses the body’s own immune system to fight tumor cells. While much focus has been on engaging T cells for fighting cancer, less attention has been given to directing the complement system toward tumors. The complement system is an important part of the innate immune...
by St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research Institute Healthy T cells (left) and DOCK11-deficient T-cells (right) with visible nucleus (blue) and aktin-cytoskeleton (green). Credit: St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research Institute In the quest to find the origin of the puzzling symptoms in four children, researchers from St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research Institute, the CeMM Research Center...
by University of Glasgow Microscopic image of an intestinal lymph node involved by metastatic colon cancer (colonic adenocarcinoma). Credit: Shutterstock A mystery which has stumped bowel cancer researchers for decades, has been solved by scientists at the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute and University of Glasgow. Generations of doctors and researchers have struggled to understand why a bowel...
by University of California – San Diego Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Inflammasomes make up an intricate system of molecular sensors that our bodies use to sound an alarm when an infection occurs. However, the mechanisms behind these sensors, which initiate responses to threats such as invading pathogens, and how they operate has been an area of...
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA HEALTH SYSTEM New research suggests that the immune system’s ability to respond to spinal cord injuries diminishes with age – and identifies potential avenues to improve that response and help patients heal. The new findings offer important insights into how the immune system responds to spinal-cord injuries, and why that response becomes blunted with the passing...
