by University of Melbourne Melbourne researchers have identified mechanisms leading to the functional deterioration of the immune system in response to severe viral infections, such as HIV or COVID-19. It is widely known that severe viral infections and cancer cause impairments to the immune system, including to T cells, a process called immune ‘exhaustion’. Overcoming...
A new type of immunotherapy for the skin cancer malignant melanoma shows promising results. Three severely ill patients are now long-term survivors. The study, published in OncoImmunology, is the result of a collaboration between researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital. “Immunotherapy is based on activation of the body’s own immune defense to eliminate...
by Public Library of Science Most taste cells selectively respond to a specific stimulus type while broadly responsive cells respond to multiple taste qualities. Credit: Jhanna Flora and Kathryn Medler Our mouths may be home to a newly discovered set of multi-tasking taste cells that—unlike most known taste cells, which detect individual tastes—are capable of...
by University of Wisconsin-Madison Best vitelliform macular degeneration, or Best disease, is an inherited eye condition that typically leads to blindness over the course of a few decades. The disease can be caused by more than two hundred mutations in the BEST1 gene. The researchers were able to correct the disease in stem cells from...
by University of Oxford Oxford University scientist have discovered the molecular ‘first responder’ which detects disturbances in the flow of blood through the arteries, and responds by encouraging the formation of plaques which can lead to serious problems, including heart attack, stroke and even death. Credit: CC0 Public Domain The study, published in the journal...
