by Rockefeller University Press Researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine have discovered that nicotine promotes the spread of lung cancer cells into the brain, where they can form deadly metastatic tumors. The study, which will be published June 4 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), suggests that nicotine replacement therapies may not be...
by Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University A group of tiny RNA that should attack the virus causing COVID-19 when it tries to infect the body are diminished with age and chronic health problems, a decrease that likely helps explain why older individuals and those with preexisting medical conditions are vulnerable populations, investigators report....
by VIB (the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology) With a discovery that could rewrite the immunology textbooks, an international group of scientists, including the teams of Bart Lambrecht, Martin Guilliams, Hamida Hammad, and Charlotte Scott (all from the VIB-UGent Center for Inflammation Research) identified a new type of antigen-presenting immune cell. These cells, that are part...
By Nick Lavars As key players in the body’s immune defense, T cells have the ability to track down and attack cancer cells, but can have trouble seeking out those that are not already inflamed. A new immunotherapy deliver system could make these natural killer cells far more effective by strategically inflaming so-called cold tumors...
by Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research A Ludwig Cancer Research study has discovered a novel means by which bacterial colonies in the small intestine support the generation of regulatory T cells—immune cells that suppress autoimmune reactions and inflammation. The study, led by Ludwig MSK Director Alexander Rudensky and published in Nature, demonstrates that a microbial...
In a new study of CAR T-cell therapy for cancer, 93% of patients responded to the treatment. Two physicians had major roles in a cutting-edge clinical trial using the body’s own immune cells to fight late-stage cancer, one as a researcher and one as a patient. Senior author Patrick Reagan, an assistant professor of hematology/oncology...
by Brita Belli, Yale University An underlying virus does not stop the body’s immune system from launching a strong defense against a second, newly introduced virus, according to a Yale-led study that appears in the March 9 online edition of the journal PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. For the study, Yale researchers obtained blood samples from...
by Cell Press A drug that is already clinically available for the treatment of nausea and psychosis, called prochlorperazine (PCZ), inhibits the internalization of receptors on the surface of tumor cells, thereby increasing the ability of anticancer antibodies to bind to the receptors and mount more effective immune responses. PCZ enhanced the ability of anticancer...
Preclinical study suggests prolonged inflammation after brain injury can be reversed by temporarily depleting immune cells UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND SCHOOL OF MEDICINE Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) found that targeting overactive immune cells in the brain with an experimental drug could limit brain cell loss and reverse cognitive and motor...
New findings may help scientists develop novel ways of tweaking the immune system to treat infections and disease ELIFE Researchers have provided new insight on the role of cyclic AMP (cAMP) in regulating the immune response. Their study, published today in eLife, reveals that cAMP shifts the type of immune system t-helper (Th) cells created...
