By Michael Irving Scientists have supercharged immunotherapy by engineering CAR T cells that can produce their own “medicine” to keep them fighting in the hostile environment around tumors Depositphotos A new form of immunotherapy helps immune cells “armor” themselves against exhaustion by releasing their own medicine to keep them going in the fight against cancer. In...
Tag: <span>Immune cells</span>
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Time change for biological aging clocks: How immune cells shape our body’s true age
by Dartmouth Health The association between immune cell composition and EAA for Horvath, Hannum, Pheno, and Zhang, DunedinPACE, and EpiTOC2 TNSC clocks across three age groups (0, 0–18, 18–99). Sex, chronological age, ancestry, and disease status were adjusted (*FDR < 0.05, **FDR < 0.01, ***FDR < 0.001). Credit: Aging Cell (2023). DOI: 10.1111/acel.14071When asked, “How old are you?” Most people measure by...
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Immune cells that fight cancer become exhausted within hours of first encountering tumors
Published: August 3, 2023 11.01am EDT Authors Mary PhilipAssistant Professor of Medicine and Pathology, Vanderbilt University Michael RudloffMD-Ph.D. Candidate in Molecular Pathology and Immunology, Vanderbilt University This microscopy image shows a cytotoxic T cell (blue) attacking a cancer cell (green) by releasing toxic chemicals (red). Alex Ritter and Jennifer Lippincott Schwartz and Gillian Griffiths/National Institutes of...
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Researchers find that targeting immune cells may help treat atrial fibrillation
by Massachusetts General Hospital Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Current treatments for atrial fibrillation (AFib), a common heart condition characterized by fast and irregular beats that can lead to stroke and heart failure, have multiple side effects and are ineffective for preventing AFib recurrence. New research led by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and published in Science reveals that certain immune...
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Immune memory is achieved by epigenetic and topological rearrangements of DNA in immune cells
JOSEP CARRERAS LEUKAEMIA RESEARCH INSTITUTE IMAGE: DR. GRÉGROIRE STIK, GROUP LEADER AT THE JOSEP CARRERAS LEUKAEMIA RESEARCH INSTITUTE CREDIT: PICTURE FROM THE JOSEP CARRERAS LEUKAEMIA RESEARCH INSTITUTE The immune system is one of the most complex parts of our body. It keeps us healthy by getting rid of parasites, viruses or bacteria, and by destroying damaged or cancer cells....
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Study reveals a trio of immune cells vital in response to liver cancer immunotherapy
by The Mount Sinai Hospital The study revealed how certain immune cell interactions in tumors facilitate response to checkpoint blockade, pointing to potential new approaches to cancer immunotherapy. Credit: Magen et al., Nature Medicine Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have uncovered a trio of immune cells within tumor niches that are associated with...
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Research reveals clues to why immune cells seem to cause brain damage
by Ramona Czakert Franson, University of Alberta Credit: Pixabay/Pete Linforth. In the human central nervous system, there are tiny cells that—for most people, most of the time—provide important immune protection to the brain and spinal cord. Occasionally these microglia cells run terribly awry, leading to neurodegenerative diseases like multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease. But in a...
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Immune cells targeting core protein of virus are important for early immune defense against COVID-19
by Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Study overview, upper airways viral loads, and antibody-mediated neutralization of SARS-CoV-2. a Schematic representation of the study design. Donors were sampled weekly for 1 month and then periodically until 6 months after initial presentation. b Longitudinal quantification of upper airways viral loads (UA-VLs) in patients with mild COVID-19 (n = 25) recruited during the first week...
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University of Rochester researchers discover how to steer army of immune cells toward cancer
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER MEDICAL CENTER Immunotherapy, particularly CAR T-Cell treatment for cancer, is extending the lives of many patients. But sometimes the therapy randomly migrates to places it shouldn’t go, tucking into the lungs or other noncancerous tissue and causing toxic side effects. A University of Rochester/Wilmot Cancer Institute team discovered the molecule responsible for guiding...
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How two different types of immune cells help two billion people keep tuberculosis in check
by University of Chicago Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain More than 10 million people are sickened by tuberculosis (TB) globally each year, resulting in 1.5 million deaths. Yet, as many as two billion people are infected with Mycobaterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, and are otherwise healthy and asymptomatic. Scientists who study TB look at those...