Immune System News and Research

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Evidence review: COVID-19 infections are generally 'mild' in children under five years

Babies and asymptomatic cases account for up to half of COVID-19 infections in the under-five age group, which has implications for vaccination programs, a new UNSW study has found.

6 Jan 2021

New mathematical model proposes optimal treatment strategies for COVID-19

Getting control of COVID-19 will take more than widespread vaccination; it will also require a better understanding of why the disease causes no apparent symptoms in some people but leads to rapid multi-organ failure and death in others, as well as better insight into what treatments work best and for which patients.

5 Jan 2021

Researchers reveal distinct molecular signature in tumor tissues of Black breast cancer patients

A Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center team led by Christine Ambrosone, PhD, and Song Yao, PhD, has revealed a distinct molecular signature in the tumor tissues of Black patients with breast cancer.

5 Jan 2021

Research offers clues on why pregnancy may raise risk of organ transplant rejection

A research study at the University of Chicago has found that in pregnancy, while the T cell response to a fetus becomes tolerant to allow for successful pregnancy, the part of the immune system that produces antibodies (known as the humoral response) becomes sensitized, creating memory B cells that can later contribute to the rejection of a transplanted organ.

4 Jan 2021

Sugar-binding protein could promote inflammation and worsen sepsis

A sugar-binding protein could fuel terrible inflammation and worsen sepsis, a disease that kills more than 270,000 people every year in the US alone, reports a team of researchers led by UConn Health in the 4 January issue of Nature Immunology.

4 Jan 2021

Study uncovers why cancer patients with liver metastases have poor outcomes

Michael Green, M.D., Ph.D., noticed that when his patients had cancer that spread to the liver, they fared poorly – more so than when cancer spread to other parts of the body. Not only that, but transformative immunotherapy treatments had little impact for these patients.

4 Jan 2021

Heading off the next pandemic

As the covid-19 pandemic heads for a showdown with vaccines it's expected to lose, many experts in the field of emerging infectious diseases are already focused on preventing the next one.

4 Jan 2021

New cell therapy can boost immunotherapy against breast cancer

Boosting immune system T cells to effectively attack solid tumors, such as breast cancers, can be done by adding a small molecule to a treatment procedure called chimeric antigen receptor-T (CAR-T) cell therapy, according to a study by researchers at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

4 Jan 2021

Researchers discover novel therapeutic strategy for ischemic stroke using experimental model

Research conducted at LSU Health New Orleans Neuroscience Center of Excellence reports that a combination of an LSU Health-patented drug and selected DHA derivatives is more effective in protecting brain cells and increasing recovery after stroke than a single drug. The findings are published in Brain Circulation, available here.

4 Jan 2021

Sustained immune dysregulation due to COVID-19 in non-hospitalized patients

COVID-19, which has killed 1.7 million people worldwide, does not follow a uniform path.

29 Dec 2020

Gut cells alert the body to danger during parasite invasion

To effectively combat an infection, the body first has to sense it's been invaded, then the affected tissue must send out signals to corral resources to fight the intruder.

28 Dec 2020

Phase 3 trial of Novavax COVID-19 vaccine candidate begins enrolling volunteers

The Phase 3 trial of another investigational coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine has begun enrolling adult volunteers.

28 Dec 2020

Researchers develop new system for direct detection of SARS-CoV-2 in aerosols

Researchers from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, in collaboration with specialists from the University of Valencia (UV), have come up with a new system based on a high-sensitivity mass biosensor that continuously monitors signals for the direct detection of SARS-CoV-2 in environmental aerosols.

28 Dec 2020

Protein encourages similar developing cells to clump together

Tohoku University scientists have, for the first time, provided experimental evidence that cell stickiness helps them stay sorted within correct compartments during development.

24 Dec 2020

Severity of COVID-19 correlates with the ratio of antibodies targeting crucial viral protein

COVID-19 antibodies preferentially target a different part of the virus in mild cases of COVID-19 than they do in severe cases, and wane significantly within several months of infection, according to a new study by researchers at Stanford Medicine.

24 Dec 2020

SARS-CoV-2 infection increases risk of severe COVID-19 in pregnant women, newborns

Recent analyses indicate that pregnant women and newborns may face elevated risks of developing more severe cases of COVID-19 following SARS-CoV-2 infection.

24 Dec 2020

Thymus gland works to prevent miscarriage, diabetes in pregnant women

An international research team led by the University of British Columbia (UBC) has uncovered for the first time the importance of a small gland tucked behind the sternum that works to prevent miscarriage and diabetes in pregnant women.

24 Dec 2020

Study uncovers a new paradigm for the role of the thymus in pregnancy

How the immune system adapts to pregnancy has puzzled researchers for decades. An international team of researchers, including scientists from IMBA – Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences – has now discovered that important changes in the thymus occur in order to prevent miscarriages and gestational diabetes.

23 Dec 2020

SARS-CoV-2 infection shown to reduce the expression of vitamin D pathway components

A recent computational study from India implicated a dysregulated vitamin D pathway in the pathobiology of the infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – and opened the door for experimental validation of these observations.

23 Dec 2020

Genetic analysis reveals novel traits associated with COVID-19 severity

Researchers in the United States have conducted genetic correlation studies revealing novel traits associated with the development of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

23 Dec 2020