Immune System News and Research

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Repurposing existing drugs is a more rapid alternative than developing COVID-19 vaccine

Repurposing existing medicines focused on known drug targets is likely to offer a more rapid hope of tackling COVID-19 than developing and manufacturing a vaccine, argue an international team of scientists in the British Journal of Pharmacology today.

8 May 2020

Children are immune prepared for SARS-CoV-2

At least 30 new diseases have emerged in the last 20 years and now together threaten the health of hundreds of millions of people. For many of these diseases, there is no treatment, cure, or vaccine. While most of these diseases are dangerous to children, especially those younger than five years old, the novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), seems to spare most of them.

8 May 2020

Pangolins may be the key to new COVID-19 treatments

Researchers at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, have made an important discovery about the immune response to coronaviruses in pangolins that could point to new approaches for treating human cases of infection.

8 May 2020

Antibodies from llamas may hold cure for novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2

As scientists across the globe race to find an effective treatment for the novel coronavirus, a team of scientists believe that a four-year-old llama named Winter may hold the key to fight the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

7 May 2020

Predicting the dose for repurposing nitazoxanide in COVID-19

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv in May 2020 reports a model that could help evolve appropriate dosage protocols for future clinical trials of the repurposed drug nitazoxanide in COVID-19 prevention and treatment. The researchers say, “It was possible to achieve plasma and lung tizoxanide concentrations, using proven safe doses of nitazoxanide, that exceed the EC90 for SARS-CoV-2.”

7 May 2020

Vitamin D could improve outcomes in COVID-19

A new study published on the preprint server medRxiv* in May 2020 shows that vitamin D could have a beneficial effect on the course of illness for COVID-19 patients.

7 May 2020

Severe blood clotting and high bleeding risk identified in critically ill COVID-19 patients

Emerging data is pointing to a faulty blood clotting system in the most critically ill COVID-19 patients. Patients with underlying health problems are presenting a severe risk of VTE (blood clotting) – previously an unknown risk factor – as well as an increased bleed risk.

7 May 2020

Researchers show how bats carry the MERS coronavirus

A University of Saskatchewan (USask) research team has uncovered how bats can carry the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) coronavirus without getting sick--research that could shed light on how coronaviruses make the jump to humans and other animals.

7 May 2020

Researchers discover previously unknown anti-phage defense mechanism in certain bacteria

Researchers from Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, MIT’s research enterprise in Singapore, have discovered a new anti-phage defense mechanism found in some bacteria, which uses previously unknown features to protect their DNA.

7 May 2020

Low CD8 and NK cell counts in the lung linked to high SARS-CoV-2 ACE2 receptor levels

A new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv in April 2020 reports that low levels of specific immune cells, namely, CD8 T cells and NK cells, are linked to higher expression of the ACE2 molecule, which acts as a receptor for the CoV.

6 May 2020

How do betacoronaviruses evolve?

Researchers have worked on the evolution of the pathogenic strains of the betacoronaviruses including the SARS CoV-2 that has caused the COVID-19 pandemic.

6 May 2020

New anti-phage defense mechanism in bacteria protects their DNA, finds study

Researchers from Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology, MIT's research enterprise in Singapore, have discovered a new anti-phage defense mechanism found in some bacteria, which uses previously unknown features to protect their DNA.

6 May 2020

The Role of Microphysiological Systems for Oncology and Stem Cell Research

In this interview, Dr. Nancy Allbritton from The Allbritton Lab talks to News-Medical and Life Sciences about the revolutionary technology and techniques for the application of new technologies for oncology and stem cell research.

From Pittcon 6 May 2020

Human to Labskin Skin Models for Dermatology Research

A Human Skin Equivalent (HSE) skin model used for dermatology research, made from the same primary human cells but grown to a defined specification in a laboratory and not as complex as Human skin, lacking hair follicles and immune cells.

6 May 2020

Israeli scientists discover monoclonal antibody that neutralizes SARS-CoV-2

Now, in a significant medical breakthrough, Israel's Institute for Biological Research Institute (IIBRI) has wrapped up the development of a potential treatment for the coronavirus disease. The scientists say they have identified an antibody that neutralizes SARS-CoV-2.

5 May 2020

Allergic reactions can occur without being triggered by an allergen, finds study

Allergic reactions can occur without being triggered by an allergen such as grass or birch pollen - it is enough for the patient to be back in the same place in which he or she was previously exposed to the allergen, as researchers at the University of Tübingen have found.

5 May 2020

Researchers show basic lymphatic vessel functionality is the same in mice and humans

In an international collaboration, researchers from Uppsala University have mapped the lymph node lymphatic vessels in mice and humans down to the level of individual cells.

5 May 2020

Study explores maternal infection and its role in neurodevelopmental disorders

The immune responses of a female mouse before pregnancy can predict how likely her offspring are to have behavioral deficits if the immune system is activated during pregnancy, according to researchers from the Center for Neuroscience at the University of California, Davis.

5 May 2020

Hydroxychloroquine shown to slow recovery for COVID-19 patients

As researchers try to piece together a therapeutic strategy against the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a recent retrospective study from Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, assessed the Hydroxychloroquine's efficacy in increasing SARS-CoV-2 viral clearance, finding that it appeared to significantly slow viral clearance in mild to moderately ill COVID-19 patients.

5 May 2020

Scientists are exploring to find the 'Achilles heel' of coronavirus

Coronavirus, or more exactly SARS-CoV-2, has the world in its grip. How does the virus manage to bind to cells in the human body? How does it gain entry to the cell? How does it hijack the cell's machinery to make it help to replicate the viral genome?

5 May 2020