Interferon News and Research

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Immune cells could help kill cancer cells, finds study

Researchers from UCL Cancer Institute have found that a subset of immune cells can kill cancer cells when activated.

8 Jan 2020

CD4 T cells are not to be blamed for pushing dengue fever from bad to worse

No one knows what makes a mild dengue viral infection morph into a severe and sometimes deadly dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome.

26 Dec 2019

New antibody shows promise in active lupus

A new trial involving the use of an antibody called anifrolumab reports improvement in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) after 52 weeks of treatment. The research, titled 'Trial of Anifrolumab in Active Systemic Lupus Erythematosus', is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

19 Dec 2019

New standards needed for improving the design of clinical trials for MS patients

How can the perspectives of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) be given more consideration in clinical trials? This question was investigated and corresponding recommendations were developed by a working group of the Drug Commission of the German Medical Association, the Charité University Hospital Berlin, and the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care.

17 Dec 2019

Novel and targeted cellular product causes cell death in non-Hodgkin lymphoma models

Investigators at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey have found that a treatment based on a novel cellular product programmed to deliver an overabundance of chimeric antigen receptor causes cell death in non-Hodgkin lymphoma models that are sensitive or resistant to standard therapies.

16 Dec 2019

Salk researchers uncover new function of mitochondria

Mitochondria, tiny structures present in most cells, are known for their energy-generating machinery. Now, Salk researchers have discovered a new function of mitochondria: they set off molecular alarms when cells are exposed to stress or chemicals that can damage DNA, such as chemotherapy.

15 Dec 2019

Influenza research could pave way for new and improved drugs, vaccines

Researchers at the Centenary Institute and the University of Sydney have discovered a key reason as to why the influenza virus is so effective at establishing infection and causing damage in the lungs.

13 Dec 2019

Study may provide novel therapeutic approach for Huntington's, Parkinson's diseases

Insights from their study may provide a novel therapeutic approach for diseases such as Huntington's and Parkinson's.

8 Dec 2019

FDA-approved drug repairs gut leakiness associated with ulcerative colitis

A research team led by biomedical scientists at the University of California, Riverside, has found that a drug approved by the FDA to treat rheumatoid arthritis and ulcerative colitis can repair permeability defects in the gut's epithelium.

4 Dec 2019

Study: TBK1 protein promotes cancer development, suppresses immune response to the disease

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have found that a protein involved in immune response to microbes also can fuel cancer development and suppress immune response to the disease.

3 Dec 2019

Scientists sheds light on small protein and its role in immune response

The immune system is the body’s defense against disease-causing pathogens. It works by warding off disease and potentially-damaging foreign bodies. Now, a team of researchers have developed a new method to shed light on the basic defense mechanism of the immune system.

27 Nov 2019

Attacking HIV at the source

A new study published on November 26, 2019, in the journal Cell Reports, details a new discovery that may help avert HIV infection right at the start. The virus is known to take a long time to infect a person, and the scientists say they have found a period during which it can be weakened or killed, in the very first hours after it has entered a host. They call this the window of vulnerability.

26 Nov 2019

Research shows how gut microbes affect stomach flu

A new study shows that gut microbes can modulate the severity of norovirus infection (the stomach flu, or the winter vomiting bug), based on the gut location first affected. Published in the journal Nature Microbiology on November 25, 2019, the study indicates new possibilities to treat norovirus infection.

26 Nov 2019

LACV-infected cerebral organoids reveal how to protect neurons from virus-induced death

Scientists have determined that La Crosse virus, which can cause inflammation of the brain, or encephalitis, in children, affects brain cells differently depending on their developmental stage.

26 Nov 2019

New way to thwart HIV infection at early stages

1.7 million. That's how many people are infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) each year worldwide. 1.7 million people who are condemned to lifelong antiretroviral therapy (ART) or risk developing fatal AIDS . Out of the 37.9 million people living with HIV (PLWH), 22.3 million have access to ART, allowing them to have an almost normal lifespan.

26 Nov 2019

Key mechanism identified for how antiviral immune responses reprogram liver metabolism

Researchers at the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences identified a key mechanism for how antiviral immune responses reprogram liver metabolism. Their recent study, which was published in the renowned scientific journal Immunity, investigated the communication between inflammation and liver metabolism during chronic viral infection.

26 Nov 2019

Gut microbes can tamp down or boost the severity of norovirus infection

The highly contagious norovirus causes diarrhea and vomiting and is notorious for spreading rapidly through densely populated spaces, such as cruise ships, nursing homes, schools and day care centers. Each year, it is responsible for some 200,000 deaths, mostly in the developing world.

25 Nov 2019

Researchers study the effects of hyperoxia on the lung development of germ-free newborn mice

Charitharth Vivek Lal, M.D., and University of Alabama at Birmingham colleagues have used a novel and first-of-its-kind newborn mouse model to study the effect of high oxygen concentrations, or hyperoxia, on lung development of newborn mice that are germ-free -- meaning no microbes colonizing their lungs.

21 Nov 2019

Exploring the links between chronic stress, inflammation and depression

Chronic stress can inflame our brain, destroy the connections between our neurons and result in depression, scientists say.

21 Nov 2019

Uncovering the secret weapon of rabies viruses

In a new study published in the journal Cell Reports, scientists have discovered the exact site at which the immune system is disabled by the rabies virus, opening the way for a new and highly effective means of rabies prevention. This is a long-awaited discovery and could transform the field of rabies immunization.

13 Nov 2019