Immunology News and Research

Latest Immunology News and Research

Researchers discover how the body skillfully extinguishes inflammation

Inflammation needs energy An important source for this energy is oxygen, which is indispensable for the cells of the immune system to work properly.

23 Feb 2018

Duke researchers show how to retrain immune system of peanut-allergy mice

Treating food allergies might be a simple matter of teaching the immune system a new trick, researchers at Duke Health have found.

21 Feb 2018

Penn study sheds new light on immune cell identity

Almost all cells in the human body have identical DNA sequences, yet there are 200-plus cell types with different sizes, shapes, and chemical compositions. Determining what parts of the genome are read to make protein and which are silenced is orchestrated by proteins called transcription factors.

21 Feb 2018

Study reveals increased disease risk after early heart surgery

Infections and autoimmune diseases are more common among people who have undergone heart surgery as children and had their thymus removed at the same time, which is often done to get access to the heart. This is evident in a study published in The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

21 Feb 2018

Immune history influences person's response to flu vaccine

New research on why the influenza vaccine was only modestly effective in recent years shows that immune history with the flu influences a person's response to the vaccine.

20 Feb 2018

Early childhood immune signature predicts risk of developing asthma later on

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease driven by the interplay of genetics, environmental factors and a diverse cast of immune cells.

19 Feb 2018

Study provides new insights on why healthy children die from flu

With this year's severe flu season, one statistic is especially chilling. Each year, around 50 percent of all children under 5 years old who die from the flu were previously healthy, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

16 Feb 2018

Major review suggests link between female sex hormones and allergies, asthma

Fluctuations in female sex hormones could play a role in the development of allergies and asthma, a major review of evidence suggests.

15 Feb 2018

CAR-T therapy saves life of cancer researcher

About a dozen years ago, Dr. Woodring Wright, a UT Southwestern Professor of Cell Biology, sneezed. It broke one of his vertebrae, the interlocking bones that make up the spinal column.

14 Feb 2018

Mice study raises hope to successfully treat Alzheimer's disease

A team of researchers from the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute have found that gradually depleting an enzyme called BACE1 completely reverses the formation of amyloid plaques in the brains of mice with Alzheimer's disease, thereby improving the animals' cognitive function.

14 Feb 2018

Tissue-specific changes in gene expression can help predict time of death

International team of scientists led by Roderic Guigó at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona showed that changes in gene expression in different tissues triggered by death can be used to predict the time of death of an individual.

13 Feb 2018

Salk scientists uncover how the liver can have a speedy response to food

Minutes after you eat a meal, as nutrients rush into your bloodstream, your body makes massive shifts in how it breaks down and stores fats and sugars.

9 Feb 2018

Impairing rare group of intestinal cells allows gut bacteria to cause inflammation, study finds

The human microbiome - the trillions of tiny bacteria that live in and on our bodies - is emerging as an increasingly important player in health and wellness. But, our co-existence with these organisms is complex, and scientists are learning that even minor changes in this relationship can lead to big problems with our health.

9 Feb 2018

Research project succeeds in palliating kidney disease caused by diabetes in mice

Diabetes has become a major health problem worldwide; some estimates suggest that in twenty years' time there will be around 600 million diabetics. The disease is caused by impaired insulin secretion, which in turn hinders cell glucose uptake; as a result, sugar levels in the bloodstream remain excessively high.

8 Feb 2018

Study adds more evidence that intestinal microbiome plays substantial role in obesity

A new Johns Hopkins study of mice with the rodent equivalent of metabolic syndrome has added to evidence that the intestinal microbiome -; a "garden" of bacterial, viral and fungal genes -; plays a substantial role in the development of obesity and insulin resistance in mammals, including humans.

6 Feb 2018

Research uncovers how viruses outsmart the immune system

How do viruses that cause chronic infections, such as HIV or hepatitis c virus, manage to outsmart their hosts' immune systems? The answer to that question has long eluded scientists, but new research from McGill University has uncovered a molecular mechanism that may be a key piece of the puzzle. The discovery could provide new targets for treating a wide range of diseases.

5 Feb 2018