Immunology News and Research

Latest Immunology News and Research

Researchers determine function of series proteins within the mosquito

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute have, for the first time, determined the function of a series proteins within the mosquito that transduce a signal that enables the mosquito to fight off infection from the parasite that causes malaria in humans.

8 Jun 2012

Scientists uncover origin of Langerhans cells

Scientists at A*STAR's Singapore Immunology Network (SIgN) uncovered the origin of a group of skin-deep immune cells that act as the first line of defence against harmful germs and skin infections. SIgN scientists discovered that these sentry cells of the skin, called the Langerhans cells (LCs), originate from two distinct embryonic sites - the early yolk sac and the foetal liver.

8 Jun 2012

IRCM researchers make important breakthrough in the field of immunology

A team of researchers at the IRCM led by Dr. Andr- Veillette made an important breakthrough in the field of immunology, which will be published online today by the scientific journal Immunity. The scientists explained a poorly understood molecular mechanism associated with a human immune disorder known as XLP disease or Duncan's syndrome.

8 Jun 2012

Food allergies more prevalent among urban children

Children living in urban centers have a much higher prevalence of food allergies than those living in rural areas, according to a new study, which is the first to map children's food allergies by geographical location in the United States. In particular, kids in big cities are more than twice as likely to have peanut and shellfish allergies compared to rural communities.

8 Jun 2012

Young adults, adolescents with mental health disorders more likely to become long-term opioid users

Long-term use and abuse of opioid painkillers, such as OxyContin and Vicodin, has markedly increased in the United States in the last two decades. Of note, prescription opioids constitute 86.9 percent of prescription drug misuse among high school students. And last week in a two-day U.S. Food and Drug Administration public meeting, officials questioned the use of long-term opioids for chronic pain due to a lack of evidence for the effectiveness and concerns about the potential risk for addiction.

7 Jun 2012

Omentum appears to play an important role in regulating the immune system

A fatty membrane in the belly called the omentum has until recently been considered somewhat like the appendix -- it didn't seem to serve much purpose. But Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine researchers have found that the omentum appears to play an important role in regulating the immune system.

7 Jun 2012

STELARA effectively reduces signs and symptoms of active psoriatic arthritis

Patients with active psoriatic arthritis receiving the interleukin (IL)-12/23 inhibitor STELARA (ustekinumab) experienced significant improvements in signs and symptoms of the disease, according to new findings presented today from a Janssen Research & Development, LLC, (Janssen)-sponsored investigational study.

6 Jun 2012

Abbott announces results from HUMIRA Phase 3 study on axSpA

Abbott today announced results from the open-label extension of the Phase 3 ABILITY-1 investigational study of HUMIRA (adalimumab), which assessed the improvement in signs and symptoms of disease for patients with active axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) who have no X-ray evidence of structural damage.

6 Jun 2012

Latest studies in the field of allergy and clinical immunology to be presented at EAACI Congress 2012

The latest studies in the field of allergy and clinical immunology will be presented at the EAACI Congress 2012.

5 Jun 2012

Seattle Genetics, Agensys announce interim data from ASG-5ME phase I trial on CRPC

Agensys, Inc., an affiliate of Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc., and Seattle Genetics, Inc. today announced interim data from a phase I clinical trial evaluating ASG-5ME for the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer.

5 Jun 2012

$Ambit, Astellas commence quizartinib Phase 2b trial in relapsed/refractory AML$

Ambit, Astellas commence quizartinib Phase 2b trial in relapsed/refractory AML

Astellas Pharma Inc. and Ambit Biosciences Corporation today announced the initiation of a Phase 2b open-label clinical trial of quizartinib as monotherapy in patients with relapsed and refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with FLT3-ITD mutations.

5 Jun 2012

Results from Janssen's ZYTIGA plus prednisone Phase 3 study on mCRPC

Results observed from pre-specified interim analyses of the randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 3 study, COU-AA-302, demonstrated that patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) treated with abiraterone acetate (ZYTIGA) plus prednisone showed a statistically significant improvement in radiographic progression-free survival (rPFS) and all secondary endpoints compared to patients treated with placebo plus prednisone.

4 Jun 2012

ZYTIGA Phase 3 study for metastatic prostate cancer presented at 48th ASCO

New data presented this weekend at the 48th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) showed ZYTIGA (abiraterone acetate) may prove to be an important new treatment option for metastatic prostate cancer patients prior to receiving chemotherapy.

2 Jun 2012

ENTA announces availability of first non-invasive oral cancer prevention test

Oral cancer is one of the few cancers still on the rise, claiming the lives of as many Americans as melanoma and has shown a recent increase in young, non-smokers. The important news is that oral cancer can now be prevented.

2 Jun 2012

Mothers who smoke during pregnancy increase risk of asthma in children

African-American and Latino children whose mothers smoked during pregnancy are more likely to suffer from acute asthma symptoms in their teens than asthma sufferers whose mothers did not smoke, according to a new study led by a research team at UCSF.

1 Jun 2012

Foreign-born populations in the U.S. are at increased risk for chronic HBV

The prevalence of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection in the U.S. may be as high as 2.2 million cases according to a new study now available in Hepatology, a journal published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.

1 Jun 2012

LILRB2 receptor plays an important role in keeping stem cells from differentiating

An immune-system receptor plays an unexpected but crucially important role in keeping stem cells from differentiating and in helping blood cancer cells grow, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center report today in the journal Nature.

1 Jun 2012

Janssen submits canagliflozin NDA with FDA for treatment of type 2 diabetes

Janssen Research & Development, LLC (Janssen), announced today that it has submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking approval for the use of canagliflozin, an investigational, oral, once-daily, selective sodium glucose co-transporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor, for the treatment of adult patients with type 2 diabetes.

1 Jun 2012

Einstein receives NIH grant to create new vaccine against TB

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University a five-year, $5.9 million grant to develop a new vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), including the toughest-to-treat forms of the disease known as multi drug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant. The grant will build on a new approach to TB vaccine design that is based on genetically altered Mycobacterium smegmatis, which is closely related to the bacterial species (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) that causes TB in humans.

1 Jun 2012

Researchers identify new peptide that can block fibrosis of the skin and lungs

A member of the Scleroderma Foundation's Board of Directors has led a team of researchers who have identified a peptide that can block fibrosis of the skin and lungs, according to a report published today.

31 May 2012