Immunology News and Research

Latest Immunology News and Research

OPKO Health, Scripps Research partner to commercialize Parkinson's disease compound, SR 3306

The Scripps Research Institute and OPKO Health, Inc. today announced a global agreement for the development and commercialization of SR 3306, a novel compound discovered by scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute that blocks the destruction of brains cells in animal models of Parkinson's disease.

12 Mar 2012

Researchers identify genetic signature for eosinophilic esophagitis

Researchers have identified a genetic signature for a severe, often painful food allergy – eosinophilic esophagitis – that could lead to improved diagnosis and treatment for children unable to eat a wide variety of foods.

12 Mar 2012

HDAC inhibitors flush latent HIV infection from hiding

A team of researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have successfully flushed latent HIV infection from hiding, with a drug used to treat certain types of lymphoma.

9 Mar 2012

Doctor associated with MMR vaccine and autism link wins High Court appeal

Professor John Walker-Smith had been found guilty of professional misconduct following claims he took part in unapproved research that suggested links between the vaccine, bowel disease and autism. Professor Walker-Smith lost his license to practice in May 2010 along with Dr Andrew Wakefield, who led the research. A General Medical Council’s ‘fitness to practice’ panel found both men guilty of misconduct over the way the work was conducted after 217 days of deliberation – the longest disciplinary case in the body’s 150- year history.

8 Mar 2012

Bellicum raises $20M in Series B financing

Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced that it has raised $20 million in a Series B financing. The funding will be used to advance its lead CaspaCIDe and DeCIDe programs through Phase 2 clinical development.

8 Mar 2012

Positive phase II trial results from Circassia's ragweed allergy therapy

Circassia Ltd, a specialty biopharmaceutical company focused on allergy, today announced that its ragweed allergy therapy has achieved positive results in a key phase II clinical trial.

8 Mar 2012

MRF clinical trial to examine antigen-specific MS therapy

The Myelin Repair Foundation (MRF) announced today that its research might soon lead into a clinical proof-of-concept trial at the Department of Neuroimmunology and Multiple Sclerosis Research (nims), University Hospital Zürich, Switzerland, and the Institute for Neuroimmunology and Clinical Multiple Sclerosis Research (inims) in Hamburg, Germany.

8 Mar 2012

Combining radiation therapy with ipilimumab shows promise against melanoma

Research published today in the New England Journal of Medicine by scientists at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) showed that combining targeted radiation therapy with immunotherapy (ipilimumab), fostered a strong immune response and a favorable clinical outcome in a patient with melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer.

8 Mar 2012

Simple recommendations help reduce environmental exposures for women

Remove your shoes at the door of your home to avoid tracking in pollutants. Decrease consumption of processed and canned foods. Avoid the use of plastics with recycling codes #3, #4 and #7. Don't use chemical tick and flea collars or dips for pets. Reproductive health care providers should share these tips and more scientific information with women who want to become pregnant or who are pregnant, but that does not always happen.

7 Mar 2012

U of A study looks at Bim molecule to understand autoimmune diseases

Understanding why immune cells, called T-cells, attack the body is vital in the war against autoimmune diseases like diabetes. University of Alberta researcher Troy Baldwin is a step closer to understanding why the body's T-cells sometimes attack healthy cells causing autoimmune diseases.

7 Mar 2012

Timely treatment with Berinert provides faster symptom relief for HAE patients

CSL Behring announced today that treatment with Berinert, C1 Esterase Inhibitor (Human) within six hours of the onset of an acute hereditary angioedema (HAE) attack provides faster symptom relief than later treatment, according to data presented at the 2012 American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology (AAAAI) Annual Meeting.

7 Mar 2012

New AD marker can predict mental decline

A new marker of Alzheimer's disease can predict how rapidly a patient's memory and other mental abilities will decline after the disorder is diagnosed, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found.

6 Mar 2012

Microneedle vaccine patches may effectively protect against flu

Recent research found that microneedle vaccine patches are more effective at delivering protection against influenza virus in mice than subcutaneous or intramuscular inoculation. A new, detailed analysis of the early immune responses by the Emory and Georgia Tech research team helps explain why the skin is such fertile ground for vaccination with these tiny, virtually painless microneedles.

6 Mar 2012

Merck announces results from AIT Phase III clinical study for ragweed allergy

Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, today announced the results from a Phase III clinical study of its investigational allergy immunotherapy tablet (AIT) for ragweed pollen.

6 Mar 2012

Merck announces success of pill against ragweed allergy

Merck & Co. announced Monday that their experimental allergy tablet reduced allergic reactions to ragweed and helped patients use less medication to treat their symptoms.

5 Mar 2012

Meda announces positive results from three MP29-02 studies on allergic rhinitis

Meda announced today positive results of three studies of MP29-02 (tentatively called Dymista), a novel intranasal formulation of azelastine hydrochloride and fluticasone propionate.

5 Mar 2012

Study: Bioavailability similar among four subcutaneous IgG preparations

Data presented by CSL Behring today suggest that the bioavailability of immunoglobulin G (IgG) therapies is consistent when patients with primary immunodeficiencies switch from one IgG product to another by the subcutaneous route.

5 Mar 2012

Consensus across studies promises to enhance NIH-supported asthma clinical research

A consortium of federal agencies and nongovernmental organizations has published a report proposing a set of common measures and data-collection methods for use in asthma clinical research.

3 Mar 2012

New outcome measures may reduce disparities in children with asthma

Newly proposed asthma outcome measures will help standardize and improve results from the hundreds of millions of dollars the National Institutes of Health (NIH) spends annually to study asthma, according to the Merck Childhood Asthma Network, Inc. (MCAN), the nation's only organization focused solely on childhood asthma.

3 Mar 2012

WUSTL scientists to decode DNA of 99 patients with rare diseases

Rare genetic diseases, long overlooked because they affect relatively few people, are getting new attention. Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are reaching out to patient advocacy groups and offering to decode the DNA of 99 patients with rare diseases to help find the genetic alterations responsible for their illnesses.

3 Mar 2012