Immunology News and Research

Latest Immunology News and Research

Deficient regulators in the immune system responsible for type 1 diabetes

The main regulators of the immune system, called CD4+Treg cells, are thought to be highly involved in a large range of immune diseases.

25 Jan 2008

Stanford study finds transplant patient thrives 2 years after stopping immunosuppressive drugs

Luck smiled on Larry Kowalski when his brother agreed to donate a kidney Kowalski needed to live.

24 Jan 2008

Experimental procedure induces tolerance to mismatched kidney transplants

Four of five patients participating in a trial of an experimental protocol designed to induce immune tolerance to HLA-mismatched kidney transplants have been able to discontinue immunosuppressive drugs.

24 Jan 2008

Scientists use nanoscale polymer films to control drug delivery

Using nanotechnology, scientists from UCLA and Northwestern University have developed a localized and controlled drug delivery method that is invisible to the immune system, a discovery that could provide newer and more effective treatments for cancer and other diseases.

23 Jan 2008

New way to boost the immune system

Queen's University immunologists have discovered how to manipulate the immune system to increase its power and protect the body from successive viral infections.

23 Jan 2008

Brain molecule from endothelial cells may be a new target for treatment of multiple sclerosis

In the February issue of Nature Immunology, the team provides fresh answers concerning the role of novel adhesion molecules in the pathogenesis of MS, a chronic autoimmune disease of the nervous system that affects approximately 55,000 young adults in Canada.

23 Jan 2008

Infants with poor intestinal flora often develop eczema

In a healthy intestinal system there is a great variety of natural bacteria.

23 Jan 2008

Studies highlight MRSA evolution and resilience

Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) infections are caused primarily by a single strain USA300 of an evolving bacterium that has spread with "extraordinary transmissibility" throughout the United States during the past five years, according to a new study led by National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists.

22 Jan 2008

Discovery of multiple genes linked to systemic lupus erythematosus

A landmark genetic study has identified multiple genes linked to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), or lupus, a debilitating autoimmune disease that affects an estimated 1.4 million Americans.

21 Jan 2008

Common variations in human DNA signal lupus risk

Scientists have pinpointed a set of common variations in human DNA that signal a higher risk for lupus in women who carry them.

21 Jan 2008

How anti-TNF compounds work

Powerful drugs used to treat patients with rheumatoid arthritis have a profound, previously unrecognized effect on the immune system, breaking up molecular "training camps" for rogue cells that play an increasingly recognized role in autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.

21 Jan 2008

Discovery opens door to 'personalized' asthma therapy

In the last few years, "personalized medicine" using genetic or other molecular biology-based diagnostic tests to customize treatment for a particular patient has emerged as a powerful new tool for health care.

18 Jan 2008

Smallest particles from vehicle emissions may promote hardening of the arteries

Patients prone to heart disease may one day be told by physicians to avoid not only fatty foods and smoking but air pollution too.

18 Jan 2008

Type 1 diabetes triggered by lazy T-cells

A research team led by Dr. Ciriaco A. Piccirillo of McGill University's Department of Microbiology and Immunology has discovered that in some individuals, the specialized immunoregulatory T-cells that regulate the body's autoimmune reactions may lose their effectiveness and become "lazy" over time, leading to the onset of type 1 diabetes.

16 Jan 2008

How asthma and allergy symptoms are triggered

In demonstrating that a group of calcium ion channels play a crucial role in triggering inflammatory responses, researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have not only solved a longstanding molecular mystery regarding the onset of asthma and allergy symptoms, but have also provided a fundamental discovery regarding the functioning of mast cells.

15 Jan 2008