Immunology News and Research

Latest Immunology News and Research

VCU research team awarded NIH grant to study asthma, allergic disease

A team of Virginia Commonwealth University researchers has received a National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases grant totaling nearly $7.3 million for a Cooperative Research Center to study various aspects of asthma and allergic disease.

20 May 2008

NIAID to advance B-cell approach to HIV vaccines

To advance underdeveloped approaches to designing a preventive HIV vaccine, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, is launching a new program to foster the study of B cells, immune cells that can produce antibodies with the capacity to neutralize HIV.

20 May 2008

Abnormal "editing" of gene messages may cause Lupus

Researchers at Wake Forest University have uncovered evidence that the abnormal "editing" of gene messages in a type of white blood cell may be behind the development of lupus. Scientists hope the finding will lead to earlier diagnosis, a way to monitor patients' response to therapy and possibly a new way to treat the disease.

19 May 2008

Investigational smallpox drug may treat adenovirus infections in humans

Scientists at Saint Louis University have made two key discoveries that could lead to the first-ever human testing of a drug to target the adenovirus, which causes a number of severe upper-respiratory infections and is one of many viruses that causes the common cold.

19 May 2008

NIH launches undiagnosed diseases program

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) today announced a new clinical research program that will aim to provide answers to patients with mysterious conditions that have long eluded diagnosis. Called the Undiagnosed Diseases Program, the trans-NIH initiative will focus on the most puzzling medical cases referred to the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md., by physicians across the nation.

19 May 2008

Rochester vaccine triggers immune response, prevents Alzheimer's

A vaccine created by University of Rochester Medical Center scientists prevents the development of Alzheimer's disease-like pathology in mice without causing inflammation or significant side effects.

19 May 2008

DNA vaccines boosted by dendritic cells

The concept sounds ideal: vaccines made of DNA that could be taken in by other cells and give instructions for how to fight off different diseases. The reality, however, has fallen short. Although DNA vaccines have been around for about 15 years and shown lots of promise for HIV, SARS and influenza vaccines during preclinical testing in mice, researchers have yet to make them potent enough to be helpful in humans.

18 May 2008

Australian scientists use gene technology to improve IVF treatment

Research by a team of Australian scientists promises to improve the fertility treatment in vitro fertilisation (IVF).

15 May 2008

Study shows how T cell's machinery dials down autoimmunity

A St. Jude Children's Research Hospital study shows that T cells, the body's master immune regulators, do not use simple on/off switches to govern the cellular machinery that regulates their development and function. Rather, they possess sophisticated molecular controls that enable them to adjust their function with exquisite precision. Such subtle adjustment enables T cells to modulate their development and function, including avoiding autoimmunity

12 May 2008

Researchers step closer to finding ways to treat type 1 diabetes

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis working with diabetic mice have examined in unprecedented detail the immune cells long thought to be responsible for type 1 diabetes.

9 May 2008

Role of genetic components of dendritic cells could lead to more effective drugs

For the first time, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have identified genetic components of dendritic cells that are key to asthma and allergy-related immune response malfunction. Targeting these elements could result in more effective drugs to treat allergic disorders and asthma, according to a study reported in the May edition of the journal Nature Medicine.

7 May 2008

New discovery on role of vital protein that fights meningitus

A University of Leicester researcher has discovered how a protein in the blood - linked to defence against meningitis - plays a more vital role than previously understood in the body's immune defence system.

6 May 2008

Whole-organ genomic survey depicts journey from normal to malignant cell

Whole-organ maps that superimpose genetic information over the terrain of cancerous bladders chart the molecular journey from normal cell to invasive cancer, an international research team led by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports online at the journal Laboratory Investigation.

5 May 2008

Asthma attacks early in pregnancy put baby at greater risk of birth defects, new research suggests

Uncontrolled asthma during the first trimester of pregnancy greatly increases the risk of birth defects in babies, according to new research to be published in the June issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

5 May 2008

On the road with allergies and asthma

For millions of Americans with allergies and asthma, summer travel concerns extend far beyond rising gas prices and airline security waits.

2 May 2008

Breakthrough compound could lead to new class of antihypertensive drugs

University of Florida researchers have identified a drug compound that dramatically lowers blood pressure, improves heart function and - in a remarkable finding - prevents damage to the heart and kidneys in rats with persistent hypertension

1 May 2008

Discovery of quick method for making human monoclonal antibodies against flu

Human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) - highly specific, identical, infection-fighting proteins produced in large quantities in the lab in cell lines that are derived from a single antibody-producing cell - against influenza can be rapidly produced in the lab, according to a new report from scientists supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

30 Apr 2008

Study explains why steroid therapy for sinusitis and asthma loses its punch over time

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have outlined a new path for potential therapies to combat inflammation associated with sinusitis and asthma based on a new understanding of the body's earliest immune response in the nose and sinus cavities.

29 Apr 2008

Human protein may offer novel target for blocking HIV infection

A research group supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has uncovered a new route for attacking the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that may offer a way to circumvent problems with drug resistance. In findings published today in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers report that they have blocked HIV infection in the test tube by inactivating a human protein expressed in key immune cells.

29 Apr 2008

Newly refined antibody therapy may be potent treatment for autoimmune diseases

An old, fickle therapy for a variety of autoimmune diseases is getting a makeover, thanks to a decade-long investigation by Rockefeller University researchers.

26 Apr 2008