Breast cancer researchers have discovered a new type of immune cell that helps to keep breast tissue healthy by regulating a vital process within mammary ducts – the sites where milk is produced and transported, but also where most breast cancers arise.
How the immune system reacts to hepatitis C viruses
The interferon-stimulated gene C19orf66 plays an important role in the defence against hepatitis C viruses. Researchers have now studied how C19orf66 works. The results show that C19orf66 disrupts the formation of the viral replication machinery.
Structure of biocatalysts depends on whether they are in cells or test tubes
The structure of enzymes determines how they control vital processes such as digestion or immune response. This is because the protein compounds are not rigid, but can change their shape through movable ‘hinges.’ The shape of enzymes can depend on whet…
Syphilis eludes immune attack by altering a single gene
Shuffling of DNA in a single gene might be why the syphilis bacteria can evade the immune system. The change alters a protein on its cell surface to create a distraction. People can become re-infected several times with syphilis because they can’t deve…
Boosting the immune system’s appetite for cancer
A combination of immunotherapy agents that encourages some immune cells to eat cancer cells and alert others to attack tumors put mice with a deadly type of brain cancer called glioblastoma into long-term remission.
A new therapeutic target turns the immune system against lymphoma
Scientists have identified a key mechanism that tumor cells use to take advantage of and avoid detection from the immune system. Targeting this mechanism offers a new therapeutic strategy for cancers like Non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
Researchers develop new microneedle array combination vaccine delivery system
In parallel to their current work on a potential coronavirus vaccine, researchers have developed a new vaccine delivery system for vaccines using live or attenuated viral vectors: a finger-tip sized patch that contains 400 tiny needles, each just half …
Small rises in blood glucose trigger big changes in insulin-producing cells
This study provides a wealth of new data showing how beta cells behave at slightly raised levels of blood glucose — still within the pre-diabetes range. The work provides major additional evidence of a ‘glucose toxicity’ effect that helps to drive the…
Researchers uncover mechanisms of protective antibody response during Marburg infection
A detailed study of the monoclonal antibodies from a person who survived a Marburg infection led researchers to identify novel mechanisms that contribute protection against the disease.
How cancer cells don their invisibility cloaks
Immunotherapy drugs that target a protein called programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) on the surface of cancer cells have quickly become a mainstay to treat many forms of cancer, often with dramatic results.