Month: April 2020

Gluten is enemy No. 1 for those with celiac disease, and it’s hard to avoid. Episodes of this chronic autoimmune illness can be triggered by ingesting gluten, a key protein in wheat and some other grains. Researchers have been exploring how gut bacteri…

For the first time, researchers have shown that a unicellular parasite commonly found in the mouth plays a role in both severe tissue inflammation and tissue destruction.

Like a parent of teenagers at a party, Mother Nature depends on chaperones to keep one of her charges, the immune system, in line so that it doesn’t mistakenly attack normal cells, tissues and organs in our bodies.

Until now, the immune sensor TLR8 has remained in the shadows of science. A research team has now discovered how this sensor plays an important role in defending human cells against intruders. The enzymes RNaseT2 and RNase2 cut ribonucleic acids (RNAs)…

The discovery that immune T cells have a spectrum of responsiveness could shed light on how our immune system responds to infections and cancer, and what goes wrong in immune diseases. Researchers found that T cells responded very differently to immune…

Cancer cells avoid an immune system attack after radiation by commandeering a cell signaling pathway that helps dying cells avoid triggering an immune response, a new study suggests.

Cells in some of the body’s most vulnerable entry routes to bacterial infection buffer themselves when the immune system detects danger by reorganizing the cholesterol on their surfaces, a new study suggests.

Triple-negative breast cancer is a particularly aggressive form of the disease with no specific treatment. Researchers discovered that, in contrast to many other cancer types, activation of the interferon gamma signaling contributes to disease progress…

The parasite causing the most severe form of human malaria uses proteins to make red blood cells sticky, making it harder for the immune system to destroy it and leading to potentially fatal blood clots. New research has identified how the parasite may…

Some types of gut bacteria are better than others at stimulating certain immune cells, specifically CD8+ T cells. And while these CD8+ T cells normally help protect the body against cancer, overstimulating them may promote inflammation and exhaust the …