In the past decade, immunotherapy has helped save the lives of many cancer patients, many with lung cancer, who might have otherwise faced almost certain death sentences. However, only about 20% of patients who received immune therapies — designed to …
Drug made from pig intestine helps escape the ‘trap’ of clot-causing immune response
Two complementary studies show that defibrotide can successfully suppress the formation and progression of neutrophil extracellular traps, or NETs, which are web-like networks of toxic proteins that play a role in forming blood clots and promoting infl…
What can 35-year-old stool samples tell scientists about HIV/AIDS?
A serendipitous conversation and ‘treasure trove’ of frozen stool samples from early in the HIV/AIDS pandemic shed light on the role of the microbiome in disease prevention. The study is the first to link the composition of the gut microbiome before in…
Experimental treatment with enzyme protects mice from lethal anthrax infection
Scientists have demonstrated that modifying an enzyme produced by the bacterium that causes anthrax can protect mice from infection with the deadly disease. Their findings suggest a potential therapeutic strategy for treating multidrug-resistant strain…
Defense or repair: How immune cells are controlled during wound healing
Scientists show a causal link between tissue repair, mitochondrial metabolism, and the activation and function of macrophages (scavenger cells).
Tau and PQBP1: Protein interaction induces inflammation in the brain
Researchers have clarified the relationship between the intracellular receptor PQBP1 and the structural protein Tau, which is dysregulated in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. Tau was found to interact with PQBP1 in immune cells o…
Reimagining immunity in the eye
Immune cells could be doing much more than we think in protecting our eyes — researchers uncover new details.
Trigger found for harmful inflammation in lupus, macular degeneration
Lupus, an autoimmune disease, and macular degeneration, a leading cause of vision loss, share a common contributor to harmful inflammation, researchers found.
How the body uses fat to fight infection
New research reveals how our immune cells use the body’s fat stores to fight infection. The research could help develop new approaches to treating people with bacterial infections. And the team say their work could one day help treat infections in vuln…
Research finds potential mechanism linking autism, intestinal inflammation
Moms infected during pregnancy who produce elevated levels of the cytokine IL-17a may have microbiome alterations that prime offspring for aberrant immune responses later in life, a mouse study suggests.