To fight infections and heal injuries, immune cells need to enter tissue. They also need to invade tumors to fight them from within. Scientists have now discovered how immune cells protect their sensitive insides as they squeeze between tissue cells. T…
Vaccine-like mRNA injection can be used to make CAR T cells in the body
An experimental immunotherapy can temporarily reprogram patients’ immune cells to attack a specific target via only a single injection of messenger RNA (mRNA), similar to the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines, according to a new study.
Sorting cancers by ‘immune archetypes’ represents potential new approach to developing precision immunotherapies
Using data from over 300 patient tumors, researchers have described 12 classes of ‘immune archetypes’ to classify cancer tumors. Their findings reveal that cancers from different parts of the body are immunologically similar to one another. These class…
How LPS prevents or promotes development of asthma and allergic disease by airborne allergens
Many experiments show that exposure to LPS during exposure to environmental allergens protects against developing asthma or allergic disease. Yet other numerous experiments show that the presence of LPS during exposure to environmental allergens does t…
Scientists discover a cell behavior pattern that predicts cardiovascular disease
Scientists have developed a simple model for studying the behavior of immune cells in live animals and have identified a harmful cell behavior pattern associated with cardiovascular disease.
One autoimmune disease could lead to another
Researchers have discovered that having one kind of autoimmune disease can lead to another.
COVID-19 can trigger self-attacking antibodies
Infection with the virus that causes COVID-19 can trigger an immune response that lasts well beyond the initial infection and recovery — even among people who had mild symptoms or no symptoms at all, according to investigators.
Scientists retool CAR T cells to serve as ‘micropharmacies’ for cancer drugs
Immunotherapies called chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells use genetically engineered versions of a patient’s own immune cells to fight cancer. These treatments have energized cancer care, especially for people with certain types of blood cancers. …
Microglial methylation ‘landscape’ in human brain
Recent studies have shown variation in the gene-expression profile and phenotype of microglia across brain regions and between different age and disease states. But the molecular mechanisms that contribute to these transcriptomic changes in the human b…
Immune response to seasonal coronaviruses may offer protection against COVID-19
Researchers have found that individuals with a certain HLA type may be able to mount a killer T cell response to COVID-19, thanks to the T cells responding to a portion of the virus’s spike protein that is also present in seasonal coronaviruses that ca…