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A class of cells that defends the body against invaders also triggers obsessive-compulsive behaviour that appears in autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS), a new study from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) has found. Autoimmune disorders, in which the body’s immune system goes rogue and attacks healthy cells, are difficult to treat. MS, for example, is a debilitating […]
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Physicians who specialize in a devastating and aggressive immune disorder called hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) report in a new study that extra care should be taken to ensure an HLH diagnosis doesn’t obscure possible underlying cancers. Because HLH is dangerously aggressive in its progression and attack on vital organs—often causing death—doctors frequently pursue immediate treatment for the immune disorder after a […]
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Stanford University School of Medicine researchers have demonstrated that gene therapy can be effective without causing a dangerous side effect common to all gene therapy: an autoimmune reaction to the normal protein, which the patient’s immune system is encountering for the first time. The researchers showed this in a mouse model that accurately recapitulates Duchenne muscular dystrophy. One in every […]
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New research suggests that depression in women may affect their children’s stress and physical well-being throughout life. For the Depression & Anxiety study, researchers followed 125 children from birth to 10 years. At 10 years, mothers’ and children’s cortisol (CT) and secretory immunoglobulin (s-IgA)—markers of stress and the immune system—were measured, mother-child interaction were observed, mothers and children underwent psychiatric […]
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It’s peak flu season. You’re cold, rugged up and squashed on public transport or in the lift at work. You hear a hacking cough, or feel the droplets of a sneeze land on your neck. Will this turn into your third cold this year? No matter how much we try to minimise our exposure to respiratory viruses, it’s far more […]
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Patient age correlates with response to immunotherapy in melanoma and depleting regulatory T cells in young patients may have a therapeutic potential to enhance response in younger patients, according to research from The Wistar Institute. Study results were published online in Clinical Cancer Research. Immune checkpoint blockade therapy has been recently approved for treatment of melanoma based on its ability […]
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By instructing key immune system cells to accept transplanted insulin-producing islets, researchers have opened a potentially new pathway for treating type 1 diabetes. If the approach is ultimately successful in humans, it could allow type 1 diabetes to be treated without the long-term complications of immune system suppression. The technique, reported June 4 in the journal Nature Materials, uses synthetic […]
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A UCLA-led study has found how colon cancer alters its genes during development in order to avoid detection by the immune system, creating a specific genetic imprint in the process. This ability of cancer to change its genes—a process called immunoediting—had never been described in colon cancer before, and the new understanding could help researchers develop new immunotherapies that target […]
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(HealthDay)—Recipients of the herpes zoster subunit vaccine (HZ/su), consisting of varicella-zoster virus glycoprotein E (gE) and AS01B Adjuvant System, develop robust immune responses, according to a study published in the June 1 issue of The Journal of Infectious Diseases. Anthony L. Cunningham, M.D., from the University of Sydney, and colleagues presented immunogenicity results from two trials involving patients aged 50 […]
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Planning a trip to Mars? You’ll want to remember your anti-radiation pills. NASA and private space companies like SpaceX plan to send humans to the red planet within the next 15 years—but among the major challenges facing future crewed space missions is how to protect astronauts from the dangerous cosmic radiation of deep space. Now the lab of UCSF neuroscientist […]
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