Immune System News and Research

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PFAS chemical helps suppress the neutrophil respiratory burst, study finds

In a new study, researchers found that the PFAS chemical GenX suppresses the neutrophil respiratory burst – the method white blood cells known as neutrophils use to kill invading pathogens.

16 Feb 2023

LJI receives funding from NIAID to lead the biggest human immunoprofiling effort

A new grant of over $17 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has established La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) as the leading institute for human immunology data curation, analysis, and dissemination. With this funding, LJI has taken the helm of the Human Immunology Project Consortium Data Coordinating Center, a critical tool in the effort to fuel scientific collaboration in immunoprofiling and highlight findings from the overall Human Immunology Project Consortium (HIPC).

16 Feb 2023

How the immune response in the brain aggravates epilepsy

Biologists at the University of Iowa have conclusively connected epilepsy with the brain’s immune system.

15 Feb 2023

Pungent ginger constituent puts white blood cells on heightened alert

Ginger has a reputation for stimulating the immune system. New results from the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich (Leibniz-LSB@TUM) now support this thesis.

15 Feb 2023

Lung immunity in neonates is influenced by the mother’s microbiota

A recent study led by Bruno Silva Santos, Group Leader and Vice-Director at the Instituto de Medicina Molecular João Lobo Antunes, found that a specific subset of white blood cells called γδ T cells affects the transfer of the mother’s microbiota during childbirth and breastfeeding and affects the infants’ lung immune response.

15 Feb 2023

Analyzing the immune microenvironment around Hodgkin lymphoma tumors

The most detailed study of Hodgkin lymphoma, a type of blood cancer, has offered considerable insight into what tumor cells must do to sustain. The Wellcome Sanger Institute discovered that cancer cells utilize signals to attract specific types of immune cells and direct them not to attack.

15 Feb 2023

Study charts seasonal and circadian genetic variation across the human body

The daily rotation of Earth and its yearly voyage around the Sun marks the natural rhythm of life on the planet.

14 Feb 2023

Engineering a phage's DNA by introducing modified CRISPR-Cas machinery genes

Bacteriophages (or phages) are viruses that infect bacteria. They are the most abundant biological entity, and they can be found wherever bacteria live. To propagate themselves, phages inject their DNA into their bacterial hosts.

13 Feb 2023

Two-step screening of aroma compounds reveals a novel and effective modulator of dendritic cells

Dendritic cells (DCs) are important players of the immune system with important functions such as the identification of infectious pathogens, production of cytokines (chemical signalers of the immune system), presentation of antigens to activate T-cells, and more.

13 Feb 2023

Tissue inflammation altered by “natural killer” immune cells

The discovery of a previously unknown role of “natural killer” (NK) immune cells by Melbourne researchers has increased the current understanding of how the immune system is controlled to prevent disease.

13 Feb 2023

Importance of epigenetic regulation in the recovery of T cells

In stem cell transplants for leukemia treatment, the patient’s hematopoietic system is removed and replaced with hematopoietic cells from donors.

10 Feb 2023

Novel compound curtails influenza virus replication

Viruses use the molecular repertoire of the host cell to replicate. Researchers from the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation2 at the University of Bonn, together with Japanese researchers, want to exploit this for the treatment of influenza.

10 Feb 2023

Combination of two types of immune cells helps predict response to cancer immunotherapy

Thanks to a new prognostic method for detecting cancers including cancer of the large intestine, doctors could provide clearer disease prognoses and predict which patients will respond best to immunotherapy.

10 Feb 2023

Telomeres, mitochondria, and inflammation: Working in synergy to fight cancer

The telomeres, or ends of the chromosomes, increasingly shorten as people age. Recently, Salk researchers found that when telomeres are very short, they can still interact with the mitochondria, the cell’s powerhouses.

9 Feb 2023

Protein that facilitates cancer-causing viruses dodge the immune system

Numerous cancers have been related to the viruses Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV). For the first time, UNC School of Medicine researchers have shown that these viruses elude the innate immune response by using a human protein called barrier-to-autointegration factor 1, or BAF, which enables the viruses to propagate and cause disease.

7 Feb 2023

Scientists discover how a high fat diet expels gut parasitic worm

Scientists have discovered that a high-fat diet allows the immune system to eliminate a parasitic worm which is a major cause of death and illness in the developing world.

7 Feb 2023

Treating ovarian cancer with immunotherapy involving CAR T cells

Recent research revealed that CAR T-cell therapy, a particular type of cancer treatment in which the immune system’s T cells are directed to kill tumor cells, is successful in treating ovarian cancer in mice.

7 Feb 2023

Macrophages as new therapeutic target to address obesity-related diseases

Macrophages are immune system cells that control inflammation and tissue function in addition to being crucial in the early response to microbial infection. Since it aids in the repair of damaged tissue, inflammation is a natural physiological response.

6 Feb 2023

CAR T-cell therapy effective in mice with ovarian cancer

CAR T-cell therapy, a certain kind of cancer treatment in which the immune system's T cells are programmed to attack tumor cells, is effective in mice with ovarian cancer, according to a study published in The Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer.

6 Feb 2023

Study sheds light on why lung tumors do not respond well to immunotherapy

Immunotherapy -; drug treatment that stimulates the immune system to attack tumors -; works well against some types of cancer, but it has shown mixed success against lung cancer.

6 Feb 2023