http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. A team of basic and clinical scientists led by the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre's (CRCHUM) Dr. Nathalie Arbour has opened the door to significantly improved treatments for the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). In a study selected as among the top 10% most interesting articles published in the Journal of Immunology, the team identifies the elevated presence in MS patients of a type of white blood cell (CD4 T cell) that expresses NKG2C, a highly-toxic molecule harmful to brain tissues. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-multiple-sclerosis-treatments.html Immunology Tue, 19 Mar 2013 13:22:48 EST news282918158 New insight into the optimal timing of therapy for HIV infection could give patients a better chance of responding to potential cure strategies of the future. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-early-therapy-hiv-vital.html HIV & AIDS Fri, 01 Feb 2013 12:16:15 EST news278943347 Patients who are started on antiretroviral therapy for HIV-1 infection within four months of estimated infection date—and who have higher counts of CD4+ T-cells at the initiation of therapy—demonstrate a stronger recovery of CD4+ T-cell counts than patients in whom therapy is started later, a new study shows. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-antiretroviral-therapy-hiv-months-crucial.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 16 Jan 2013 17:00:28 EST news277578011 A 48-week course of antiretroviral medication taken in the early stages of HIV infection slows the damage to the immune system and delays the need for long term treatment, according to research published today in the New England Journal of Medicine (1). However, the delay was only marginally longer than the time already spent on treatment. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-early-treatment-hiv-immune-transmission.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 16 Jan 2013 17:00:07 EST news277577675 A new study published online in the journal Nature suggests it might be possible to develop vaccines to prevent premature birth and other pregnancy complications. If so, such vaccines would be the first intended to stimulate the subset of regulatory CD4 T cells that suppress the immune response. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-pregnancy-maternal-immune-suppressive-cells-fetus.html Immunology Wed, 26 Sep 2012 13:00:14 EST news267876734 Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have gotten us one step closer to understanding and overcoming one of the least-understood mechanisms of HIV infection—by devising a method to precisely track the life cycle of individual cells infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-scientists-technique-decipher-dormant-aids.html HIV & AIDS Tue, 11 Sep 2012 12:54:58 EST news266586891 A subpopulation of the immune cells targeted by HIV may play an important role in controlling viral loads after initial infection, potentially helping to determine how quickly infection will progress. In the February 29 issue of Science Translational Medicine, a team of researchers from the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), MIT and Harvard describe finding a population of HIV-specific CD4 T cells – cells traditionally thought to direct and support activities of other immune cells – that can directly kill HIV-infected cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-hiv-specific-cd4-cells-viral.html HIV & AIDS Wed, 29 Feb 2012 17:56:26 EST news249760558 In a study investigating immune response in cancer, researchers from Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., and the University of South Florida have found that interaction between the immune system's antigen-specific CD4 T cells and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) – cells that play a major role in cancer-related immune suppression – dramatically change the nature of MDSC-mediated suppression. By contrast, the same effect was not observed when MDSCs interacted with the immune system's CD8 T cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-potential-key-immune-suppression-cancer.html Immunology Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:46:58 EST news246199611 Using a monkey model of AIDS, scientists have identified a vaccine-generated immune-system response that correlates with protection against infection by the monkey version of HIV, called simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV). The researchers found that neutralizing antibodies generated by immunization were associated with protection against SIV infection. This finding marks an important step toward understanding how an effective HIV vaccine could work, according to scientists who led the study at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-antibodies-monkeys-hiv-like-virus-scientists.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 05 May 2011 16:36:43 EST news223832161