http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Peptide molecules derived from the body's natural immune system can help boost the body's defence against life-threatening blood poisoning, joint University research has uncovered. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-blood-poisoning.html Medical research Fri, 17 May 2013 09:20:01 EST news287998200 A University of Eastern Finland study showed that low serum vitamin D levels are a risk factor for pneumonia. The risk of contracting pneumonia was more than 2.5 times greater in subjects with the lowest vitamin D levels than in subjects with high vitamin D levels. The results were published in Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-vitamin-d-factor-pneumonia.html Health Tue, 30 Apr 2013 08:55:55 EST news286530940 A major international research study involving Murdoch University has found that individuals born with high numbers of a receptor known as HLA-C on their cells can naturally inhibit HIV. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-hiv-reveal-genetic-double-edged-sword.html HIV & AIDS Fri, 05 Apr 2013 08:53:29 EST news284370800 New research in the Journal of Clinical Investigation reveals that tumours in melanoma patients deliberately create conditions that knock out the body's 'premier' immune defence and instead attract a weaker immune response unable to kill off the tumour's cancerous cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-tumors-deliberately-conditions-inhibit-body.html Cancer Fri, 01 Mar 2013 12:36:32 EST news281363765 (Medical Xpress)—A drug that is currently used for cancer can relieve and slow down the progression of the autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis (MS) in rats, according to a new study published in PLOS ONE. The discovery, which was made by researchers at Karolinska Institutet, might one day lead to better forms of treatment for patients with MS. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-cancer-drug-treatment-multiple-sclerosis.html Medical research Thu, 21 Feb 2013 10:02:01 EST news280663311 A genetically-engineered virus tested in 30 terminally-ill liver cancer patients significantly prolonged their lives, killing tumours and inhibiting the growth of new ones, scientists reported on Sunday. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-genetically-virus-cancer.html Cancer Sun, 10 Feb 2013 15:08:22 EST news279731294 Treating infection-prone patients over a 12-month period with high doses of vitamin D reduces their risk of developing respiratory tract infection – and consequently their antibiotic requirement. This according to a new study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital published in the online scientific journal BMJ Open. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-vitamin-d-infection-prone-patients-respiratory.html Health Thu, 13 Dec 2012 18:30:04 EST news274642437 Australian researchers have discovered that vitamin B metabolites produced by Salmonella bacteria can activate the immune system, a finding that could lead to new treatments for gut and lung diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-salmonella-immune-defence.html Immunology Thu, 29 Nov 2012 06:42:51 EST news273393758 Researchers from Aarhus University, Denmark, have now discovered an important mechanism behind one of our most fundamental lines of immune function. The discovery has been published in the esteemed scientific journal, The Journal of Immunology, where it has been highlighted as a top story. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-immune-pathway.html Immunology Tue, 06 Nov 2012 09:51:21 EST news271417870 The puzzle about the ancestral function of toll-receptors has been solved. For more than 25 years, researchers from medicine and biology have been studying toll-receptors, revealing functions in immune defence on the one hand and developmental biology on the other. A research team from Kiel University (Germany) is now reporting that toll-receptors have primarily served to identify germs and to control bacterial colonisation of organisms – typical immune defence functions. The study was now published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and has implications for human medical research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-immunobiological-functioning-toll-receptors-revealed.html Medical research Thu, 01 Nov 2012 06:31:16 EST news270970267 Brain metastases are common secondary complications of other types of cancer, particularly lung, breast and skin cancer. The body's own immune response in the brain is rendered powerless in the fight against these metastases by inflammatory reactions. Researchers at the MedUni Vienna have now, for the first time, precisely characterised the brain's immune response to infiltrating metastases. This could pave the way to the development of new, less aggressive treatment options. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-brain-immune-response-metastasized-cancer.html Cancer Tue, 25 Sep 2012 08:10:47 EST news267779434 The cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a member of the herpesvirus family. Although most people carry CMV for life, it hardly ever makes them sick. Researchers from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research and from the USA have now unveiled long term consequences of the on-going presence of CMV: Later in life, more and more cells of the immune system concentrate on CMV, and as a result, the response against other viruses is weakened. These research results help to explain why the elderly are often more prone to infectious diseases than young people. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-08-long-term-consequences-chronic-virus-infection.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Thu, 16 Aug 2012 17:00:07 EST news264345769 Defects in the gene that encodes the XIAP protein result in a serious immune malfunction. Scientists used biochemical analyses to map the protein's ability to activate vital components of the immune system. Their results have recently been published in Molecular Cell, a journal of international scientific repute. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-scientists-immune-malfunction.html Immunology Thu, 17 May 2012 12:00:06 EST news256474758 In an organ transplant the recipient protects himself with an immune reaction against the alien organ. This reaction is counteracted long-term with the use of immunosuppressants. In future this medication might no longer be necessary. If bone marrow belonging to the donor is also transplanted, no immune reaction occurs. However, this is still associated with undesirable side effects. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-bone-marrow-transplantation-donated.html Surgery Tue, 03 Apr 2012 08:50:02 EST news252660692 The thymus plays a key role in the body's immune response. It is here where the T lymphocytes or T cells, a major type of immune defence cells, mature. Different types of T cells, designated to perform specific tasks, arise from progenitor cells that migrate to the thymus from the bone marrow. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Immunology and Epigenetics in Freiburg have generated artificial thymus tissue in a mouse embryo to enable the maturation of immune cells. In this process, they discovered which signalling molecules control the maturation of T cells. Their results represent the first step towards the production of artificial thymus glands that could be used to replace or augment the damaged organ. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-artificial-thymus-tissue-enables-maturation.html Immunology Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:00:07 EST news252239826