http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is associated with emotions, movement, and the brain's pleasure and reward system. In the current issue of Advances in Neuroimmune Biology, investigators provide a broad overview of the direct and indirect role of dopamine in modulating the immune system and discuss how recent research has opened up new possibilities for treating diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis or even the autoimmune disorders. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-role-dopamine-immune.html Immunology Thu, 11 Oct 2012 12:30:26 EST news269177418 A novel therapy in the early stages of development at Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center shows promise in providing lasting protection against the progression of multiple myeloma following a stem cell transplant by making the cancer cells easier targets for the immune system. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-harness-immune-stem-cell-transplant.html Immunology Mon, 01 Oct 2012 16:04:31 EST news268326194 A research team led by investigators at New York University and NYU School of Medicine has determined how cells that cause inflammatory ailments, such as Crohn's disease, multiple sclerosis, and arthritis, differentiate from stem cells and ultimately affect the clinical outcome of these diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-inflammatory-cells-function-stage-future.html Inflammatory disorders Wed, 26 Sep 2012 13:24:34 EST news267884658 Wayne State University School of Medicine researchers, working with colleagues in Canada, have found that one or more substances produced by a type of immune cell in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) may play a role in the disease's progression. The finding could lead to new targeted therapies for MS treatment. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-team-clue-multiple-sclerosis.html Neuroscience Tue, 31 Jul 2012 16:41:14 EST news262971603 A research team led by Xian Chang Li, MD, PhD, Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) Transplantation Research Center, has shed light on how a population of lymphocytes, called CD4+ T cells, mature into various subsets of adult T helper cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-cell-receptor-proclivity-helper-cells.html Immunology Sun, 29 Jul 2012 13:00:01 EST news262779741 Two men with longstanding HIV infections no longer have detectable HIV in their blood cells following bone marrow transplants. The virus was easily detected in blood lymphocytes of both men prior to their transplants but became undetectable by eight months post-transplant. The men, who were treated at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), have remained on anti-retroviral therapy. Their cases will be presented on July 26, 2012 at the International AIDS Conference by Timothy Henrich, MD and Daniel Kuritzkes, MD, physician-researchers in the Division of Infectious Diseases at BWH. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-bone-marrow-transplant-hiv-infection.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 26 Jul 2012 14:30:01 EST news262525258 (Medical Xpress) -- Newfound details of the immune system suggest a role for never-before-considered drug classes in the treatment of allergic and autoimmune diseases, according to a University of Alabama at Birmingham study published online today in Nature Immunology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-shift-lupus-asthma.html Immunology Tue, 29 May 2012 09:14:41 EST news257501620 (Medical Xpress) -- An indication of whether a mother will develop pre-eclampsia, the most common and severe pregnancy-related disease, has been identified by a University of Sydney study. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-clue-pre-eclampsia.html Immunology Wed, 09 May 2012 08:52:41 EST news255772351 (Medical Xpress) -- Expanding on previous research providing proof-of-principal that human stem cells can be genetically engineered into HIV-fighting cells, a team of UCLA researchers have now demonstrated that these cells can actually attack HIV-infected cells in a living organism. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-stem-cells-hiv.html HIV & AIDS Thu, 12 Apr 2012 17:00:01 EST news253444610 To the surprise of investigating researchers, an animal model of Epstein Barr virus protected lupus-prone mice against development of the autoimmune disease. Earlier work had suggested that EBV might promote the development of autoimmunity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-epstein-barr-virus-autoimmune-disease.html Immunology Mon, 02 Apr 2012 15:00:04 EST news252585474 Scientists may have discovered a new paradigm for immunotherapy against cancer by priming antibodies and T cells with cancer stem cells, according to a study published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-cancer-stem-cell-vaccine-antitumor.html Cancer Mon, 02 Apr 2012 04:50:01 EST news252560217 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 Powerful new cells created by Cardiff University scientists from cheek lining tissue could offer the answer to disorders of the immune system. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-key-immune-disease-cheek.html Ophthalmology Wed, 21 Mar 2012 11:16:42 EST news251547394 Cold and flu symptoms have a significant impact on our economy. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-aged-garlic-ease-cold-symptoms.html Health Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:00:02 EST news250772280 A new study provides evidence that a critical type of immune cell can develop in human tonsils. The cells, called T lymphocytes, or T cells, have been thought to develop only in the thymus, an organ of the immune system that sits on the heart. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-tonsils-cells.html Medical research Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:46:07 EST news250188341 Breast cancer represents about a fifth of all cancers diagnosed in women. The reasons for the rapid progression of the disease remain relatively poorly understood but recent work in the group of Veronika Sexl at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna has pointed the finger strongly at loss or inactivation of the transcription factor STAT1. The results are published in the current issue of the journal Oncotarget. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-two-pronged-loss-stat1-bad-news.html Cancer Wed, 29 Feb 2012 09:10:13 EST news249729003 A scientific team led by researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the Charite Berlin Medical University has made a completely unprecedented discovery showing how much our immune system is provoked into action when confronted by viral intruders. The possibility of exploiting this mechanism in vaccines holds promise for the development of new ways of preventing and treating infectious diseases and cancer. The discovery is described in today's edition of the journal Science. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-cell-death-unleashes-full-human.html Medical research Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:00:07 EST news248009135 Immune cells capable of attacking healthy organs "see" their targets differently than do protective immune cells that attack viruses, according to work published online this week in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-autoreactive-cells.html Medical research Mon, 06 Feb 2012 12:00:07 EST news247751918 Leukemic cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (L-CTCL) is a leukemia arising from T-cells, a type of white blood cell. This cancer can involve the skin and other organs, and patients often die within three years. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-leukemia-drug-cancerous-t-cells-immunity.html Medical research Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:54:07 EST news246707598 Type 1 diabetes is caused by the body's own immune system attacking its pancreatic islet beta cells and requires daily injections of insulin to regulate the patient's blood glucose levels. A new method described in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Medicine uses stem cells from cord blood to re-educate a diabetic's own T cells and consequently restart pancreatic function reducing the need for insulin. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-stem-cell-therapy-reverses-diabetes.html Medical research Tue, 10 Jan 2012 05:40:03 EST news245395831 Positron emission tomography (PET) and a molecular imaging agent that captures the proliferation of cancer cells could prove to be a valuable method for imaging a form of Non-Hodgkin's disease called mantle cell lymphoma, a relatively rare and devastating blood cancer. The pilot study is published in the December issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-pet-technique-response-non-hodgkin-lymphoma.html Cancer Wed, 21 Dec 2011 12:31:44 EST news243693083 A new treatment using leukemia patients' own infection-fighting cells appears to protect them from infections and cancer recurrence following treatment with fludarabine-based chemotherapy, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The new process is a step toward eliminating the harsh side effects that result from the commonly prescribed drug, which improves progression-free survival in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) but destroys patients' healthy immune cells in the process, leaving them vulnerable to serious viral and bacterial infections. The drug's effects on the immune system tend to be so violent that it has been dubbed "AIDS in a bottle." http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-12-immune-leukemia-patients-chemotherapy.html Cancer Mon, 12 Dec 2011 03:59:37 EST news242884769 Human stem cells aren't immune to the aging process, according to scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The researchers studied hematopoietic stem cells, which create the cells that comprise the blood and immune system. Understanding when and how these stem cells begin to falter as the years pass may explain why some diseases, such as acute myeloid leukemia, increase in prevalence with age, and also why elderly people tend to be more vulnerable to infections such as colds and the flu. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-aging-stem-cells-higher-prevalence.html Medical research Mon, 28 Nov 2011 15:00:06 EST news241713853 Dendritic cells, discovered in 1973 by Ralph Steinman (2011 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine) and known for their role as sentinels of the immune system, have an essential function in the development of high endothelial venules (HEVs), acting as genuine entry sites of lymphocytes into lymph nodes, inflamed tissues and malignant tumors. This is what Christine Moussion and Jean-Philippe Girard, researchers at the Institut de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale (CNRS/France) showed in a study published online in the journal Nature on November 13, 2011. A better understanding of this process could lead to major applications in the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases and cancer. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-dendritic-cells-lymphocyte-entry-lymph.html Medical research Thu, 17 Nov 2011 08:28:06 EST news240740873 Researchers reporting online in the journal Cell on October 13th have found another good reason to eat your green vegetables, although it may or may not win any arguments with kids at the dinner table. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-green-veggies-immune-defenses.html Medical research Thu, 13 Oct 2011 13:22:31 EST news237730944 Most of the time, the immune system is the body's protector, warding off invading viruses and bacteria before they can lead to infection and disease. But in autoimmune diseases, the immune system does an about face, turning on the body and attacking normal cells. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-10-previously-unknown-cell-interaction-key.html Medical research Sun, 02 Oct 2011 13:00:08 EST news236778484 (Medical Xpress) -- Investigators have identified a new class of human immune cells that behave like stem cells. These cells, a subtype of T lymphocytes, which comprise a small fraction of white blood cells, may prove more effective than any previously reported type of T cell for treating tumors. The study, by scientists at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institute of Health, describes how these stem cell-like T cells can trigger a prolonged immune attack against tumor cells by continuously generating killer T cells and regenerating themselves. The findings were published online Sept. 18, 2011, in Nature Medicine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-09-scientists-approach-prolong-immune-tumor.html Cancer Wed, 21 Sep 2011 07:33:46 EST news235809166 New research led by Derya Unutmaz, MD associate professor, the Departments of Pathology, Medicine, and Microbiology at NYU School of Medicine and Mark Sundrud, PhD, of Tempero Pharmaceuticals, Inc., has identified a novel sensory pathway that modulates the potency of Th17 cell responses. The new research is highlighted in the August 8th online edition of the Journal of Experimental Medicine. The study has found that when memory Th17 cells are exposed to a class of secreted proteins called gamma-c cytokines (IL-2, IL-15 or IL-7), they become armed to release their potent immune mediators, which are also a family of cytokines (such as IL-17 and IL-22). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-08-mechanism-pro-inflammatory-cells.html Medical research Wed, 10 Aug 2011 13:37:04 EST news232202165 A new study reveals that just as different soldiers in the field have different jobs, subsets of a type of immune cell that polices the barriers of the body can promote unique and opposite immune responses against the same type of infection. The research, published online on July 21st by Cell Press in the journal Immunity, enhances our understanding of the early stages of the immune response and may have important implications for vaccinations and treatment of autoimmune diseases. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-skin-sentry-cells-distinct-immune.html Medical research Thu, 21 Jul 2011 15:40:39 EST news230481622 A trio of large-scale genome-wide association studies, or GWAS, have identified more than 15 gene variants responsible for the diversity of white blood cell counts among whites, African-Americans, and Japanese. Supported in part by the National Institutes of Health, each study examined the genomes of tens of thousands of people. Combined, the studies offer the first comprehensive analysis into why some people, and some populations, have more or fewer white blood cells than others. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-massive-genome-genetics-white-blood.html Genetics Thu, 30 Jun 2011 17:49:50 EST news228674977