http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Symptoms of an autoimmune disease disappeared after a team of scientists retrained the white blood cells. This method is extremely promising for treating diseases such as type I diabetes and multiple sclerosis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-autoimmune-diseaseretraining-white-blood-cells.html Immunology Mon, 17 Dec 2012 15:00:13 EST news274961600 A study published in the current issue of Cell Transplantation (21:8), now freely available on-line, reports that a team of researchers in South Korea have successfully engineered islet cell clusters (ICCs) that will improve pancreatic islet transplantation and offer promise for curing diabetes mellitus. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-islet-cell-advancement-impact-transplantation.html Medical research Tue, 27 Nov 2012 11:54:58 EST news273239689 (Medical Xpress)—Doctor Joel Weinstock, a parasitologist at Tufts Medical Center in a commentary piece published in the journal Nature, describes work that he and colleagues have been involved in that focuses on studying the possibility of introducing parasitic worms into the guts of patients suffering from autoimmune diseases such as Crohn's disease. The thinking he says, is that modern hygienic lifestyles may be contributing to such diseases and that reintroducing parasitic worms and perhaps certain bacteria into the gut may restore a natural balance in the gut and relieve patients of such symptoms as chronic diarrhea, bleeding and infections. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-parasitologist-espouses-parasitic-worms-treatment.html Immunology Thu, 08 Nov 2012 06:00:01 EST news271574652 Research just carried out in the Immunology Research Centre, led by Dr James Harris, based in the School of Biochemistry and Immunology, Trinity College Dublin, shows that the process of autophagy  regulates the production of inflammatory molecules and may therefore represent an effective target for the development of new anti-inflammatory therapeutics. The findings have been recently published online in the Journal of Immunology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-important-role-autophagy-self-eating-cells.html Medical research Wed, 24 Oct 2012 10:00:01 EST news270286150 (Medical Xpress)—Women with type II diabetes are nearly 30 per cent more likely to get breast cancer, according to results of a comprehensive review published in the British Journal of Cancer today (Friday). http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-post-menopausal-women-diabetes-greater-breast.html Cancer Fri, 14 Sep 2012 07:31:28 EST news266826679 Researchers have newly identified three genetic regions associated with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), the most common autoimmune liver disease, increasing the number of known regions associated with the disorder to 25. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-genetic-clues-primary-biliary-cirrhosis.html Genetics Sun, 09 Sep 2012 14:13:13 EST news266418772 (Medical Xpress) -- Short-term infection with intestinal worms may provide long-term protection against type I diabetes (TID), suggests a study conducted by William Gause, PhD, and colleagues at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School. The research has been published in the journal Mucosal Immunology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-short-term-intestinal-parasite-infection-triggers.html Immunology Thu, 19 Jul 2012 04:21:25 EST news261890478 Scientists at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have used injections of antibodies to rapidly reverse the onset of Type I diabetes in mice genetically bred to develop the disease. Moreover, just two injections maintained disease remission indefinitely without harming the immune system. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-07-antibodies-reverse-diabetes-immunotherapy.html Diabetes Thu, 05 Jul 2012 16:48:57 EST news260725717 Transplantation of a whole pancreas or isolated insulin-producing beta cells are the only therapy to cure type I diabetes. However, the shortage of organ donors limits this approach to only few patients. LMU researchers have now shown that beta cells from genetically modified pigs can effectively restore pancreas function and can protect porcine beta cells from immune rejection in animal models. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-xenotransplantation-therapy-diabetes-pig-beta.html Diabetes Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:12:56 EST news254401966 Insulin is required for the regulation of blood sugar levels. In type I diabetes, the cells that produce insulin are destroyed by the immune system. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-treatment-autoimmune-diabetes.html Diabetes Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:00:01 EST news253187398 Autoimmune diseases, such as Type I diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis, are caused by an immune system gone haywire, where the body's defense system assaults and destroys healthy tissues. A mutant form of a protein called LYP has been implicated in multiple autoimmune diseases, but the precise molecular pathway involved has been unknown. Now, in a paper published March 18 in Nature Chemical Biology, researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute show how the errant form of LYP can disrupt the immune system. In doing so, they also found a potential new therapy for autoimmune diseases—a chemical compound that appears to inhibit this mutant protein. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-breakup-proteins-immune.html Immunology Sun, 18 Mar 2012 14:00:23 EST news251296462 A study by Columbia researchers suggests that cells in the patient's intestine could be coaxed into making insulin, circumventing the need for a stem cell transplant. Until now, stem cell transplants have been seen by many researchers as the ideal way to replace cells lost in type I diabetes and to free patients from insulin injections. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-approach-diabetes-gut-cells-insulin.html Genetics Sun, 11 Mar 2012 14:00:12 EST news250688846 A research collaboration between the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and Children's Hospital Boston has developed "smart" injectable nanotherapeutics that can be programmed to selectively deliver drugs to the cells of the pancreas. Although this nanotechnology will need significant additional testing and development before being ready for clinical use, it could potentially improve treatment for Type I diabetes by increasing therapeutic efficacy and reducing side effects. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-smart-nanotherapeutics-drugs-pancreas.html Medical research Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:00:04 EST news245592376 New research reveals that insulin applied in therapeutic doses selectively stimulates the formation of new elastic fibers in cultures of human aortic smooth muscle cells. These results advance the understanding of the molecular and cellular mechanisms of diabetic vascular disease. The study is published in the February issue of the American Journal of Pathology. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-insulin-therapy-atherosclerotic-lesions-diabetic.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:01:04 EST news245336456 Researchers at the University of Colorado School of Medicine have found a specific molecule that can prevent the development of type 1 diabetes in mice and has a similar effect on human cells from diabetic patients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-11-molecule-diabetes-mice.html Medical research Tue, 01 Nov 2011 09:15:44 EST news239357735 Promising results of the Phase I clinical trial of the generic drug BCG (bacillus Calmette-Guerin) to treat advanced type I diabetes were announced today at the American Diabetes Association scientific sessions in San Diego. A research team led by Denise Faustman, MD, PhD, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Immunobiology Laboratory is presenting two abstracts (No. 2240-PO and No. 0057-LB) – the first which describes the apparent reproduction in human patients of the mechanism that reversed type 1 diabetes in a mouse model and the second proposing that lack of a key part of that mechanism may explain why recent trials of an antibody-based diabetes therapy were not successful. The Iacocca Foundation has been the primary supporter of this work. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-results-phase-diabetes-trial.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Sun, 26 Jun 2011 04:45:31 EST news228282312 Most degenerative diseases begin with a gradual loss of specific cell types that progresses, eventually leading to symptoms. For example, in type I diabetes, hyperglycemia commonly develops when approximately 80 percent of the beta cells in the pancreas are lost; in Parkinson's disease, motor dysfunction typically begins when neurons in a certain portion of the brain are decreased by 70 to 80 percent. Finding ways to stop early cell destruction is vital, but methods to do so have proven challenging because of limitations of models for early stages of cell loss. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-05-mouse-therapies-degenerative-diseases.html Medical research Mon, 16 May 2011 05:03:01 EST news224740958