News tagged with white blood cells

Stem-cell-based strategy boosts immune system in mice

Raising hopes for cell-based therapies, UC San Francisco researchers have created the first functioning human thymus tissue from embryonic stem cells in the laboratory. The researchers showed that, in mice, ...

Immunology created May 16, 2013 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers discover master regulator that drives majority of lymphoma

A soon-to-be-tested class of drug inhibitors were predicted to help a limited number of patients with B-cell lymphomas with mutations affecting the EZH2 protein. However, a research team, led by investigators at Weill Cornell ...

Cancer created May 13, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Hospital hypoglycemia rates up in black men with diabetes

(HealthDay)—Home diabetes regimens partially explain the increased risk of having a hypoglycemia event during hospitalization among older African-American men with diabetes, according to a study published ...

Diabetes created May 14, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Team finds antibody that transforms bone marrow stem cells directly into brain cells

In a serendipitous discovery, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found a way to turn bone marrow stem cells directly into brain cells.

Medical research created Apr 22, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (11) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Type 1 diabetes and heart disease linked by inflammatory protein

Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetes appears to increase the risk of heart disease, the leading cause of death among people with high blood sugar, partly by stimulating the production of calprotectin, a protein that sparks ...

Inflammatory disorders created May 07, 2013 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

T cells rely on 'rheostat' to help ensure that the immune response matches the threat

A properly functioning immune system is a lesson in balance, providing protection against disease without attacking healthy tissue. Work led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists and published recently in Nature Im ...

Immunology created Apr 30, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Genes and their regulatory 'tags' conspire to promote rheumatoid arthritis, study finds

In one of the first genome-wide studies to hunt for both genes and their regulatory "tags" in patients suffering from a common disease, researchers have found a clear role for the tags in mediating genetic ...

Genetics created Jan 20, 2013 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

White blood cells found to play key role in controlling red blood cell levels

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have found that macrophages – white blood cells that play a key role in the immune response – also ...

Medical research created Mar 17, 2013 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Synthetic derivatives of THC may weaken HIV-1 infection to enhance antiviral therapies

A new use for compounds related in composition to the active ingredient in marijuana may be on the horizon: a new research report published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology shows that compounds that stimulate the cannab ...

HIV & AIDS created Apr 30, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Respiratory Syncytial Virus: Study pioneers treatment for viral infection common in children

Researchers at Imperial College London have discovered a new way in which a very common childhood disease could be treated. In the first year of life, 65 per cent of babies get infected by Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Feb 04, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

The surprising ability of blood stem cells to respond to emergencies

A research team of Inserm, CNRS and MDC lead by Michael Sieweke of the Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille Luminy (CNRS, INSERM, Aix Marseille Université) and Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine, Berlin-Buch, ...

Immunology created Apr 10, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Toxic protein build-up in blood shines light on Huntington's disease

A new light-based technique for measuring levels of the toxic protein that causes Huntington's disease (HD) has been used to demonstrate that the protein builds up gradually in blood cells. Published today ...

Neuroscience created Sep 17, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New study confirms immune cells are guided by gradients

(Medical Xpress)—A group of researchers in Austria and Switzerland has for the first time proven that immune cells migrate along chemical concentration gradients. This process has long been assumed but ...

Immunology created Jan 18, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast report

New genetic mechanism for controlling blood cell development and blood vessel integrity found

The protein GATA2 is known as a "master regulator" of blood cell development. When a mutation occurs in the gene that makes GATA2, serious blood diseases such as acute myeloid leukemia can result.

Genetics created Sep 10, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Video reveals cancer cells' Achilles' heel (w/ Video)

(Medical Xpress)—Scientists from the Manchester Collaborative Centre for Inflammation Research (MCCIR) have discovered why a particular cancer drug is so effective at killing cells. Their findings could ...

Cancer created Apr 24, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

White blood cell

White blood cells (WBCs), or leukocytes (also spelled "leucocytes"), are cells of the immune system defending the body against both infectious disease and foreign materials. Five different and diverse types of leukocytes exist, but they are all produced and derived from a multipotent cell in the bone marrow known as a hematopoietic stem cell. Leukocytes are found throughout the body, including the blood and lymphatic system.

The number of leukocytes in the blood is often an indicator of disease. There are normally between 4×109 and 1.1×1010 white blood cells in a litre of blood, making up approximately 1% of blood in a healthy adult. An increase in the number of leukocytes over the upper limits is called leukocytosis, and in leukopenia, this number is much lower than the lower limit. The physical properties of leukocytes, such as volume, conductivity, and granularity, may change due to activation, the presence of immature cells, or the presence of malignant leukocytes in leukemia.

For more information about White blood cell, read the full article at Wikipedia.
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