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Immunology news

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Viruses found hiding in lungs' immune cells long after initial illness

Doctors have long known that children who become seriously ill with certain respiratory viruses such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) are at elevated risk of developing asthma later in life. What they haven't known is ...

Oncology & Cancer

Curbing blood cancers by teaching immune cells to kill mutant stem cells

Blood stem cells, which give rise to all of our blood cell types, undergo a quality assurance process after they're born. As the lab of Leonard Zon, MD, director of the Stem Cell Research program at Boston Children's, has ...

Cardiology

New cardiovascular disease risk marker discovered in older women

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have identified a new potential risk marker for cardiovascular disease in women. A new study shows an association between low levels of an anti-inflammatory antibody and the risk of heart ...

Oncology & Cancer

Blood cancers: Expert explains what you need to know

Blood cancer is not a diagnosis anyone wants to receive, but understanding the different types of this disease and how best to catch them early is essential, one expert says.

Oncology & Cancer

What is CAR-T cell therapy? Oncologist explains

Roughly 635,000 new cases of lymphoma were diagnosed worldwide, according to the World Cancer Research Fund International's most recent report. Survival rates for aggressive lymphomas have improved significantly thanks to ...

Immunology

Circadian rhythm disruption linked to lung inflammation

In a study published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology, researchers at the University of Arizona Health Sciences Center for Sleep, Circadian and Neuroscience research have explored the effects of circadian rhythm disruption ...

Immunology

Molecular component of caffeine may play a role in gut health

Brigham researchers studying how and why certain cell types proliferate in the gut found that xanthine, which is found in coffee, tea and chocolate, may play a role in Th17 differentiation. Insights may help investigators ...

Immunology

Fats can help tag medical implants as friend or foe

Rice University bioengineer Omid Veiseh and collaborators have found that lipid deposition on the surfaces of implants can play a mediating role between the body and implants, with some lipids acting as peacekeepers while ...

Neuroscience

Epilepsy could become easier to pinpoint with blood test

Researchers from Lund University in Sweden have discovered higher levels of immune proteins in the blood before and after an epileptic seizure. The possible biomarkers can be identified using a simple blood test. Diagnosing ...

Immunology

Immune cells hold clues to vitamin D absorption, study suggests

Vitamin D plays an integral role in regulating immune function, and Penn State researchers have identified immune cells in mice that can be differentiated by whether or not they have vitamin D receptors—a finding that could ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes

Study finds RSV may evade vaccines via rapid mutation

For most people, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is about as dangerous as the common cold. But for children younger than six months old, and for people whose immune defenses have been weakened by age, disease, chemotherapy ...

Immunology

Study shows immune cells have a backup mechanism

The enzyme TBK1 is an important component of the innate immune system that plays a critical role in the defense against viruses. Upon mutation-induced loss of TBK1 function, patients show an increased susceptibility to viral ...

Immunology

In search of the 'inflammatory Achilles heel'

When our bodies become infected, various immune responses are triggered, starting with a release of granulocytes, white blood cells containing special enzymes that make up about half or more of all human white blood cells.