https://medicalxpress.com/immunology-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Allergy and immunology Researchers in Purdue University's College of Pharmacy have developed and validated a new series of small-molecule inhibitors that promote antitumor immunity and hold promise as anticancer agents. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-small-molecule-inhibitors-shown-robust.html Mon, 24 Aug 2026 16:40:10 EDT news706807622 Researchers at Columbia University have discovered a new type of cell that protects lung cancers from attacks by the immune system. The work, published in Nature Immunology, illuminates a previously unknown capability of lung tumors and suggests a new strategy for targeting the disease, which remains the leading cause of cancer-related death in the United States. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-cell-reveals-lung-tumors-suppress.html Mon, 24 Aug 2026 15:40:03 EDT news706800344 Cornell researchers successfully ramped up the body's own immune response to fight melanoma at the tail end of targeted cancer therapy, when tumors commonly become resistant to these therapies and leave behind residual cancer cells that can lead to more disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-immunotherapy-residual-melanoma-cells.html Mon, 24 Aug 2026 12:00:03 EDT news706790642 Imagine the body's immune cells as a neighborhood cleanup crew. When all is healthy, macrophages roam tissues, clearing away cellular debris and helping maintain order. But obesity can turn these normally protective cells into drivers of chronic inflammation and metabolic disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-macrophage-molecular-scissors-obesity-linked.html Sun, 23 Aug 2026 10:20:01 EDT news706201640 Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease that, according to the CDC, currently affects around 35,000 Americans—with 5,000 more diagnosed each year. Risk climbs with age, and treatments only slow progression. With no cure and an aging population, scientists are urgently seeking insights that could change those devastating outcomes. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-microglia-caught-motor-neurons-als.html Thu, 20 Aug 2026 19:40:01 EDT news706465142 Bacteria in lung tumors may boost the activation of innate immune cells in the presence of a common vitamin metabolite, according to a preclinical study by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and its Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-lung-tumor-bacteria-vitamin-b2.html Thu, 20 Aug 2026 15:00:03 EDT news706448161 Immunotherapy has transformed outcomes for many cancer patients. Unlike conventional treatments, these therapies do not attack tumors directly. Instead, they enable the body's immune system to identify and kill cancer cells that had previously escaped elimination. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-math-medicine-cancer-mystery.html Thu, 20 Aug 2026 12:20:02 EDT news706444381 University of Alabama researchers have found that a combination of an existing immunosuppressant drug and a compound derived from dietary sources showed greater benefit than either treatment alone in a preclinical model of lupus. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-dietary-compound-boosts-immunosuppressant-effect.html Thu, 20 Aug 2026 12:00:05 EDT news706444262 Vaccines protect most people from serious illness, but the strength of that protection can vary considerably from one person to another. A new study led by Arizona State University helps us understand why. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-immune-responses-vaccines-vary-person.html Thu, 20 Aug 2026 11:00:10 EDT news706347841 Innovative research led by a University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine professor whose lab focuses on mechanisms that maintain a healthy immune system has discovered that a gene best known for increasing the risk of Parkinson's disease may also give the body an edge in fighting dangerous infections. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-parkinson-linked-gene-clues-deadly.html Thu, 20 Aug 2026 10:20:01 EDT news706437927 Could AI hold the key to answering questions that have stumped doctors and scientists for decades? A recent study at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) borrows concepts from machine learning to address an age-old riddle of immunology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-immune-ai.html Wed, 19 Aug 2026 14:00:06 EDT news706195801 The human immune system has specialized cells called CD4 cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CD4 CTLs), which have been shown to kill tumor cells in some cancers. When a person gets sick, these cells multiply in a process called clonal expansion to help fight infection. In a study published in the journal Cell Reports on Aug. 19, researchers show that these immune cells also may play a role in healthy aging among supercentenarians. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-supercentenarians-abundance-cancer-immune-cells.html Wed, 19 Aug 2026 11:00:06 EDT news706195741 Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered lymph node-like structures in the skull bone marrow of mice for the first time and demonstrated that they act as rapid first responders against brain cancer before distant lymph nodes get the signal that abnormal cells are present. The researchers also found evidence of similar immune cells in human skull bone marrow. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-newly-immune-skull-brain-defense.html Wed, 19 Aug 2026 11:00:03 EDT news706265402 Age, genetics and lifestyle are known to influence how people respond to viral infections. Scientists also know that differences in immune responses play an important role, but exactly how these factors shape the course of an infection has remained unclear. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-early-immune-checkpoint-virus-affects.html Wed, 19 Aug 2026 10:20:08 EDT news706353181 As the immune system battles cancer, chronic stimulation gradually drives T cells to a state of exhaustion. But some of these exhausted T cells can lose expression of the exhaustion marker LAG3, move out of the tumor and confer long-lasting immunity to cancer in mice, according to a surprising new study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine that describes a new method to track these cells for the first time. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-cells-ditch-exhaustion-marker-tumors.html Tue, 18 Aug 2026 19:40:08 EDT news706293781 Crohn's disease, a condition characterized by widespread inflammation in the gut, may arise from a weakened immune response, according to new research from the University of Toronto's Temerty Faculty of Medicine. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-immune-defect-crohn-disease-motion.html Tue, 18 Aug 2026 17:40:05 EDT news706287121 Immune checkpoint inhibitors have revolutionized cancer treatment, yet many colorectal tumors remain resistant. Even among patients who initially respond, more than half eventually develop resistance, highlighting the need to better understand how tumors evade immune attack. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-mechanistic-insights-role-inflammatory-molecules.html Tue, 18 Aug 2026 12:00:08 EDT news706271101 A research group has revealed through studies in humans and mice that a subset of clear cell ovarian cancers, which have been considered difficult to treat with anticancer drugs and immunotherapy, responds to immunotherapy. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-immunotherapy-effective-subtype-difficult-ovarian.html Mon, 17 Aug 2026 17:20:05 EDT news706205462 Despite widespread COVID-19 infection in the Tsimané and Moseten populations of Bolivia, the mortality rate in these remote Indigenous groups was the lowest ever recorded for any population or region. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-tsiman-moseten-peoples-lowland-bolivia.html Mon, 17 Aug 2026 15:40:07 EDT news706199161 Northwestern Medicine scientists have uncovered a previously hidden immune environment in the thymus that may help drive myasthenia gravis (MG), a chronic autoimmune disease that causes muscle weakness and fatigue, mainly affecting women younger than 40 and men older than 60. Using the largest known cellular and spatial map of the MG thymus ever assembled, scientists identified specialized immune cells and survival signals that may help sustain the disease, opening new avenues for future research and treatment. The study is published in Science Advances. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-hidden-immune-environment-uncovered-thymuses.html Mon, 17 Aug 2026 14:40:05 EDT news706192921 Obesity can weaken the immune system's tumor-killing responses in lung cancer, leading to disease progression, but a new study by experts at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center reveals that exercise may reverse this effect. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-obesity-weakens-anti-tumor-immune.html Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:40:07 EDT news706185962 The SARS-CoV-2 genome is subject to constant mutations. Some of these mutations reduce the effectiveness of RNA-based vaccines, which consequently have to be adapted regularly. Until now, however, it was unclear how the immune system reacts to new virus variants. Are mainly pre-existing memory B cells reactivated, or are new naive B cells also activated on a larger scale? This question is particularly relevant for people whose immune response has already been shaped by previous vaccinations and infections. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-booster-vaccination-defenses-covid-variants.html Mon, 17 Aug 2026 12:20:03 EDT news706185901 We usually think of bodily sensations as information the brain receives. What if the way we attend to those sensations can feed back and change the biological response itself? https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-focusing-bodily-sensations-dampen-acute.html Mon, 17 Aug 2026 05:00:01 EDT news705856921 For more than a decade, CAR-T cell therapy has been one of the biggest breakthroughs in cancer medicine. By reprogramming a patient's own immune cells to attack cancer, doctors have produced remarkable results against certain blood cancers, offering hope to patients who once had few treatment options. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-car-cells-solid-tumors-cancer.html Sun, 16 Aug 2026 12:00:01 EDT news705918650 Immunotherapy that targets tumor-associated macrophages, a type of immune cell in the tumor microenvironment, works only if the cells have a functional system of molecules that enables them to respond to the treatment. This is shown in a new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in the journal Nature Communications. The findings may help identify which tumors could respond to the treatment and open up new combination therapies for cancer. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-mechanism-macrophage-cancer-immunotherapy.html Fri, 14 Aug 2026 14:20:03 EDT news705932761 Biologic medicines have transformed the treatment of cancer, autoimmune diseases, migraine, inflammatory disorders and many other conditions. Yet their growing use among women of reproductive age constitutes a major clinical challenge because therapeutic IgG antibodies are actively transported across the placenta to the developing fetus. Evidence supporting the safe use of such therapeutics during pregnancy remains limited. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-placental-mechanism-safer-biologic-medicines.html Fri, 14 Aug 2026 14:00:02 EDT news705857652 Outfitting cells in "invisibility cloaks" may offer an easier, less damaging treatment pathway for people with diabetes undergoing cell therapy, according to researchers at Penn State. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-cell-invisibility-cloaks-side-effect.html Fri, 14 Aug 2026 05:00:02 EDT news705833941 Researchers from the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore (CSI Singapore) at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have uncovered a previously unknown mechanism that helps cancer cells evade detection by the body's immune system. The finding could pave the way for the development of more effective cancer immunotherapies. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-scientists-uncover-hidden-cancer-cells.html Thu, 13 Aug 2026 16:00:02 EDT news705849242 Antibodies are an important defense against SARS-CoV-2, but the virus continues to evolve ways to evade them. Now, researchers have mapped how antibodies target a key region of the virus's spike protein, how they neutralize the virus and how emerging variants escape them. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-spike-sars-cov-variants-dodge.html Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:00:05 EDT news705839259 For patients with blood cancers like leukemia and lymphoma, the immunotherapy known as CAR-T cell therapy can be lifesaving. Doctors remove a patient's immune cells, called T cells, engineer them in the lab to better recognize and attack cancer, and infuse them back into the bloodstream. But for solid tumors—which include lung, pancreatic, ovarian, colon, breast and other cancer types—these engineered immune cells still face too much resistance to effectively treat the disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-vivo-crispr-screen-gene-car.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 18:40:03 EDT news705772141