https://medicalxpress.com/immunology-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Allergy and immunology 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 Researchers at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering and Keck School of Medicine of USC have engineered a genetic tool that addresses one of the most persistent obstacles in cancer immunotherapy: the physical softness of tumors. The work, detailed in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering, reveals how the soft environment of a tumor enables cancer cells to become "stealthy" and resistant to treatment, providing a mechanism to tag those evasive cells for destruction. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-tumor-soft-power-immunotherapy.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 15:20:01 EDT news705765601 Coronary artery disease, which is caused by plaque buildup in the arteries that supply blood to the heart, can appear stable for long periods without causing any symptoms. But the disease can become unstable at any time and cause a heart attack. Following a heart attack, low-grade inflammation can persist in the body for several months or even years. A large body of research suggests that this prolonged inflammation increases the risk of another heart attack. More than 20,000 people in Sweden suffer a heart attack every year. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-dysregulated-immune-cells-silent-inflammation.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 14:40:04 EDT news705763681 Every day, billions of cells in our body die and are removed as part of normal tissue maintenance. This continuous cleanup process is essential for keeping the immune system in balance and preventing harmful immune reactions against healthy tissues. Researchers at VIB and Ghent University have now discovered that a protein best known for sensing cellular stress also acts as a cholesterol sensor in specialized immune cells. Their findings reveal how these cells safely process dying cells and maintain immune homeostasis. The work appears in Nature Communications. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-immune-cells-cholesterol-sensor.html Tue, 11 Aug 2026 17:20:06 EDT news705683282 Researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, in collaboration with investigators at the University of Chicago, have developed a new computational framework that helps scientists identify genes that play central roles in diseases such as asthma but are often overlooked by existing genetic analysis methods. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-framework-pathway-asthma-inflammation.html Tue, 11 Aug 2026 16:00:03 EDT news705677762 New research led by the Hudson Institute of Medical Research has shown how a cell recognizes that it is infected with a virus to protect itself and surrounding cells or induce inflammation. The discovery, published in Nature Immunology and led by Dr. Natália Sampaio, turns our understanding of how inflammation begins at a cellular level on its head. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-cells-abnormal-rna-trigger-inflammation.html Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:40:01 EDT news705667201 Immunosuppressive medications help prevent organ rejection following transplantation, yet some patients still experience rejection despite receiving adequate treatment. New research from Yale, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, identifies a potential genetic mechanism underlying the increased risk in some patients of recent African ancestry, revealing changes in immune cell signaling that may contribute to kidney transplant rejection. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-genetic-variants-kidney-transplant.html Tue, 11 Aug 2026 11:20:07 EDT news705665881 The brain's immune cells are increasingly recognized as key players in Alzheimer's disease, but exactly how they change as the disease develops has remained unclear. A new study published in Nature Genetics provides the most comprehensive map to date of these cells, identifying a protective subtype of brain immune cells that expands as Alzheimer's disease progresses and uncovering the molecular pathway that enables these cells to help defend the brain. The findings offer new insights that could inform future Alzheimer's therapies. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-brain-immune-cell-defenses-shift.html Tue, 11 Aug 2026 05:00:01 EDT news705591601 HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that attacks the body's immune system and remains a major global health challenge because of persistent viral reservoirs, despite effective treatments. Key factors include around 40 million people living with HIV, 1 million new infections each year and permanent viral DNA integration into host cells. Some HIV proviruses hide quietly in cells and escape both medicines and the immune system, creating a permanent viral reservoir that prevents patients from being cured. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-hiv-proviruses-chronic-inflammation.html Mon, 10 Aug 2026 16:40:08 EDT news705587822 A team led by researchers from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), the HI-STEM Stem Cell Institute, and Medical Clinic V at Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD) has characterized T cells in the bone marrow of patients with multiple myeloma and acute myeloid leukemia. The work has been published in Cancer Cell. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-analysis-bone-marrow-cancer-cells.html Mon, 10 Aug 2026 16:00:06 EDT news705587282 Three research teams working independently around the world have landed on the same discovery: A single molecular "handshake" inside our cells controls a family of inflammatory diseases, including one of the most common inherited fevers on Earth. The finding solved a decades-old puzzle for one family and led to a treatment that worked almost immediately. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-mysterious-inflammatory-fever-bigger-story.html Mon, 10 Aug 2026 10:20:08 EDT news705575762 A new study that explores gene expression during heart transplant rejection marks a step forward for precision medicine approaches to treat organ rejection. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-molecular-reveals-hidden-cellular-heart.html Mon, 10 Aug 2026 05:00:01 EDT news705321148 Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is a hereditary autoinflammatory disease in which the body's own immune system overreacts to minimal or inappropriate stimuli, producing recurrent attacks of fever and painful inflammation. The disease is caused by mutations in MEFV, the gene that encodes a protein called pyrin. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-body-inflammatory-alarm-misfires-familial.html Fri, 07 Aug 2026 14:00:03 EDT news705236821 The human body experiences allergic reactions when the immune system mistakenly overreacts to harmless substances, known as allergens, such as pollen, dust or certain foods. While this often causes mild symptoms such as sneezing or a runny nose, it can sometimes trigger a severe, life-threatening reaction called anaphylaxis. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-critical-immune-pathway-skin-allergies.html Thu, 06 Aug 2026 16:20:04 EDT news705250981 Since its discovery in Japan in 2009, a deadly fungus has emerged in hospitals around the world. The pathogen, known as Candida auris, lives silently on the skin. But it can be deadly if it reaches the bloodstream, killing about 3,000 patients in hospitals and long-term care facilities a year in the U.S. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-deadly-candida-auris-hair-follicles.html Thu, 06 Aug 2026 14:00:20 EDT news705159661 The brain's immune system has long been thought to exist independently from the rest of the body, complete with its own specialized immune cells and a blood-brain barrier that limits what can travel into the brain. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-discovery-reveals-aging-human-brains.html Thu, 06 Aug 2026 13:00:06 EDT news705238022 About 2 meters (6.6 feet) of genetic material must fit into the nucleus of each of most of our trillions of cells, coiling and winding to form what looks like a tangled mess. But when genes are used, how they are used and how often they are used are completely intertwined with that mess. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-tonsil-genetic-spaghetti-yields-insights.html Thu, 06 Aug 2026 09:20:01 EDT news705226382 Six years after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists are still uncovering surprising ways the virus can wreak havoc on the body. A new UCLA study published in Science Advances describes a previously unrecognized way the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein—a structural protein less familiar than the spike protein that has dominated public attention and much vaccine research—can push the immune system into dangerous overdrive. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-lesser-sars-cov-protein-clues.html Wed, 05 Aug 2026 19:40:01 EDT news705168541 Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have discovered that immunosuppressed patients with non-melanoma skin cancer are not missing the key cancer-fighting immune cells found in immunocompetent patients, but those cells—known as macrophages—have lost the ability to communicate effectively. This new understanding may help researchers develop treatment approaches for these aggressive skin cancers. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-immune-cell-dysfunction-absence-skin.html Wed, 05 Aug 2026 17:20:05 EDT news705163321 Liver metastases are among the most common and deadly forms of cancer spread. Now, researchers at VIB and KU Leuven, with international collaborators, have discovered how cancer cells exploit a fatty acid abundant in the liver to evade destruction by the immune system. By disrupting this process, the researchers restored the cancer-fighting activity of immune cells called neutrophils and reduced metastatic growth. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-cancer-cells-hijack-fatty-acid.html Wed, 05 Aug 2026 15:00:01 EDT news705160681 Some 33 million Americans have severe food allergies. Now, researchers at Boston Children's Hospital may have found a promising solution. In a small clinical trial, Rima Rachid, M.D., director of the Food Allergy Program and the Allergen Immunotherapy Program, and Talal Chatila, M.D., director of translational immunology, and their colleagues found that some participants with peanut allergies experienced a higher tolerance to peanuts months after receiving a fecal transplant from a healthy donor without food allergies. Their findings are published in Science Translational Medicine. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-good-bacteria-fecal-transplants-peanut.html Wed, 05 Aug 2026 14:00:01 EDT news705075241 An immune pathway has been discovered that prevents a normally harmless fungus from developing into a fatal infection. The King's College London study, published in Nature Microbiology, provides the first potential clue as to why only certain patients with weakened immune systems, including those undergoing chemotherapy or living with HIV, are at risk of life-threatening Candida albicans infections. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-il-pathway-candida-fungus-fatal.html Wed, 05 Aug 2026 05:00:01 EDT news705055141 Macrophages formed in the bone marrow can only assume the function of embryonal phagocytes, or "scavenger cells," to a certain degree according to a study by the University of Bonn and the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity at the University of Melbourne. The researchers have demonstrated that malaria infection causes permanent damage to resident CD163 macrophages in the spleen, which are responsible for cleaning the blood, recycling iron and communicating with other cells involved in the body's immune response. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-malaria-permanently-deplete-spleen-macrophages.html Tue, 04 Aug 2026 18:20:06 EDT news705079261 The early period of life is a critical phase in which the immune system must learn to tolerate harmless environmental stimuli, such as food and microbes that normally live in and on the body, while remaining vigilant against harmful substances and pathogens. If it fails to strike the right balance, the individual may become more susceptible later in life to allergies and autoimmune diseases. During this sensitive window, the transition from breastfeeding to solid food represents a crucial shift, including in its effects on the immune system. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-pathway-transition-solid-food-immune.html Tue, 04 Aug 2026 16:40:03 EDT news705073741 A new study co-led by professor Valeriya Malysheva, group leader at the VIB-UAntwerp Center for Molecular Neurology, published in Nature Genetics, uncovers how the three-dimensional organization of DNA in rare immune cells can help explain genetic risk for Crohn's disease and other autoimmune conditions. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-3d-genome-rare-immune-cells.html Tue, 04 Aug 2026 16:20:07 EDT news705073317 Mayo Clinic researchers have identified a protein that cancer cells use to shut down the body's immune response, a discovery that could help scientists develop new treatments that make cancer immunotherapies more effective. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-immune-cancer-cells.html Tue, 04 Aug 2026 13:40:07 EDT news705063781 A massive analysis of immune cells in human tissue is yielding clues to the root causes of lung and autoimmune diseases. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-immune-cells-human-lung-tissue.html Tue, 04 Aug 2026 12:00:07 EDT news705062041 QIMR Berghofer researchers have found how breast milk supports infant immunity via a protein called osteopontin. The study also identifies a potential way of mimicking this protective effect in baby formula. The findings, published today in the journal Cell, reveal osteopontin triggers a cascade of biological signals that support immune cell development in a baby's liver and lungs and help protect against potentially deadly respiratory infections. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-breast-protein-osteopontin-shield-infants.html Mon, 03 Aug 2026 15:40:02 EDT news704986561 Microbiology researchers from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, have discovered why patients with the autoimmune disease lupus are susceptible to serious bacterial infections. Their new study published in Cell Press Blue shows that lupus-associated inflammatory signals can reprogram white blood cells, rendering them less effective against Staphylococcus aureus infection. Instead of producing the most protective antibacterial response, these neutrophils shift toward a less effective form of neutrophil extracellular trap (NET). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-lupus-linked-immune-misdirection-patients.html Mon, 03 Aug 2026 13:40:03 EDT news704980201