https://medicalxpress.com/immunology-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Allergy and immunology 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 Unlike adult hearts, the hearts of newborn mammals can temporarily regenerate after damage. However, this remarkable ability is rapidly lost within the first days of life. In a new study, scientists investigated how neonatal hearts respond to both heart injury and pressure overload, a condition that mimics chronic stress on the heart. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-tlr2-links-inflammation-neonatal-heart.html Mon, 17 Aug 2026 14:40:03 EDT news706190083 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 August is National Immunization Awareness Month—the perfect time to prepare for the viruses and bacteria that spread each fall and winter. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-winter-vaccines-respiratory-illness.html Fri, 14 Aug 2026 20:40:01 EDT news705924626 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 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 A new study led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has shown that inflammatory arthritis occurring as a side effect of immune checkpoint inhibitors behaves like an immune-memory disease, suggesting that certain immune cell populations could serve as biomarkers or targets for therapies. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-scientists-uncover-drivers-recurrent-arthritis.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 12:20:07 EDT news705747303 Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder in which the immune system reacts to gluten. More than 1% of the population in Germany is affected. In these individuals, gluten proteins found in wheat, rye and barley trigger inflammation in the small intestine, which can damage the intestinal villi and promote disease outside the intestinal tract. Despite following a gluten-free diet, up to 30% of patients with celiac disease still experience symptoms. This is usually due to unavoidable gluten contamination in their daily diet. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-humanized-mouse-significantly-preclinical-drugs.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 12:00:01 EDT news705747157 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 In a first-of-its-kind study by King's College London, researchers have linked changes in two major types of immune cells in blood to different survival outcomes for patients with melanoma. Melanoma, the fifth most common cancer in the U.K., is one of the deadliest forms of skin cancer but is highly treatable when caught early. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-differences-immune-cells-skin-cancer.html Tue, 11 Aug 2026 11:20:05 EDT news705654122 Researchers at National Jewish Health and partner institutions have discovered specific changes in immune cells in the lungs of people with sarcoidosis. Their findings help explain how this inflammatory disease develops and could support the development of new treatments in the future. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-reveal-insights-immune-cell-sarcoidosis.html Tue, 11 Aug 2026 07:20:01 EDT news705641281 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 Europe is in the grip of yet another deadly heat wave. Over 10,000 excess deaths were recorded during late June 2026 alone—and the toll keeps climbing. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-heatstroke-deadly-body-cools.html Mon, 10 Aug 2026 11:00:03 EDT news705572462 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