https://medicalxpress.com/immunology-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Allergy and immunology Researchers have uncovered a previously overlooked immune cell that can recognize and kill small cell lung cancer, the most aggressive form of the disease globally. Published in Cancer Cell, the WEHI study found patients with higher levels of these cells lived longer, uncovering a hidden immune defense that could be exploited to attack these hard-to-treat tumors. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-lab-grown-tumors-reveal-immune.html Thu, 15 Oct 2026 19:40:15 EDT news711297421 Heart failure (HF) is a condition in which the heart is not able to pump blood effectively. However, its effects go beyond pumping and circulation. HF is also known to cause a lasting form of innate immune memory in stem cells that synthesize blood and progenitor cells that are present in the bone marrow (BM). This can result in the production of immune cells that promote inflammation and worsen heart function. However, the exact mechanism of this process remained unclear. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-heart-failure-reshapes-bone-marrow.html Thu, 15 Oct 2026 18:40:04 EDT news711295802 A team led by Harvard Medical School researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute has developed a faster way to identify and engineer cancer-fighting therapies. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-antibody-screening-approach-immune-based.html Thu, 15 Oct 2026 16:10:01 EDT news711297542 Researchers at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center used a CRISPR screen to identify a key molecular pathway that drives exhaustion in cancer-fighting immune cells, limiting their ability to keep tumors under control. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-key-pathway-cell-exhaustion-cancer.html Thu, 15 Oct 2026 14:40:14 EDT news711291375 Exposure to nicotine during pregnancy and shortly after birth can have a lasting impact on a child's immune system and cause more severe respiratory infections later in life, a new study from researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, shows. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-early-nicotine-exposure-immune-worsens.html Thu, 15 Oct 2026 11:00:09 EDT news711188740 Colorectal cancer has become the leading cause of cancer-related death for people under 50. Its most common forms generally aren't treatable, either through conventional means like chemotherapy or newer immunotherapy drugs. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-cancer-protein-immune-cells-tumors.html Wed, 14 Oct 2026 17:20:08 EDT news711206902 A genetic switch that activates immune cells as they fight tumors: this is the new strategy developed by an international research team coordinated by Velia Siciliano at the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT—Italian Institute of Technology) in Naples and described in the journal Nature Communications. The study marks another step toward engineering precise and more effective synthetic immunotherapies against solid tumors, such as melanoma and breast cancer. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-reversible-genetic-cancer-immunotherapy-precise.html Wed, 14 Oct 2026 16:30:01 EDT news711211681 Food allergy is an important health concern in childhood, and knowing whether an allergy is likely to persist or disappear can affect medical decisions. Sensitization, however, is not the same as an allergy: specific IgE antibodies may be detectable without a child developing symptoms after eating the food in question. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-food-allergy-children.html Wed, 14 Oct 2026 12:20:15 EDT news711192566 In the past, immune cells were all simply known as white blood cells. Nowadays, we know that there are T cells, B lymphocytes, macrophages, autoreactive T helper cells, microglia, Tregs and others. Together, they form a team that patrols the body like a health police force. Their targets include viruses, harmful bacteria, fungi, parasites, cancer cells and toxins. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-immune-discoveries-reveal-body-defense.html Wed, 14 Oct 2026 08:00:01 EDT news711180557 A typical pregnancy lasts 40 weeks, but for about 1 in 10 pregnant women labor begins too soon. Premature or preterm birth is the leading cause of newborn deaths worldwide. Yet doctors have struggled to understand why preterm birth occurs—or how to predict which pregnancies are at highest risk. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-autoantibodies-linked-preterm-birth-women.html Wed, 14 Oct 2026 05:00:12 EDT news711018661 A team of scientists in Norway has found evidence for a new mechanism for the development of cancer in children: They seem to produce an unusual amount of aberrant antibodies against the building blocks that make up the DNA repair machinery, a diverse set of hundreds of proteins that identify and correct damage or errors in the genome. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-abnormal-antibodies-disrupt-dna-childhood.html Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:02 EDT news711017762 Results from a Phase I clinical trial led by The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center—Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC—James) show a possible way to improve therapy options for patients with relapsed or treatment-resistant B-cell blood cancers. The findings are published in Blood Cancer Discovery. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-car-cell-therapy-early-cancers.html Tue, 13 Oct 2026 19:00:01 EDT news711128462 Two new studies led by researchers at the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center provide new insight into how the immune system can successfully be activated against glioblastoma while revealing why these therapies have historically fallen short. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-scientists-clues-immunotherapy-effective-glioblastoma.html Tue, 13 Oct 2026 17:40:14 EDT news711123301 A Cleveland Clinic research team studying alcohol and the brain discovered a new way that alcohol abuse can cause brain dysfunction and damage: through immune cells called microglia. The research also identified a potential new treatment target. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-alcohol-brain-interact-immune-cells.html Tue, 13 Oct 2026 17:20:14 EDT news711122581 VIB researchers have developed a new human stem-cell-based model that recreates an early stage of immune-cell development and shows how a single progenitor population can give rise to specialized macrophages across different organs. The model provides a platform to study how these processes change in disease, and how they might eventually be harnessed therapeutically. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-human-stem-cell-reveals-tissue.html Tue, 13 Oct 2026 16:40:12 EDT news711121381 Some people are born with a defect in their genetic material that prevents their immune system from functioning properly. In people with a condition known as GATA2 deficiency, the body does not produce enough immune cells, leaving them at increased risk of infections and disease. Now, researchers at Aarhus University have demonstrated that they can repair the genetic defect directly in patients' own blood stem cells. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-prime-immune-disorder-defect-patient.html Tue, 13 Oct 2026 15:20:07 EDT news711116701 Acute interstitial nephritis (AIN) is a condition characterized by inflammation that damages the kidney's tubules and surrounding tissue. Often resulting from an immune reaction to common medications—including antibiotics, anti-inflammatory medications and drugs that treat acid reflux—the condition accounts for roughly 15% to 20% of biopsied cases of acute kidney injury (AKI), defined as a sudden decline in kidney function. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-kidney-biopsy-reveal-immune-clusters.html Tue, 13 Oct 2026 14:40:02 EDT news711113051 A preclinical study by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center has discovered how a protein called ZBTB44 helps prevent excessive immune activity that can cause inflammation in the colon, the main section of the large intestine. The findings, published in Nature Immunology, may help explain how immune responses go awry in a range of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-protein-reins-intestinal-inflammation-curbing.html Tue, 13 Oct 2026 12:20:22 EDT news711108541 Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) frequently develops in the oral and upper aerodigestive regions following chronic exposure to mutagenic factors such as tobacco, alcohol and betel nut. Alterations in the tumor suppressor genes TP53 and CDKN2A are among the most common genetic changes in HNSCC and often occur together in the same tumor. However, the consequences of these combined alterations during the early stages of oral carcinogenesis remain poorly understood. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-tumor-suppressor-gene-mutations-trigger.html Tue, 13 Oct 2026 11:40:01 EDT news711104064 Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and collaborating institutions in Texas developed an artificial intelligence (AI) model that helps explain how immune cells find their way to specific locations in the body and why they avoid others. The findings could help scientists better understand cancer, autoimmune diseases and treatment response. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-ai-tool-reveals-immune-cells.html Tue, 13 Oct 2026 10:00:13 EDT news711104282 Females with autoimmune diseases are significantly more likely than males to have their autoimmune disease misdiagnosed as a psychiatric or psychosomatic condition, according to a study of more than 6,600 patients. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-females-autoimmune-diseases-believed-males.html Mon, 12 Oct 2026 18:30:01 EDT news711018601 Babies are born with some immunity, but they do not have as many tools as adults to fight diseases. Exposure to pathogens helps build their immune repertoire, but it also leaves them vulnerable to infection because many immune defenses are still developing. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-early-gut-microbes-newborn-immune.html Mon, 12 Oct 2026 13:50:02 EDT news711030404 Urbanization and biodiversity loss have reduced human contact with the diverse microbiomes found in natural environments. Exposure to environmental microbes supports the normal development and regulation of the immune system. This reduction in exposure is considered a contributing factor to the rising prevalence of allergies, asthma, type 1 diabetes and other immune-mediated diseases. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-rewilding-urban-home-yards-benefit.html Mon, 12 Oct 2026 12:20:23 EDT news711022685 When you think of people being exposed to occupational hazards, hairdressers don't come to mind. That may be why regulators often overlook the risks faced by people in this profession. Scientists have uncovered one such risk, with hairdressers regularly coming into contact with substances that can trigger eczema or allergies. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-everyday-salon-tools-expose-hairdressers.html Mon, 12 Oct 2026 11:40:01 EDT news711017743 Two people infected with the same strain of COVID-19 can have vastly different experiences. One might never even sniffle, and the other might end up on a ventilator. But why? https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-cell-reveals-paths-vaccines-covid.html Fri, 09 Oct 2026 16:20:01 EDT news710766488 Researchers at Hokkaido University, in collaboration with an international team of scientists led by the University of South Florida Health and Tampa General Hospital, have uncovered an important mechanism behind immune evasion in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC). Their findings challenge a 30-year-old theory about cancer. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-tracking-molecular-malfunctions-metastatic-colorectal.html Fri, 09 Oct 2026 15:20:10 EDT news710766800 Vaccination is one of the most important tools for preventing infectious diseases and protecting public health. However, immune responses after vaccination vary dramatically from person to person: If you give many people the exact same vaccine, some will experience side effects such as fever and flulike symptoms while others feel fine. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-gut-microbes-body-inflammatory-response.html Fri, 09 Oct 2026 14:40:01 EDT news710770202 Vaccination not only prevents disease caused by acute infection but also protects against long-term immune-related sequelae that can follow an acute viral infection. This is the main conclusion of a study led by the Infection Biology Laboratory at Pompeu Fabra University. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-benefits-vaccination-infection.html Fri, 09 Oct 2026 14:20:07 EDT news710769901 The COVID-19 pandemic showed the challenges of protecting populations when a new respiratory virus emerges. Although vaccines were developed at unprecedented speed, there was still a period when vaccines were not yet available, and people remained vulnerable to infection. This raises an important question: Could the body's natural defenses be temporarily strengthened without knowing which virus will emerge? https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-nasal-vaccine-additive-flu-survival.html Fri, 09 Oct 2026 14:00:04 EDT news710695621 While birthday candles measure the number of years someone has lived, they don't always tell the full story about someone's health. Two people born on the same day can have immune systems that age differently, leaving some older adults with resilient defense systems and others with dysfunctional immune systems that increase their risk for age-related diseases. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-10-immune-cell-uncovers-individual-aging.html Fri, 09 Oct 2026 11:00:35 EDT news710666881