In a startling discovery that raises fundamental questions about human behavior, researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have determined that the immune system directly affects - and even controls - creatures' ...
Jul 13, 2016
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Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, clinicians have noted that certain patients are at especially high risk of developing severe illness or dying from coronavirus infection. Type 2 diabetes—a condition affecting more than ...
Sep 7, 2021
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A large team of researchers with members affiliated with a host of institutions in France has identified what they believe is a hallmark of severe COVID-19 patients. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group ...
A new inhalation treatment for preventing the spread of COVID-19 is potentially far more effective than currently existing versions, according to new research carried out at the University of St Andrews.
Oct 12, 2020
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Biomedical engineers at Duke University have demonstrated that human muscle has an innate ability to ward off the damaging effects of chronic inflammation when exercised. The discovery was made possible through the use of ...
Jan 22, 2021
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In a recent paper published in Cell Reports, Saint Louis University researchers have uncovered new answers about why cells rapidly age in children with a rare and fatal disease. The data points to cellular replication stress ...
Mar 19, 2018
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The body's first encounter with SARS-CoV-2, the virus behind COVID-19, happens in the nose and throat, or nasopharynx. A new study in the journal Cell suggests that the first responses in this battleground help determine ...
Jul 23, 2021
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Researchers worldwide have been surprised to see that individuals can be infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus—the virus that produces COVID-19—without showing symptoms. Since these individuals expose others to infection ...
Oct 28, 2020
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In a study of an all-oral drug regimen, a majority of volunteers with liver damage due to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection were cured following a six-month course of therapy that combined an experimental drug, sofosbuvir, ...
Aug 27, 2013
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Scientists have shed new light on early events in the battle between COVID-19 and the immune system in the nose, a key entry point for the virus.
Dec 7, 2021
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Interferons (IFNs) are proteins made and released by host cells in response to the presence of pathogens—such as viruses, bacteria, or parasites—or tumor cells. They allow communication between cells to trigger the protective defenses of the immune system that eradicate pathogens or tumors.
IFNs belong to the large class of glycoproteins known as cytokines. Interferons are named after their ability to "interfere" with viral replication within host cells. IFNs have other functions: they activate immune cells, such as natural killer cells and macrophages; they increase recognition of infection or tumor cells by up-regulating antigen presentation to T lymphocytes; and they increase the ability of uninfected host cells to resist new infection by virus. Certain host symptoms, such as aching muscles and fever, are related to the production of IFNs during infection.
About ten distinct IFNs have been identified in mammals; seven of these have been described for humans. They are typically divided among three IFN classes: Type I IFN, Type II IFN, and Type III IFN. IFNs belonging to all IFN classes are very important for fighting viral infections.
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