Cell 'canibalism' educates our defenses
Phagocytosis is a biological mechanism whereby specialized cells ingest and degrade old, dead, or damaged cells to prevent tissue damage due to their accumulation. But phagocytosis appears to also have...
View ArticleImmune cells localized near pancreatic cancer cells have altered metabolism,...
A diagnosis of pancreatic cancer is a virtual death sentence, with only 3 to 5 per cent of patients surviving beyond five years. A key reason that it has the lowest survival rate of all major cancers...
View ArticleMacrophages need two signals to begin healing process
In the immune system, macrophages act not only as soldiers responding to invading pathogens but also help rebuild the injured tissue once the infection is defeated. A new study by Yale Medical School...
View ArticleUK researchers identify macrophages as key factor for regeneration in mammals
A team of University of Kentucky researchers has discovered that macrophages, a type of immune cell that clears debris at injury sites during normal wound healing and helps produce scar tissue, are...
View ArticleCancer immunotherapy may work in unexpected way
Antibodies to the proteins PD-1 and PD-L1 have been shown to fight cancer by unleashing the body's T cells, a type of immune cell. Now, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have...
View ArticleRadiation therapy, macrophages improve efficacy of nanoparticle-delivered...
A Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) research team has identified a surprising new role for the immune cells called macrophages—improving the effectiveness of nanoparticle-delivered cancer therapies....
View ArticleIdentifying underlying causes of immune deficiencies that increase shingles risk
Early life infections with varicella zoster virus cause chickenpox, but the virus can remain dormant in the nervous system for decades and reactivate to cause herpes zoster, commonly known as shingles....
View ArticleNew study reveals new drug target for gout and other inflammatory diseases
Particle-driven diseases sound exotic and include things like silicosis and asbestos, but actually also include much more common diseases like Alzheimer's, gout and even atherosclerosis. A new report...
View ArticleMacrophages as drivers of an opportunistic infection
The opportunistic bacterium Burkholderia cenocepacia is feared by cystic fibrosis patients and is emerging in hospital-acquired infections. An international study sheds new light on the infection...
View ArticleTargeting 'broken' metabolism in immune cells reduces inflammatory disease
The team, led by researchers at Imperial College London, Queen Mary University of London and Ergon Pharmaceuticals, believes the approach could offer new hope in the treatment of inflammatory...
View ArticleResearchers discover indicator of lung transplant rejection
Research by scientists at Dignity Health St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center's Norton Thoracic Institute was published in the July 12, 2017 issue of Science Translational Medicine titled "Zbtb7a...
View ArticleResearchers engineer macrophages to engulf cancer cells in solid tumors
One reason cancer is so difficult to treat is that it avoids detection by the body. Agents of the immune system are constantly checking the surfaces of cells for chemical signals that say they belong,...
View ArticleSingle strep bacteria protein sets off white blood cell's early warning system
Group A Streptococcus bacteria—the cause of strep throat and flesh-eating infections—have been well studied for nearly a century. But researchers at University of California San Diego School of...
View ArticleTesticular macrophages are guardians of fertility
The origin, development, and characteristics of two types of testicular macrophage have been described by a CNRS team at the Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy (CNRS / INSERM / Aix-Marseille...
View ArticleBlood-filtering organs fight infections that enter through the skin
New information about how and where the innate immune system fights off viral infections that enter through the skin could lead to better treatments for viruses like Zika, dengue and measles, according...
View ArticleUnderstanding how omega-3 dampens inflammatory reactions
Omega-3 fatty acids, which we primarily get through eating fatty fish, have long been thought to be good for our health. Many dietary studies have suggested that high intake is associated with a...
View ArticleScientists discover how tuberculosis hijacks the immune system
Scientists have unlocked a key element in understanding how human lungs fight tuberculosis (TB). They hope their research findings, which were published today in the international peer reviewed journal...
View ArticleStudy finds immune system is critical to regeneration
The answer to regenerative medicine's most compelling question—why some organisms can regenerate major body parts such as hearts and limbs while others, such as humans, cannot—may lie with the body's...
View ArticleDrug targeting could aid immune diseases
A new technique that targets drugs to specific cells could lead to improved therapies for diseases caused by an overactive immune response. The approach could help people affected by conditions such as...
View ArticleBattling belly fat: Specialized immune cells impair metabolism in aging
In a new study, Yale researchers have described how nervous systems and immune systems talk to each other to control metabolism and inflammation. Their finding furthers scientists' understanding of why...
View ArticleHow tuberculosis bacteria hide in the body
Tuberculosis bacteria hide in the very cells that would normally kill them. Now we know more about how they evade recognition. Tuberculosis affects millions of people worldwide. Treatment is often...
View ArticleSmart molecules trigger white blood cells to become better cancer-eating...
A team of researchers has engineered smart protein molecules that can reprogram white blood cells to ignore a self-defense signaling mechanism that cancer cells use to survive and spread in the body....
View ArticleResearch identifies potential targets for treatment of leishmaniasis
Brazilian researchers at the University of São Paulo's Bioscience Institute (IB-USP) are starting to unravel the molecular mechanisms by which the parasite that causes cutaneous leishmaniasis...
View ArticleStudy reveals new mechanism used by cancer cells to disarm attacking immune...
A new study by researchers at The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center - James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute (OSUCCC - James) identifies a substance released by pancreatic...
View ArticleSecond 'don't eat me' signal found on cancer cells
A second biological pathway that signals immune cells not to engulf and kill cancer cells has been identified by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
View ArticleScientists shed light on a tumor-suppressive protein in metastases
A new study conducted at the VIB-KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology in Belgium has labeled the protein Caveolin-1 as a high-potential target in the fight against cancer. Many research projects have...
View ArticleImmune cells play key role in early breast cancer metastasis even before a...
Mount Sinai researchers have discovered that normal immune cells called macrophages, which reside in healthy breast tissue surrounding milk ducts, play a major role in helping early breast cancer cells...
View ArticleCellular hitchhikers aid recovery from spinal cord injury
The healing effects of stem cells in spinal cord injury can be aided by their ability to hitch intercellular rides to specific anti-inflammatory cells called M2 macrophages, Yale researchers report.
View ArticleEffect of gut bacteria on specific immune cells underlies persistent liver...
Persistent liver inflammation in sufferers of chronic viral hepatitis is likely caused by interactions between pro-inflammatory immune cells in the liver and products from gut bacteria, according to...
View ArticleGenomics reveals key macrophages' involvement in systemic sclerosis
A new international study has made an important discovery about the key role of macrophages, a type of immune cell, in systemic sclerosis (SSc), a chronic autoimmune disease which currently has no cure.
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