Bone drug should be seen in a new light for its anti-cancer properties
Australian researchers have shown why calcium-binding drugs commonly used to treat people with osteoporosis, or with late-stage cancers that have spread to bone, may also benefit patients with tumours...
View ArticleImmune system research also may help reveal new asthma clues
A new method of developing vaccines could point the way forward in the fight against infectious diseases for which traditional vaccination has failed, according to a new Rutgers study.
View ArticleScientists uncover a role for carbon monoxide in battling bacterial infections
The innate immune system serves as the body's specialized armed forces division, comprised of a host of defense mechanisms used to battle bacterial infections. Among the system's warriors are white...
View ArticleMacrophages chase neutrophils away from wounds to resolve inflammation
Macrophages are best known for their Pac Man-like ability to gobble up cellular debris and pathogens in order to thwart infection. A new study in The Journal of Cell Biology describes how these immune...
View ArticleTuberculosis avoids and subverts host immunity
An ancient disease, tuberculosis (TB) continues to be one of the major causes of disability and death worldwide. The recent TB cases in Quebec among the Inuit community has underscored the need to find...
View ArticleUnderstanding the origins and function of CD14+ immune cells
Dendritic cells and macrophages are immune cells that orchestrate diverse immune functions within many body tissues, including the skin. New work by A*STAR researchers and colleagues shows that CD14+...
View ArticleOne step closer to defeating Alzheimer's disease
Tackling brain inflammation ameliorates Alzheimer's disease (AD), according to a study published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.
View ArticleResearchers change human leukemia cells into harmless immune cells
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered that when a certain aggressive leukemia is causing havoc in the body, the solution may be to force the cancer cells to grow up...
View ArticleMacrophages may play critical role in melanoma resistance to BRAF inhibitors
In the last several years, targeted therapies - drugs that directly impact specific genes and proteins involved in the progression of cancer - have been approved for a wide variety of cancers,...
View ArticleNew metabolic mechanisms discovered that regulate the macrophage's role in...
A group of researchers from Washington University in St. Louis, Agios Pharmaceuticals and ITMO University has discovered new metabolic mechanisms that regulate macrophage polarization - the unique...
View ArticleNew treatment for scaffold creates healthier engineered bladder tissue
A new technique to create tissue-engineered bladders has been shown to decrease scarring and significantly increase tissue growth. The bladders are produced using scaffolds coated with...
View ArticleMacrophages as T-cell primers
New work by Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich researchers demonstrates that macrophages can effectively substitute for so-called dendritic cells as primers of T-cell-dependent immune...
View ArticleFinding points to a cause of chronic lung disease
Scientists have long suspected that respiratory viruses—the sort that cause common colds or bronchitis—play a critical role in the long-term development of chronic lung diseases such as asthma and...
View ArticleSurprising contributor to Rett syndrome identified
The immune system is designed to protect us from disease. But what if it was malfunctioning? Would it make a disease worse? That appears to be the case with Rett syndrome, a neurodevelopmental...
View ArticleMonocytes and macrophages may promote human cancer growth
White blood cells such as monocytes and macrophages are known mediators of inflammation, and according to new findings by researchers at A*STAR, also play a key role in promoting human cancer.
View ArticleScientists look at links between HAP and lung infections including pneumonia
Scientists at LSTM have come a step closer to understanding why people exposed to household air pollution (HAP) are at higher risk of lung infections such as pneumonia and tuberculosis.
View ArticleNew research implicates immune system in Rett syndrome
New research by investigators at the University of Massachusetts Medical School suggests the immune system plays an unsuspected and surprising role in the progression of Rett syndrome, a severe...
View ArticleStudy shows role of disease-fighting cells in HIV-related neurological damage
Despite symptom-stifling anti-retroviral drugs, as many as half of all patients living with HIV experience neurological damage tied to chronic inflammation in the brain fueled by the body's own immune...
View ArticleHow the tuberculosis bacterium tricks the immune system
Scientists at EPFL have discovered how the tuberculosis bacterium can trick the patient's immune cells to lower their defenses.
View ArticleFindings identify receptors modulating macrophage responses to spinal cord...
Macrophages are cellular sentinels in the body, assigned to identify "attacks" from viruses, bacteria, or fungi and sound the alarm when they are present. However, these cells are a "double edged...
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