New clues found to vision loss in macular degeneration?
Scientists have identified a pathway that leads to the formation of atypical blood vessels that can cause blindness in people with age-related macular degeneration.
View ArticlePowering off TB: New electron transport gene is a potential drug target
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently approved the first new drug to fight tuberculosis (TB) in more than 40 years, but treatment still takes six months, 200 pills and leaves 40 percent of...
View Article'Eat me' signal whets appetites for tumor-devouring dendritic cells
By changing the mouse model they use to study how the immune system responds to cancer, a team of researchers hopes to shift the focus for one emerging form of cancer immunotherapy back to the standard...
View ArticleProtein NBS1 is crucial for macrophage functional activity
Protein NBS1, which plays a key role in DNA damage repair, is required for macrophage functional activity. This is one of the conclusions of a scientific paper published in the journal Blood by a team...
View ArticlePredictive model could help guide choices for breast cancer therapies
Biomedical engineers have demonstrated a proof-of-principle technique that could give women and their oncologists more personalized information to help them choose options for treating breast cancer.
View ArticleBoosting the brain's waste disposal system
Universitätsmedizin Berlin have been investigating the extent to which macrophages, a type of phagocytic immune cell, might be used to eliminate the abnormal protein deposits typically found in the...
View ArticleStudy shows algae virus can infiltrate mammalian cells
New research led by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has provided the first direct evidence that an algae-infecting virus can invade and potentially replicate within some mammalian cells.
View ArticleThe innate immune system modulates the severity of multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis, a debilitating neurological disease, is triggered by self-reactive T cells that successfully infiltrate the brain and spinal cord where they launch an aggressive autoimmune attack...
View ArticleNew study reveals how specialized cells help each other survive during times...
Nov. 3, 2015 - A team led by scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and the University of Pittsburgh has shown for the first time how one set of specialized cells...
View ArticleStudy sheds light on side effects of COX-2 drugs
It's been about a decade since the promise of COX-2 inhibitors—drugs that relieve arthritis pain and inflammation without the gastrointestinal side effects of other painkillers—was tempered by the...
View ArticleStem cell treatment mediates immune response to spinal cord injury in...
When a blunt-force blow injures the spinal cord, the body's immune system can be both friend and foe. Sensing the injury, the immune system dispatches an inflammatory response composed of specialized...
View ArticleTrial combining exercise and a drug may help seniors muscle up
A drug that might help older adults regrow muscle is under investigation at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. UAB is recruiting healthy adults age 65 and older for a study combining strength...
View ArticleScientists redefine arterial wall inflammation, offer cardiovascular disease...
Researchers from the University of Toronto have found that a specific cell type plays a key role in maintaining healthy arteries after inflammation. It's a discovery that could provide treatment...
View ArticleResearchers identify molecule with anti-inflammatory properties in maple syrup
Arthritis and other inflammatory diseases could someday be treated with medication containing a molecule from maple syrup. Université Laval researchers demonstrated in a recent study that quebecol, a...
View ArticleHarnessing the body's immune system to heal wounds naturally
In what could be a pivotal step toward repairing non-healing wounds and damaged organs, a Drexel University biomedical engineer has identified an immune cell as a potential strategy for growing blood...
View ArticleResearchers further illuminate pathway for treatment of cystic fibrosis
It is well established that people with cystic fibrosis (CF) have two faulty copies of the CFTR gene, but debate continues on the question of whether certain symptoms of the airway disease are caused...
View ArticleThe neurons in our gut help the immune system keep inflammation in check
The immune system exercises constant vigilance to protect the body from external threats—including what we eat and drink. A careful balancing act plays out as digested food travels through the...
View ArticleMacrophages are shown to originate from two distinct sources during the...
A long-held misconception over the origin of macrophages, a type of white blood cell that plays a vital role in development and immunity, has been dismissed. Researchers at A*STAR used state-of-the-art...
View ArticleTuning macrophages a 'breakthrough' in cancer immunotherapy
Similar to stem cells differentiating to make your body's tissues, the immune system's macrophages pick a life path, differentiating into macrophages that recruit resources for wound repair or...
View ArticleMitophagy in macrophages is a key step toward pulmonary fibrosis
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a devastating disease, and recently approved therapies have limited efficacy. Lungs become damaged with fibrotic scarring, and the median length of survival after...
View Article