Igor Stagljar made his career building molecular tools to combat cancer. But when the pandemic hit last March, he aimed his expertise at a new adversary, SARS-CoV-2.
Most people with cancer who are infected by the novel coronavirus produce antibodies at a rate comparable to the rest of the population—but their ability to do so depends on their type of cancer and the treatments they’ve received, according to a new study by researchers at Montefiore Health System and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. The findings, published online today in Nature Cancer, may lead to better care for cancer patients, who face a heightened risk of dying from COVID-19, and suggests that cancer patients should respond well to COVID-19 vaccines.
A new research study at the University of Chicago Medicine has found that when it comes to COVID-19, having vitamin D levels above those traditionally considered sufficient may lower the risk of infection, especially for Black people.
Research from the University of Kent's School of Biosciences has revealed that a molecule produced by the human immune system can severely diminish the potency of certain antibiotics.
Erica Ollmann Saphire, Ph.D., has been appointed President and CEO of La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI), the Institute announced today. Dr. Saphire will become La Jolla Institute’s fifth president when she formally begins her term on September 1, 2021. She will succeed current LJI President Mitchell Kronenberg, who has successfully led the organization for the past 18 years.
Research reveals how mutated SARS-CoV-2 evades immune system defenses In lab-dish experiments, the mutant virus escaped antibodies from the plasma of COVID-19 survivors as well as pharmaceutical-grade antibodies Mutations arose in an immunocompromised patient with chronic SARS-CoV-2 infection Patient-derived virus harbored structural changes now seen cropping up independently in samples across the globe Findings underscore the need for better genomic surveillance to keep track of emerging variants Results highlight importance of therapies aimed at multiple targets on SARS-CoV-2 to minimize risk of resistance
Researchers found two simultaneous conditions in pregnancy's response to stress that made them realize just how complex the cross-talk between mom and baby is during gestation: Immune cells in the placenta and uterus were not activated, but significant inflammation was detected in the fetal brain.
Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have discovered that heparanase, HPSE, a poorly understood protein, is a key regulator of cells’ innate defense mechanisms.
Four months after launching the nation’s largest COVID-19 serological testing assessment, Texas CARES, researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) have compiled preliminary data estimating that 14% to 24% of Texans have COVID-19 antibodies.
Nick Pullen, Ph.D., an associate professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Northern Colorado, shares his expertise on the COVID-19 vaccines and debunks some of the myths surrounding them.
Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have implicated a type of immune cell in the development of chronic lung disease that sometimes is triggered following a respiratory viral infection. The evidence suggests that activation of this immune cell serves as an early switch that, when activated, drives progressive lung diseases, including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
The body's immune response plays a crucial role in the course of a SARS-CoV-2 infection.
The March 2021 issue of Toxicological Sciences includes exciting toxicology research in biotransformation, toxicokinetics, and pharmacokinetics; genetic and epigenetic toxicology; neurotoxicology; and more.
At the beginning of an immune response, a molecule known to mobilize immune cells into the bloodstream, where they home in on infection sites, rapidly shifts position, a new study shows. Researchers say this indirectly amplifies the attack on foreign microbes or the body’s own tissues.
Lymph nodes in the armpit area can become swollen after a COVID-19 vaccination, and this is a normal reaction that typically goes away with time.
By analyzing blood samples from individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2, researchers in Singapore have begun to unpack the different responses by the body’s T cells that determine whether or not an individual develops COVID-19. The study, published today in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), suggests that clearing the virus without developing symptoms requires T cells to mount an efficient immune response that produces a careful balance of pro- and anti-inflammatory molecules.
Discovery of a metabolic pathways that inhibit memory T cell production has potential for enhancing the immune system’s ability to fight infections and cancers.
Medical researchers have long understood that a pregnant mother’s diet has a profound impact on her developing fetus’s immune system and that babies — especially those born prematurely — who are fed breast milk have a more robust ability to fight disease, suggesting that even after childbirth, a mother’s diet matters. However, the biological mechanisms underlying these connections have remained unclear.
ROCKVILLE, MD – The Zika outbreak of 2015 and 2016 is having lasting impacts on children whose mothers became infected with the virus while they were pregnant.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has discovered a mechanism that tumors use to switch on protective regulatory T cells, raising the potential for drug treatments that render tumors more vulnerable to cancer immunotherapy.
Scientists at the Children’s Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern (CRI) have identified the specialized environment, known as a niche, in the bone marrow where new bone and immune cells are produced. The study, published in Nature, also shows that movement-induced stimulation is required for the maintenance of this niche, as well as the bone and immune-forming cells that it contains. Together, these findings identify a new way that exercise strengthens bones and immune function.
HSE University researchers have become the first in the world to discover genetic predisposition to severe COVID-19. The results of the study were published in the journal Frontiers in Immunology.
La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI), one of the leading research organizations dedicated to studying the immune system announced today that it has signed a licensing agreement with Leinco Technologies, Inc., a premier developer and manufacturer of leading-edge recombinant proteins, antibodies, and conjugates.
In patients with severe COVID-19, the innate immune system overreacts.
The course and severity of COVID-19 in individual patients is largely influenced by the interaction between the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and the human immune system.
Creating “super soldiers” of specific white blood cells to boost an anti-tumour response has been shown in a series of elegant experiments by Princess Margaret researchers.
A child’s first influenza infection shapes their immunity to future airborne flu viruses – including emerging pandemic strains. But not all flu strains spur the same initial immune defense, according to new findings published today by University of Pittsburgh virologists.
Extending the symptoms that trigger a PCR test for COVID-19 could help detect around a third more cases of the disease.
UC San Diego researchers report that individual immune response to SARS-CoV-2 may be limited by a set of variable genes that code for cell surface proteins essential for the adaptive immune system. The finding may help explain why COVID-19 immunity varies by individual.
Un estudio dirigido por investigadores de Mayo Clinic y publicado en Kidney International Reports (Informes Internacionales sobre el Riñón) descubrió que los inhibidores de los puntos de control inmunitario pueden tener consecuencias negativas en algunos pacientes, incluida una inflamación aguda del riñón conocida como nefritis intersticial.
A paper published today in Nature shows how chemicals in the areas surrounding tumors – known as the tumor microenvironment – subvert the immune system and enable cancer to evade attack. These findings suggest that an existing drug could boost cancer immunotherapy.
The healthy human oral microbiome consists of not just clean teeth and firm gums, but also bacteria living in an environment where they constantly communicate with the immune system. A growing body of evidence has shown that this system is highly influential on, and influenced by, our overall health.
DALLAS – Feb. 8, 2021 – A new nanoparticle-based drug can boost the body’s innate immune system and make it more effective at fighting off tumors, researchers at UT Southwestern have shown. Their study, published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, is the first to successfully target the immune molecule STING with nanoparticles about one millionth the size of a soccer ball that can switch on/off immune activity in response to their physiological environment.
Treatment with convalescent plasma vastly improved the survival rate of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 who also had hematologic malignances that compromise the immune system, according to new data released by the COVID-19 and Cancer Consortium (CCC19).
Wayne State University researchers have reported that zinc supplements for men and women attempting to conceive either naturally or through assisted reproduction during the COVID-19 pandemic may prevent mitochondrial damage in young egg and sperm cells.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a potential way to eradicate the latent HIV infection that lies dormant inside infected immune cells. Studying human immune cells, the researchers showed that such cells have a natural alarm system that detects the activity of a specific HIV protein. Rather than attack the virus based on appearance, this strategy is to attack the virus based on what it is doing — vital activities that are required for the virus to exist.
It is necessary to develop additional COVID-19 vaccines, as different vaccine approaches have their advantages and disadvantages and may work synergistically.
In a new study in Circulation, researchers from Tufts University School of Medicine in collaboration with investigators at Vanderbilt University and Tufts Medical Center reveal a mechanism that is activating T cells, a type of immune cell, and causing inflammation in the heart.
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (Feb. 3, 2021) — A pair of scientists from Van Andel Institute and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have been granted a three-year, $1.5 million Allen Distinguished Investigator award from The Paul G. Allen Frontiers Group, a division of the Allen Institute, to better understand how diet and metabolism influence the immune system’s ability to fight off threats such as infections.
Interim analysis from phase 3 trial of nearly 20,000 participants suggests efficacy of two-dose regimen of the adenovirus-based vaccine is 91.6% against symptomatic COVID-19 - trial reports 16 COVID-19 cases in the vaccine group (0.1% [16/14,964) and 62 cases (1.3% [62/4,902]) in the placebo group.
An alternative approach to train the immunity response is offered by researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago and California State University at Sacramento who have developed a novel strategy that redirects antibodies for other diseases existing in humans to the spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2.
Scientists are hoping advances in cancer research could lead to a day when a patient's own immune system could be used to fight and destroy a wide range of tumors. Cancer immunotherapy has some remarkable successes, but its effectiveness has been limited to a relatively small handful of cancers. In APL Bioengineering, researchers describe how advances in engineering models of tumors can greatly expand cancer immunotherapy's effectiveness to a wider range of cancers.
A surgical procedure meant to counter ulcerative colitis, an immune disease affecting the colon, may trigger a second immune system attack, a new study shows.
A new modelling study has estimated that from 2000 to 2030 vaccination against 10 major pathogens - including measles, rotavirus, HPV and hepatitis B - will have prevented 69 million deaths in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs).
A remarkable number of pharmaceutical company leaders and chief scientists will come together at a two-day symposium to present efficacy data and updates on twelve vaccines and vaccines candidates. This includes the Moderna and Pfizer mRNA vaccines that have been approved in the US for emergency use. Other topics will include: the clinical epidemiology of COVID-19; the virology, immunology, and genetics of SARS-CoV-2; and research on COVID-19 vaccines in in the elderly.
A new study by UC San Diego biologists has revealed insights on the intricate, adaptive mechanisms of a protective system employed by the cells of mammalian immune systems. These defenses have evolved to set a type of tripwire that produces an immune response against attack from viruses.
Researchers at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified how breast cancer cells hide from immune cells to stay alive. The discovery could lead to better immunotherapy treatment for patients.
Scientists discovered that the molecule AIM2 is important for the proper function of regulatory T cells and plays a key role in mitigating autoimmune disease. Treg cells are a seminal population of adaptive immune cells that prevents an overzealous immune responses.
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