Free Republic

Results from a study conducted at Georgia State University suggest that a "fight" between bacteria normally living in the intestines and the immune system, kicked off by another type of bacteria, may be linked to two types of chronic disease. The study suggests that the "fight" continues after the instigator bacteria have been cleared by the body, according to Andrew Gewirtz, professor of biology at the GSU Center for Inflammation, Immunity and Infection. That fight can result in metabolic syndrome, an important factor in obesity, or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The results were published in the journal Cell Host &...

We've seen promising moves towards developing a universal or near-universal influenza vaccine, but researchers at the Donald P. Shiley BioScience Center have taken a different tack to ward of the crafty virus. Although the flu virus actively keeps the immune system from detecting it for a few days, giving it time to gain a foothold, the researchers have found that a powerful synthetic protein, known as EP67, can kick start the immune system so that it reacts almost immediately to all strains of the virus. Previously, EP67 had primarily been used to help activate the immune response by being added...

Dieters desperate to get rid of that spare tyre can finally let it all hang out. That muffin-top could actually help to regulate the immune system and provide a first line of defence against infection and viruses. A hard-to-shift beer belly could even help regenerate damaged tissue after an injury. The fatty membrane in the belly, called the omentum, has never seemed to serve much of a purpose. But now the research by scientists in Chicago has shown it can be a health benefit - and their discovery could lead to the development of new drugs for organ transplant patients...

Enlarge Image Looking for trouble. Cytotoxic T cells like this one might react to distress signals released by dying or damaged body cells. Credit: Eye of Science/Photo Researchers Inc. In 1994, Polly Matzinger came up with a controversial idea. The immunologist at the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases proposed that alarm signals released from injured and dying cells can kick our immune system into high gear even when no microbial threat is evident. Many of Matzinger's colleagues ridiculed her "danger hypothesis," and it has remained divisive ever since. But a new study lends strong support to the...

The Texas Department of State Health Services will drop vaccines from the air Wednesday. It's part of the annual effort to protect people and livestock from rabies.

It is vital that the body's own immune system does not overreact. If its key players, the helper T cells, get out of control, this can lead to autoimmune diseases or allergies. An immune system overreaction against infectious agents may even directly damage organs and tissues. Immune cells called regulatory T cells ("Tregs") ensure that immune responses take place in a coordinated manner: They downregulate the dividing activity of helper T cells and reduce their production of immune mediators. "This happens through direct contact between regulatory cell and helper cell," says Prof. Peter Krammer of DKFZ. "But we didn't know...

DURHAM, N.C. - Immune system cells of the brain, which scavenge pathogens and damaged neurons, are also key players in memory and learning, according to new research by Duke neuroscientists. Earlier studies by Staci Bilbo, an assistant professor in psychology & neuroscience, had shown that laboratory rats experiencing an infection at an early age have an aggressive immune response to subsequent infections, which also harms their learning and memory. In a study published in the Oct. 26 Journal of Neuroscience, Bilbo's team identifies the source of the learning difficulties and traces it back to the immune system itself. The researchers...

STANFORD, Calif. — Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have discovered that many cancer cells carry the seeds of their own destruction — a protein on the cell surface that signals circulating immune cells to engulf and digest them. On cancer cells, this "eat me" signal is counteracted by a separate "don't eat me" signal that was described in an earlier study. The two discoveries may lead to better cancer therapies, and also solve a mystery about why a previously reported cancer therapy is not more toxic. In the study to be published Dec. 22 in Science Translational...

Researchers at BRIC, the University of Copenhagen, have discovered that the human body can create its own vaccine, which boosts the immune system and helps prevent chronic inflammatory diseases. The researchers’ results have just been published in the prestigious Journal of Clinical Investigation and may have significant consequences in developing new medicine.Researchers at the Biotech Research and Innovation Centre (BRIC) at the University of Copenhagen have discovered a protein normally found in the body that can act to prevent chronic tissue inflammation. When administered in the form of a therapeutic vaccine it is able to effectively prevent and treat a...

The adaptive immune system can recognize and respond specifically to particular infectious agents. But the first line of defence against pathogens is the so-called innate immune system. This system reacts to invaders by initiating unspecific inflammatory responses which attract various types of specialized cells such as neutrophils to the site of the incursion. "Neutrophils secrete proteins that inactivate bacteria and other microbes", says LMU researcher Professor Bernd Engelmann, "but they also play a role in blood coagulation." A research team led by Engelmann has now shown that the processes of blood coagulation and antimicrobial defence are functionally coupled -- and...

A new University of Illinois study touts the benefits of soluble fiber -- found in oats, apples, and nuts, for starters -- saying that it reduces the inflammation associated with obesity-related diseases and strengthens the immune system. This happens because soluble fiber causes increased production of an anti-inflammatory protein called interleukin-4, he said. Scientists have long known that obesity is linked to inflammatory conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease. Yet, in a recent study, the U of I scientists demonstrated that fat tissue produces hormones that appear to compensate for this inflammation. "There are significant anti-inflammatory components in fat...

Antibody Variation Is Not Evolution by Brian Thomas, M.S.* Researchers at Wayne State University in Michigan have uncovered a key step in the formation of antibodies. It was already known that the immune system generates a variety of antibodies in response to an invading pathogen. The recent study discovered that many of the necessary antibody variations are produced when a cellular copying procedure is slowed down.1 Antibodies are manufactured with variations on one end, the “light chain” end. When a specific light chain variation is found that locks onto the outermost molecules of the invading bacterium or virus, the antibody...

An international team of geneticists recently set out to explore in more detail the evolutionary relationship between humans and chimpanzees. Despite their assumption that man and chimp share a common ancestor, their findings are actually more consistent with the creation model...

Scientists at Stanford University in California have found another success story with the use of adult stem cells. Their studies of replacing the immune systems in mice come on the heels of a major announcement by scientists in Japan and Wisconsin that they were able to get adult stem cells to revert to their embryonic state. In this new advance, the Stanford team said it found a method of transplanting blood-forming adult stem cells into the bone marrow of mice and replacing their failed immune systems. Should scientists be able to replicate the studies in humans, it could provide a...

Tehran - Iranian health minister Kamran Baqeri Lankarani announced on Saturday that Iran's scientists have produced a herbal medicine to boost the human body's immune system against HIV/Aids. "The herbal-based medication, called Imod, serves to control the Aids virus and increases the body's immunity," Baqeri Lankarani was quoted as saying on state radio by the official news agency IRNA. "It is not a medication to kill the virus, it rather can be used besides other anti-retroviral drugs." The drug was made after five years' of research and had been tested on 200 patients, said IRNA. It said the drug was...

Role of the nervous system in regulating stem cells discoveredStudy led by Mount Sinai School of Medicine may provide new hope for cancer patients and others with compromised immune systems  New study by Mount Sinai researchers may lead to improved stem cell therapies for patients with compromised immune systems due to intensive cancer therapy or autoimmune disease. The study is published in this week's issue of Cell.  A group, led by Paul Frenette, Associate Professor of Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, found that the sympathetic--or "fight or flight" branch--of the nervous system plays a critical role in coaxing...

EVANSTON, Ill. -- A recent Northwestern University study found that a new treatment using stem cells might extend the lives of patients with lupus. Stem cell treatments could help patients with severe cases who have not responded to other options, according to a study published in the Feb. 1 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association. Lupus is a disease that causes patients' immune systems to become unable to distinguish between foreign substances and normal parts of the body. This causes the immune system to attack the patient's own cells and tissues instead of protecting them. Researchers, including...

Human stem cells trigger immune attackJessica Ebert Doubt cast on therapeutic use of embryonic cell lines. Exposure to molecules from animals might have made human stem cells unacceptable.© ANDREW LEONARD / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY Most human embryonic stem-cell lines, including those available to federally funded researchers in the United States, may be useless for therapeutic applications. The body's immune defences would probably attack the cells, say US researchers. When embryonic stem cells are added to serum from human blood, antibodies stick to the cells. This suggests the cells are seen as foreign, and that transplanting them into the body would...

While it might seem strange scientists would think to develop dipsticks to measure caffeine, how they're making them is even weirder. How about three llamas and two camels. The animals, both called camelids by scientists, are among the few whose immune systems produce antibodies that are not destroyed by hot coffee. We did not look into who figured that out or why. Anyway, the researchers injected proteins linked to caffeine into the five beasts to elicit an immune response. The animals produced antibodies in their blood that were reactive to caffeine. Then in the lab, these antibodies were found to...

...Don't count on having access to a reliable vaccine. First of all, no vaccine has proven effective at stopping even the current strain of avian flu, let alone the eventual mutation that truly threatens humans. Yes, it will be a related strain, but as experience has shown year after year with flu vaccines, in most cases, related is not close enough. If you don't have a vaccine for the actual strain that is causing the pandemic, the odds are not good that a "related" vaccine will help -- and no one can develop the proper vaccine until that final strain...