Immunology News and Research

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Immunology is the study of the body's immune system.

Combination drugs for COVID-19 show promise in laboratory tests

Six months into the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 7.4 million people have been infected, and more than 410 000 have died. As yet, there is no treatment or vaccine for the disease.

16 Jun 2020

Potent human antibodies protect against SARS-CoV-2 in animal tests

A team led by Scripps Research has discovered antibodies in the blood of recovered COVID-19 patients that provide powerful protection against SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the disease, when tested in animals and human cell cultures.

16 Jun 2020

Baylor researchers uncover a novel mechanism that triggers cellular immune response

Viruses and other disease-causing microbes influence the type of immune response their hosts will develop against them. In some cases, the predominant response involves antibodies, proteins made by the immune system that specifically recognize parts of the invading microbe and mediate its destruction.

12 Jun 2020

Lungs' immune cells can be activated more easily than previously thought

A significant site of damage during COVID-19 infection is the lungs. Understanding how the lungs' immune cells are responding to viral infections could help scientists develop a vaccine.

12 Jun 2020

Researchers identify genes involved in the development of malignant brain tumor

Researchers have developed a new approach to identify functional mutations and their impact on genes applicable to the development of malignant brain tumors.

10 Jun 2020

Immune system could be 're-trained' to stop attack of healthy cells, study finds

The body's immune system can be re-wired to prevent it from recognizing its own proteins which, when attacked by the body, can cause autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis, a significant new study by UK scientists has found.

10 Jun 2020

CD8+ T cells can help develop vaccines against Japanese encephalitis, Zika fever

A clinical case of Japanese encephalitis is diagnosed in over 68,000 individuals every year, leading to the death of one in four of these affected patients.

8 Jun 2020

Genomic research can help combat COVID-19

Next-generation sequencing of the COVID-19 virus is providing powerful metagenomic data, which, combined with clinical data, will inform the search for effective treatments, as reported in the peer-reviewed journal Pediatric Allergy, Immunology, and Pulmonology.

5 Jun 2020

Salk researchers discover how cells remember their identity

Cancer is often the result of DNA mutations or problems with how cells divide, which can lead to cells "forgetting" what type of cell they are or how to function properly.

5 Jun 2020

Study reveals how respiratory syncytial virus breaks into cells to cause infection

New research from University of Alberta microbiologists has shed new light on how the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)--one of the most common viral infections--breaks into our cells to cause infection.

4 Jun 2020

Bacteria that live in soil and on people have widespread antibiotic-destroying genes

The latest generation of tetracyclines - a class of powerful, first-line antibiotics - was designed to thwart the two most common ways bacteria resist such drugs.

3 Jun 2020

Dramatic increase in immune cells in mouse lungs after birth may help protect against infections

An explosion in the number and types of immune cells in the lungs of newborn mice likely helps them adapt to breathing and protects them from infection, says a new study published today in eLife.

3 Jun 2020

New technology can help map immune cells in different types of brain tumors

Removing a malignant brain tumor is a balancing act between protecting the healthy tissue and, at the same time, excising as much tumor tissue as possible.

1 Jun 2020

Chicken cells show promise for producing more effective human antibodies

Antibodies meant for potential drug applications can be produced quickly in chicken cells cultured in laboratories.

29 May 2020

Returning to the wild to better our immune health

Research has found that revegetation of green spaces within cities can improve soil microbiota diversity towards a more natural, biodiverse state.

28 May 2020

A 'Switch' That Turns Autoimmunity Drugs Into Powerful Anti-Cancer Treatments

Scientists have discovered a way to transform antibody drugs into antibodies with powerful anti-cancer activity through a simple molecular "switch".

22 May 2020

New flow cytometry technique to quantify protein production in T-cells

A team of scientists from Hollings Cancer Center at the Medical University of South Carolina has developed a novel flow cytometry technique that can, for the first-time, quantify protein production in T-cells.

21 May 2020

The Global Hunt To Block COVID-19

A molecular biologist is working with a world leader in artificial intelligence-based drug discovery to help find a molecule that could prevent SARS-CoV-2.

19 May 2020

Study offers a benchmark for testing potential vaccines for COVID-19

Globally, researchers are racing against time to design a vaccine to guard against the COVID-19 infection, and epidemiologists are taking efforts to predict the way the coronavirus pandemic will spread until the availability of such a vaccine.

18 May 2020

Computational methods can help design protein-based vaccines

Vaccines are regarded as an effective intervention to stop the spread of infectious diseases. They produce antibodies by activating the immune system.

18 May 2020