News tagged with cell immunity

Sensing self and non-self: New research into immune tolerance

At the most basic level, the immune system must distinguish self from non-self, that is, it must discriminate between the molecular signatures of invading pathogens (non-self antigens) and cellular constituents that usually ...

Medicine & Health / Research

created 4 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Enhancing the effectiveness of a breast cancer treatment

Breast cancers expressing the protein HER2 have a particularly poor prognosis. Treatment with trastuzumab (Herceptin) benefits some patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, but it is not as effective as had been hoped. ...

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created 8 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Stress in cells activates hepatitis viruses

People who have received a donor organ need lifelong immunosuppressant drugs to keep their immune system from attacking the foreign tissue. However, with a suppressed immune system, many infectious agents ...

Medicine & Health / Research

created 8 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Scientists discover molecular secrets of 2,000-year-old Chinese herbal remedy

For roughly two thousand years, Chinese herbalists have treated Malaria using a root extract, commonly known as Chang Shan, from a type of hydrangea that grows in Tibet and Nepal. More recent studies suggest that halofuginone, ...

Chemistry / Biochemistry

created Feb 12, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (24) | comments 29 | with audio podcast

Starve a virus, feed a cure? Findings show how some cells protect themselves against HIV

A protein that protects some of our immune cells from the most common and virulent form of HIV works by starving the virus of the molecular building blocks that it needs to replicate, according to research published online ...

Medicine & Health / Research

created Feb 12, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Cell death unleashes full force of human antiviral system

A scientific team led by researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and the Charite Berlin Medical University has made a completely unprecedented discovery showing how much our immune system is provoked into action when ...

Medicine & Health / Research

created Feb 09, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Secrets of immune response illuminated in new study

When disease-causing invaders like bacteria infect a human host, cells of various types swing into action, coordinating their activities to address the threat.

Medicine & Health / Research

created Feb 09, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Using the body's own immune system in the fight against cancer

DNA sequences from tumor cells can be used to direct the immune system to attack cancer, according to scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Medicine & Health / Research

created Feb 08, 2012 | popularity 3 / 5 (2) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Growing up on a farm directly affects regulation of the immune system

Immunological diseases, such as eczema and asthma, are on the increase in westernised society and represent a major challenge for 21st century medicine. A new study has shown, for the first time, that growing up on a farm ...

Medicine & Health / Research

created Feb 08, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 1

Under the Microscope #6 -- Killer T-cells

In this video we see a killer T-cell of the immune system attacking a cancer cell.

Medicine & Health / Research

created Feb 07, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

How autoreactive T cells slip through the cracks

Immune cells capable of attacking healthy organs "see" their targets differently than do protective immune cells that attack viruses, according to work published online this week in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

Medicine & Health / Research

created Feb 06, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Low levels of lipid antibodies increase complications following heart attack

Coronary patients with low levels of an immune system antibody called anti-PC, which neutralises parts of the "bad" cholesterol, run a greater risk of suffering complications following an acute cardiac episode and thus of ...

Medicine & Health / Cardiology

created Feb 06, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Researchers discover key to immune cell's 'internal guidance' system

University of British Columbia researchers have discovered the molecular pathway that enables receptors inside immune cells to find, and flag, fragments of pathogens trying to invade a host.

Medicine & Health / Research

created Feb 05, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

'Gatekeeper' protein helps immune cells to sound a warning after encountering signs of tumor growth or infection

When the body’s own cells turn into ticking time bombs, as in cases of viral infection or cancerous transformation, a mechanism known as ‘cross-presentation’ enables the immune system’s ...

Medicine & Health / Research

created Feb 03, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Identical twins reveal mechanisms behind aging

In a recent study led by Uppsala University, the researchers compared the DNA of identical (monozygotic) twins of different age. They could show that structural modifications of the DNA, where large or small DNA segments ...

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Feb 02, 2012 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (15) | comments 0 | with audio podcast