Related topics: cells , immune system , t cells , autoimmune diseases , immune response
White blood cell
hideWhite blood cells (WBCs), or leukocytes (also spelled "leucocytes"), are cells of the immune system defending the body against both infectious disease and foreign materials. Five different and diverse types of leukocytes exist, but they are all produced and derived from a multipotent cell in the bone marrow known as a hematopoietic stem cell. Leukocytes are found throughout the body, including the blood and lymphatic system.
The number of leukocytes in the blood is often an indicator of disease. There are normally between 4×109 and 1.1×1010 white blood cells in a litre of blood, making up approximately 1% of blood in a healthy adult. An increase in the number of leukocytes over the upper limits is called leukocytosis, and in leukopenia, this number is much lower than the lower limit. The physical properties of leukocytes, such as volume, conductivity, and granularity, may change due to activation, the presence of immature cells, or the presence of malignant leukocytes in leukemia.
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News tagged with immune cells
Researchers discover new way men can transmit HIV to women
Medicine & Health / HIV & AIDS
Dec 16, 2008 |
4.4 / 5 (29) |
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Researchers at Northwestern University have discovered a critical new way a man can transmit the HIV virus to a woman.
Stress may make you itch
Oct 27, 2008 |
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Current research suggests that stress may activate immune cells in your skin, resulting in inflammatory skin disease. The related report by Joachim et al., "Stress-induced Neurogenic Inflammation in Murine Skin Skews Dendritic ...
A new lead for autoimmune disease
Jun 04, 2009 |
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5
A drug derived from the hydrangea root, used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine, shows promise in treating autoimmune disorders, report researchers from the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine and the Immune ...
Manipulating brain inflammation may help clear brain of amyloid plaques
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Oct 22, 2009 |
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In a surprising reversal of long-standing scientific belief, researchers at the Mayo Clinic campus in Florida have discovered that inflammation in the brain is not the trigger that leads to buildup of amyloid deposits and ...
Form of Crohn's disease traced to disabled gut cells
Oct 05, 2008 |
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Scientists report online this week in Nature that they have linked the health of specialized gut immune cells to a gene associated with Crohn's disease, an often debilitating and increasingly prevalent inflammatory bowel ...
Control switches found for immune cells that fight cancer, viral infection
Jul 10, 2008 |
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Medical science may be a significant step closer to climbing into the driver's seat of an important class of immune cells, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report in Nature Immunology.
Study shows how carbon nanotubes can affect lining of the lungs
Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine
Oct 25, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (10) |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Carbon nanotubes are being considered for use in everything from sports equipment to medical applications, but a great deal remains unknown about whether these materials cause respiratory ...
Scientists learn why the flu may turn deadly
May 04, 2009 |
4.6 / 5 (10) |
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As the swine flu continues its global spread, researchers from the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have discovered important clues about why influenza is more severe in some people than it is in others. ...
New study overturns orthodoxy on how macrophages kill bacteria
Apr 27, 2009 |
4.9 / 5 (9) |
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For decades, microbiologists assumed that macrophages, immune cells that can engulf and poison bacteria and other pathogens, killed microbes by damaging their DNA. A new study from the University of Illinois ...
Rheumatoid arthritis breakthrough
Nov 12, 2008 |
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Rheumatoid arthritis is a painful, inflammatory type of arthritis that occurs when the body's immune system attacks itself. A new paper, published in this week's issue of PLoS Biology, reports a breakthrough in the unders ...
Potential diabetes treatment selectively kills autoimmune cells from human patients
Aug 25, 2008 |
4.7 / 5 (9) |
1
In experiments using blood cells from human patients with diabetes and other autoimmune disorders, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have confirmed the mechanism behind a potential new therapy for type 1 diabetes. ...
Fibre may keep asthma, diabetes at bay, study finds
Oct 28, 2009 |
4.8 / 5 (8) |
1
Insoluble dietary fibre, or roughage, not only keeps you regular, say Australian scientists, it also plays a vital role in the immune system, keeping certain diseases at bay.
Charting HIV's rapidly changing journey in the body
Medicine & Health / HIV & AIDS
Dec 12, 2008 |
4.6 / 5 (8) |
1
HIV is so deadly largely because it evolves so rapidly. With a single virus as the origin of an infection, most patients will quickly come to harbor thousands of different versions of HIV, all a little bit different and all ...
Discovery pinpoints new connection between cancer cells, stem cells
Jul 01, 2009 |
4.4 / 5 (7) |
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A molecule called telomerase, best known for enabling unlimited cell division of stem cells and cancer cells, has a surprising additional role in the expression of genes in an important stem cell regulatory pathway, say researchers ...
Protection from the own immune system
Dec 01, 2008 |
5 / 5 (6) |
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Some 80,000 people in Germany suffer from multiple sclerosis – their immune system attacks and destroys healthy nerve tissue. Researchers at the Heidelberg University Hospital and the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg ...
