In a study of nonhuman primates infected with the influenza virus that killed 50 million people in 1918, an international team of scientists has found a critical clue to how the virus killed so quickly and efficiently.
The first study examining the relationship between parasite infections and MS in humans suggests that such infections may affect the immune response in a way that alters the course of MS.
Being a member of a large family may not be best for your health. A new study found that family size greatly influenced the development of stomach cancer linked to the bacterium Helicobacter pylori, and younger siblings from large families appeared to be especially vulnerable to the most common type of stomach cancer.
A study of nearly 4,000 HIV-infected people in Denmark, matched with about 380,000 people who were not infected, found that people diagnosed with HIV infection between 1995-2005 had a shorter life expectancy (20 years beyond age 25) than the general population (51 years beyond age 25).
University of Minnesota stem cell researchers, together with collaborators at Stanford University, have successfully used adult stem cells to replace the immune system and bone marrow of mice, offering the promise of new therapies for people in the future.
They are the largest group of white blood cells: neutrophil granulocytes kill microorganisms. Neutrophils catch microbes with extracellular structures nicknamed Neutrophil Extracellular Traps (NETs) that are composed of nucleic acid and aggressive enzymes. A group of scientists lead by Arturo Zychlinsky at the Max-Planck-Institute for Infectious Biology in Berlin, Germany discovered, how the neutrophils form this snaring network (Journal of Cell Biology, online, January 8, 2007).
Answering one of the oldest questions in human physiology, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have discovered why the body’s immune system — perpetually on guard against foreign microbes like bacteria — doesn’t attack tissues in the small intestine that harbor millions of bacteria cells.
Scientists at the University of Liverpool have found how two molecules fight in the blood to control the spread of cancer cells.
University of Pittsburgh investigators have successfully prevented the onset of type 1 diabetes in mice prone to developing the disease using an antibody against a receptor on the surface of immune T-cells. According to the investigators, these findings, which are being published in the January issue of the journal Diabetes, have significant implications for the prevention of type 1 diabetes.
Cincinnati burn researchers have created genetically modified skin cells that, when added to cultured skin substitutes, may help fight off potentially lethal infections in patients with severe burns. Led by University of Cincinnati scientists, the team found that skin cells that were genetically altered to produce higher levels of a protein known as human beta defensin 4 killed more bacteria than normal skin cells.