Close to 1.8 billion people worldwide are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), the common and occasionally deadly bacterium that causes millions of cases of tuberculosis each year. The bacteria, having coevolved with humans over millennia, have devised ways of hijacking nutrients from its human host for its own benefit. Humans have equally complex ways of […]
Five scientists honored for cancer therapy, immune system work
Five scientists have won prestigious medical awards for creating an innovative breast cancer treatment and discovering key players of the disease-fighting immune system. They will share two $250,000 awards from the Lasker Foundation, to be presented later this month in New York, the foundation announced Tuesday. One prize honors the invention of Herceptin, a breast […]
First step to induce self-repair in the central nervous system
Damaged peripheral nerves can regenerate after an injury, for example, following a forearm fracture. Axons, the long projections of neurons that transmit stimuli or signals to other cells, are affected in the case of injury and need to regrow to recover their function. The research team led by Prof. Claire Jacob at Johannes Gutenberg University […]
Bacteria in fermented food signal the human immune system, explaining health benefits
Researchers have discovered that humans and great apes possess a receptor on their cells that detects metabolites from bacteria commonly found in fermented foods and triggers movement of immune cells. Claudia Stäubert of the University of Leipzig and colleagues report these findings in a new study published 23rd May in PLOS Genetics. Consuming lactic acid […]
In rare cases, immune system fails despite HIV suppression
Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is usually very effective at suppressing HIV in the body, allowing a person’s immune system to recover by preventing the virus from destroying CD4+ T cells. Scientists have now identified a rare, paradoxical response to ART known as extreme immune decline, or EXID. Five individuals evaluated at the National Institute of Allergy […]
A new approach to peripheral nerve injury? Natural killer cells in the immune system could present a target
In animal models of a totally crushed peripheral nerve, the damaged axons are broken down, allowing healthy ones to regrow. But humans rarely suffer complete axonal damage. Instead, axons tend to be partially damaged, causing neuropathic pain—a difficult-to-treat, chronic pain associated with nerve trauma, chemotherapy and diabetes. A new study in Cell, led by Michael […]
Wait Times Have Improved in VA Health Care System
FRIDAY, Jan. 18, 2019 — From 2014 to 2017, there were improvements in wait times in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system, resulting in reduced wait times versus the private sector (PS) in 2017, according to a study published online Jan. 18 in JAMA Network Open. Madeline Penn, from the Department of […]
Researchers reveal new mechanism to ‘activate’ the immune system against cancer
A new mechanism for activating the immune system against cancer cells allows immune cells to detect and destroy cancer cells better than before, according to a study published this week in the journal Nature. The study was led by Prof. Nick Haining, of Harvard Medical School, and co-authored by Prof. Erez Levanon, doctoral student Ilana […]
Gut microbiome regulates the intestinal immune system, researchers find
Scientist have long known that bacteria in the intestines, also known as the microbiome, perform a variety of useful functions for their hosts, such as breaking down dietary fiber in the digestive process and making vitamins K and B7. Yet a new study unveils another useful role the microbiome plays. A team of researchers from […]
An opt-out system isn’t the solution to Australia’s low rate of organ donation
Organ transplantation relies on the generosity of a person to volunteer their organs for donation after death, or the generosity of the family to gift or donate the organs of their deceased relative. But last year, the organs of just 510 deceased donors were transplanted into Australian recipients. This amounts to 20.7 donations per million […]