In an effort to develop therapeutic remedies for multiple sclerosis, scientists debate two possible interventional approaches – but they’re on opposite sides of the spectrum. Researchers at Wayne State University’s School of Medicine, however, have …
Tampa, Fla. (Feb. 22, 2011) — Transplanting human umbilical cord blood-derived endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) has been found to “significantly accelerate” wound closure in diabetic mouse models, said a team of Korean researchers publishing …
Scientists have identified a protein that acts as a “master switch” in certain white blood cells, determining whether they promote or inhibit inflammation. The study, published in the journal Nature Immunology, could help researchers look for new tr…
YOUR BODY’S OWN VACCINE: Researchers at BRIC, the University of Copenhagen, have discovered for the first time a protein normally found in the body that can act to prevent chronic tissue inflammation. When administered in the form of a therapeut…
CHICAGO — Natural killer cells are major weapons in the body’s immune system. They keep the body healthy by knocking off tumors and cells infected with viruses, bombarding them with tiny lethal pellets. But natural killer cells are powerless agai…
A protein called PU.1 is essential for the development of dendritic cells, the sentinels of the immune system, Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researchers in Melbourne, Australia, have shown.
Dendritic cells (DC) are immune cells that presen…
Human umbilical cord blood cells (HUCB) used to treat cultured rat brain cells (astrocytes) deprived of oxygen appear to protect astrocytes from cell death after stroke-like damage, reports a team of researchers from the University of South Florida …
Cancer researchers in San Diego have developed a 3-step process in which human leukemia cells and neighboring immune-system T cells are manipulated together in the laboratory to create a powerful and specific cancer-killing cocktail. “For reasons that are not yet entirely clear, leukemia cells fail to trigger immune responses,” said the study’s senior author, Edward D. Ball, M.D., of the Rebecca and John Moores UCSD Cancer Center. “We have developed a method in which we induce the leukemia cell to change its behavior and stimulate the immune system. At the same time, we persuade the immune system to wake up and attack only the leukemia cells.” The details of this approach, known as adoptive immunotherapy or cellular therapy, are reported in the October issue of the journal Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation.