A phase 1 clinical trial for the first treatment to reset the immune system of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients showed the therapy was safe and dramatically reduced patients’ immune systems’ reactivity to myelin by 50 to 75 percent, according to new Northwestern Medicine research. In MS, the immune system attacks and destroys myelin, the insulating [...]
In animal cells, DNA molecules are normally restricted to the cell nucleus and the mitochondria. When DNA appears outside these organelles – in the so-called cytosol – it most probably originates from a bacterial pathogen or a DNA virus. This is why cytosolic DNA triggers a strong response by the innate immune system. However, various [...]
The immune system can run awry in many ways. Some examples of undesirable immune responses include those directed against the host (autoimmunity), transplanted organs (transplant rejection), or a harmless substance (allergies). In each case, the immune system is reacting to the presence of a molecule known as an antigen. Currently, the best treatment options involve [...]
Circadian rhythms can boost the body’s ability to fight intestinal bacterial infections, UC Irvine researchers have found. This suggests that targeted treatments may be particularly effective for pathogens such as salmonella that prompt a strong immune system response governed by circadian genes. It also helps explain why disruptions in the regular day-night pattern – as [...]
Research at Lund University in Sweden gives hope that one of the most serious types of brain tumor, glioblastoma multiforme, could be fought by the patients’ own immune system. The tumors are difficult to remove with surgery because the tumor cells grow into the surrounding healthy brain tissue. A patient with the disease therefore does [...]
