http://phys.org/ en-us Phys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. Using a new fluorescent biosensor they developed, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have discovered how a key set of immune cells exchange information during their coordinated assault on invading pathogens. The immune cells, called dendritic cells, are harnessed by cancer vaccines and other therapeutics used to amplify the immune system. The finding, published online March 29 in the journal Angewandte Chemie, marks the first time that scientists have visualized how antigens are transferred in the immune system between dendritic cells. http://phys.org/news254400566.html Chemistry Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:51:23 EST news254400566 (PhysOrg.com) -- UCLA scientists have discovered a way to wake up the immune system to fight cancer by delivering an immune system-stimulating protein in a nanoscale container called a vault directly into lung cancer tumors, harnessing the body's natural defenses to fight disease growth. http://phys.org/news223662618.html Nanotechnology Tue, 03 May 2011 17:30:40 EST news223662618 A new process for creating a personalized vaccine may become a crucial tool in helping patients with colorectal cancer develop an immune response against their own tumors. This dendritic cell (DC) vaccine, developed at Dartmouth and described in a research paper published this week in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, was used after surgical resection of metastatic tumors to try to prevent the growth of additional metastases. http://phys.org/news209816809.html Medicine & Health Wed, 24 Nov 2010 10:27:00 EST news209816809 Dendritic cells, known to be the prime movers of the body's immune response, are still notoriously difficult to study in humans. Samples, which come primarily from bone marrow or lymphoid tissue, are simply too difficult to obtain. But new research at Rockefeller University has shown scientists a way to study "authentic" dendritic cells from mouse monocytes, which are abundant in the blood, a much more accessible source in humans. The discovery, published last week in Cell, promises to accelerate research into therapeutic uses of dendritic cells in people, particularly in vaccine development and cancer treatment; it comes from the lab of Ralph M. Steinman, who first published his discovery of dendritic cells in 1973. http://phys.org/news208602239.html Biology Wed, 10 Nov 2010 09:04:13 EST news208602239 Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered a way to turn off the immune system's allergic reaction to certain food proteins in mice, a discovery that could have implications for the millions of people who suffer severe reactions to foods, such as peanuts and milk. http://phys.org/news205235886.html Medicine & Health Sat, 02 Oct 2010 10:58:25 EST news205235886 Dendritic cells are the grand sentinels of the immune system, standing guard 24/7 to detect foreign invaders such as viruses and bacteria, and bring news of the invasion to other immune cells to marshal an attack. These sentinels, however, nearly always fail to respond adequately to HIV, the virus causing AIDS. Now a team of scientists at NYU Langone Medical Center has discovered a sensor in dendritic cells that recognizes HIV, spurring a more potent immune response by the sentinels to the virus. They report their findings in the September 9, 2010, issue of Nature. http://phys.org/news203171144.html Medicine & Health Wed, 08 Sep 2010 13:26:04 EST news203171144 (PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified dendritic antigen-presenting cells in zebrafish, opening the possibility that the tiny fish could become a new model for studying the complexities of the human immune system. http://phys.org/news203141986.html Biology Wed, 08 Sep 2010 05:20:10 EST news203141986 When HIV was first discovered to cause AIDS in 1981, prominent scientists expected to have an effective vaccine within a couple of years. Three decades later, the disease has killed more than 25 million people and defied every effort so far to inoculate against it. But researchers at Rockefeller University are launching a new clinical trial that they hope will mark a turning point in the struggle to develop an effective vaccine against the deadly disease. Building on more than 15 years of research, they are testing a first of its kind vaccine that directly taps the power of the cells that that orchestrate the body’s immune response, called dendritic cells. http://phys.org/news197536272.html Medicine & Health Mon, 05 Jul 2010 08:11:34 EST news197536272 Bunyaviruses are poorly researched, despite their diversity and importance in relation to animal and human diseases. ETH Zurich researchers led by virologist Ari Helenius have now discovered the tricks used by the Uukuniemi virus, a representative of this distinguished virus community, to sneak into cells. http://phys.org/news196696605.html Biology Fri, 25 Jun 2010 15:20:01 EST news196696605 A cell small in number but powerful in its ability to switch the immune system on or off is a unique hybrid of two well-known immune cell types, Medical College of Georgia researchers report. http://phys.org/news193937688.html Medicine & Health Mon, 24 May 2010 16:35:20 EST news193937688 (PhysOrg.com) -- Psoriasis is one of humanity’s oldest know diseases and one of the more widespread, affecting 2 percent of the U.S. population. But it remains largely a mystery. New work identifies markers that define two types of dendritic cells found in psoriatic lesions, findings that will help scientists isolate and study the most troublesome inflammatory variety. http://phys.org/news193652865.html Medicine & Health Fri, 21 May 2010 09:40:03 EST news193652865 A new understanding of a certain cell in the immune system may help guide scientists in creating better flu vaccines, report researchers from the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine and the Immune Disease Institute at Children's Hospital Boston (PCMM/IDI). Reporting online March 21 in Nature Immunology, they show, for the first time, that white blood cells known as resident dendritic cells (DCs) capture flu viruses and show them to B-lymphocytes, another white blood cell that recognizes germs and launches an antibody attack. Harnessing this previously unknown function could help activate the immune system more effectively against the flu virus. http://phys.org/news188480687.html Medicine & Health Mon, 22 Mar 2010 12:45:17 EST news188480687 Today, during the 39th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Dental Research, convening at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, DC, lead researcher O.A. Gonzalez (University of Kentucky, Lexington) will present a poster of a study titled "TLR2 and TLR9 Activation by Periodontal Pathogens induce HIV-1 Reactivation." http://phys.org/news186991128.html Medicine & Health Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:59:13 EST news186991128 Researchers have demonstrated the safety of a potential vaccine against mesothelioma, a rare cancer associated primarily with asbestos exposure. The vaccine, which infuses uses a patient's own dendritic cells (DC) with antigen from the patient's tumor, was able to induce a T-cell response against mesothelioma tumors. http://phys.org/news186901741.html Medicine & Health Thu, 04 Mar 2010 05:09:27 EST news186901741 (PhysOrg.com) -- One of the hallmarks of cancer is that tumors are able to suppress the immune system, preventing the body's own defense system from eliminating the disease, particularly as tumors spread through the body. Cancer researchers have identified the molecule responsible for this unwanted immune suppression, and have even designed an inhibitor of this molecule. Now, they have the means of delivering this molecule to tumors - a biocompatible polymer nanoparticle that will release potentially therapeutic levels of the inhibitor for as long as a month at a time. http://phys.org/news186156296.html Nanotechnology Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:40:03 EST news186156296 A signaling protein that is key in orchestrating the body's overall immune response has an important localized role in fighting bacterial infection and inflammation in the intestinal tract, according to a study by UC San Diego School of Medicine investigators, published in the journal Cell Host and Microbe. http://phys.org/news185632035.html Medicine & Health Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:40:03 EST news185632035 (PhysOrg.com) -- Since their initial discovery in 1973, dendritic cells, the sentinels of the immune system, have turned up in a number of places other than the immune organs. They stand guard in the heart, for instance, and in 2008, the first population native to the brain was identified. New research shows that dendritic cells are not only present in the brain, but active, too. They confront foreign substances and seem to form a barrier between healthy and stricken brain tissue following a stroke. http://phys.org/news183395005.html Medicine & Health Fri, 22 Jan 2010 15:03:54 EST news183395005 A new study in human cells has singled out a molecule that specifically directs immune cells to develop the capability to produce an allergic response. The signaling molecule, called thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), is key to the development of allergic diseases such as asthma, atopic dermatitis (eczema) and food allergy. http://phys.org/news183225745.html Medicine & Health Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:20:04 EST news183225745 A new study links chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, with increased activity of cells that act as sentinels to activate the body's immune system. http://phys.org/news180104163.html Medicine & Health Tue, 15 Dec 2009 12:57:55 EST news180104163 (PhysOrg.com) -- A cancer vaccine carried into the body on a carefully engineered, fingernail-sized implant is the first to successfully eliminate tumors in mammals, scientists report this week in the journal Science Translational Medicine. http://phys.org/news178382282.html Medicine & Health Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:38:42 EST news178382282 A team of University of British Columbia microbiologists has identified a key defence mechanism used by the immune system against Listeria with strong implications for the future development of vaccines. http://phys.org/news174024956.html Biology Tue, 06 Oct 2009 05:16:31 EST news174024956 Multiple myeloma cancer cells thwart many of the drugs used against them by causing nearby cells to turn traitor - to switch from defending the body against disease to shielding the myeloma cells from harm - Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists report in the October issue of Cancer Cell. http://phys.org/news173967089.html Medicine & Health Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:23:14 EST news173967089 It takes a spleen to mend a broken heart - that's the conclusion of a surprising new report from researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Systems Biology, directed by Ralph Weissleder, MD, PhD. In the July 31 issue of Science the team reports how, in following up an intriguing observation, they discovered an unexpected reservoir of the immune cells called monocytes in the spleen and went on to show that these cells are essential to recovery of cardiac tissue in an animal heart attack model. http://phys.org/news168183304.html Medicine & Health Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:10:05 EST news168183304 Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian today announced promising data from a clinical study showing patient-specific cancer vaccines derived from patients' own cancer cells and immune cells were well tolerated and resulted in impressive long-term survival rates in patients with metastatic melanoma whose disease had been minimized by other therapies. http://phys.org/news168017006.html Medicine & Health Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:23:50 EST news168017006 In a feat of trickery, Dartmouth Medical School immunologists have devised a Trojan horse to help overcome ovarian cancer, unleashing a surprise killer in the surroundings of a hard-to-treat tumor. http://phys.org/news166891473.html Nanotechnology Wed, 15 Jul 2009 15:44:58 EST news166891473 The future of organ transplantation could include microscopic beads that create "designer" immune cells to help patients tolerate their new organ, Medical College of Georgia researchers say. http://phys.org/news166096408.html Medicine & Health Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:54:02 EST news166096408 A research team led by a University of Iowa investigator has generated DNA-like compounds that effectively inhibit the cells responsible for systemic lupus erythematosus -- the most common and serious form of lupus. There currently is no cure for this chronic autoimmune condition that damages the skin, joints and internal organs and affects an estimated one million Americans. http://phys.org/news162671708.html Medicine & Health Wed, 27 May 2009 19:35:27 EST news162671708 Current strategies for designing vaccines against HIV and cancers, for instance, may enable some components in multi-component vaccines to cancel the effect of others on the immune system, eliminating their ability to provide protection, according to an article to be published shortly in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). The authors also suggest, and successfully test, techniques that offer a solution to newly revealed mechanisms that enable some vaccine components to outcompete others. http://phys.org/news160921953.html Medicine & Health Thu, 07 May 2009 13:33:06 EST news160921953 Ultraviolet light is a proven treatment for psoriasis, one of humanity’s oldest known diseases. Sunshine can also beat back the chronic autoimmune disorder of the skin. But explaining light’s therapeutic effects has been difficult. “We know it works, but we want to know how,” says Michelle Lowes, an assistant professor of clinical investigation in the Laboratory for Investigative Dermatology at Rockefeller University. “Does it target the pathways that we think are important in the disease?” http://phys.org/news160233886.html Medicine & Health Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:25:34 EST news160233886 (AP) -- The nation's richest prize in medicine and biomedical research was awarded Friday to three immune system researchers for work that led to new treatments for rheumatoid arthritis and diabetes. http://phys.org/news159796774.html Medicine & Health Fri, 24 Apr 2009 13:00:04 EST news159796774