News tagged with interferon
US panel gives nod to Merck hepatitis C drug
A US government advisory committee on Wednesday unanimously voted to urge the Food and Drug Administration to approve a new drug made by Merck to fight hepatitis C, a disease which attacks the liver.
Medicine & Health / Medications
Apr 27, 2011 |
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Novel method could improve the performance of proteins used therapeutically
Whitehead Institute scientists have created a method that site-specifically modifies proteins to exert control over their properties when administered therapeutically. The technique should be useful to increase potency, slow ...
Medicine & Health / Medical research
Mar 09, 2011 |
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Macavity wasn't there! How absent reoviruses kill cancer
Reoviruses are successfully being used in clinical trials to treat patients with cancer. Not only does the virus cause cancer cells to die, it also forces them to release pro-inflammatory chemokines and cytokines, which in ...
Feb 21, 2011 |
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Study finds twenty percent of children with MS don't respond to first-line treatment
Researchers from the National Network of Pediatric MS Centers of Excellence, in the first retrospective study of the response of children with multiple sclerosis to standard, or first-line, therapies, found that one-fifth ...
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Jan 26, 2011 |
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Interfering with a double-edged sword: Novel anti-inflammatory functions for interferons
One of the body's first protective reactions to infection is inflammation, typically stimulated by the factor IL-1beta. Unfortunately, inflammation frequently occurs when it is not desired and so must be treated, e.g. by ...
Medicine & Health / Medical research
Sep 15, 2010 |
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New anti-viral drug shows promise for dramatic improvement in hepatitis C treatment
Adding a direct acting anti-viral drug to the standard treatment regimen for hepatitis C significantly increases the cure rate in the most difficult to treat patients, according to a research report published Monday in the ...
Medicine & Health / Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
Aug 08, 2010 |
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Gene variant may increase severity of MS
A new study shows a gene variant may increase the severity of multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms. The research will be published in the August 3, 2010, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neu ...
Medicine & Health / Neuroscience
Aug 02, 2010 |
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Interferon might help asthma patients breathe easier, study suggests
An immune-system protein already used to treat diseases like multiple sclerosis, hepatitis C and a variety of cancers might also aid asthma patients, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.
Medicine & Health / Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
Jul 13, 2010 |
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Gamma interferon a wake-up call for stem cell response to infection
Most of the time, the body's blood-forming (hematopoietic) stem cells remain dormant, with just a few producing blood cells and maintaining a balance among the different types.
Medicine & Health / Medical research
Jun 09, 2010 |
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A clamp for emerging flu viruses
When the human body becomes infected with new influenza viruses, the immune system rapidly activates an inborn protective mechanism to inhibit the intruding pathogen. A protein known as Mx plays an important role in this ...
Medicine & Health / Medical research
Apr 28, 2010 |
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Experimental immune-boosting drug worsens TB in mice
An experimental drug that boosts production of the immune system protein interferon worsens tuberculosis (TB) in mice, according to scientists from the National Institutes of Health. The drug acts indirectly ...
Medicine & Health / Medical research
Apr 12, 2010 |
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Southampton scientists begin Phase II patient trial for new asthma treatment
Scientists from the University of Southampton and Synairgen Research Ltd, a respiratory drug development company spun out from the University, have begun a Phase II study into the effectiveness of the drug interferon beta ...
Medicine & Health / Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
Apr 08, 2010 |
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Hepatitis C treatment less effective in urban minority patients
A recent study confirms that the standard hepatitis C (HCV) therapy, pegylated interferon and ribavirin, is significantly less effective in urban minority patients treated in an ordinary clinical practice setting compared ...
Medicine & Health / Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
Mar 25, 2010 |
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Alarming trend -- antiviral therapy to treat hepatitis C is declining in the US
Researchers from the University of Michigan determined that only 663,000 of the approximately 3.9 million Americans with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection received antiviral therapy between 2002 and 2007. Treatment rates ...
Medicine & Health / Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes
Nov 24, 2009 |
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Study shows link between influenza virus and fever
One feature of the "new influenza" is a sudden rise in temperature. Up to now it was not exactly understood how this reaction occurs. Scientists at the University of Bonn and the Technical University of Munich, Germany, have ...
Medicine & Health / Medical research
Nov 16, 2009 |
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Interferon
Interferons (IFNs) are proteins made and released by host cells in response to the presence of pathogens—such as viruses, bacteria, or parasites—or tumor cells. They allow communication between cells to trigger the protective defenses of the immune system that eradicate pathogens or tumors.
IFNs belong to the large class of glycoproteins known as cytokines. Interferons are named after their ability to "interfere" with viral replication within host cells. IFNs have other functions: they activate immune cells, such as natural killer cells and macrophages; they increase recognition of infection or tumor cells by up-regulating antigen presentation to T lymphocytes; and they increase the ability of uninfected host cells to resist new infection by virus. Certain host symptoms, such as aching muscles and fever, are related to the production of IFNs during infection.
About ten distinct IFNs have been identified in mammals; seven of these have been described for humans. They are typically divided among three IFN classes: Type I IFN, Type II IFN, and Type III IFN. IFNs belonging to all IFN classes are very important for fighting viral infections.
For more information about Interferon, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
