Unsticking The "Glue" In Blood Cells Could Save Lives
...ents thatprevent this adhesion, the body's natural defenses will recognize the cancercell and fight it." With these aims in mind, Konstantopoulos has obtained funding from theWhitakerFoundation to begin testing pharmacological agents that may keep platelets fromsticking to eachother or to cancer cells. H...Encapsulating Insulin-Producing Cells For Possible Diabetes Therapy
...(IgG) antibodies,a key part of the immune system's defenses against foreign invaders, to enterthe microcapsule. The microcapsules wrap each islet in a semipermeable mesh. "IgG has a molecular weight of about 150,000, and insulin's is about6,000," Grinstaff said. "That's a very big difference. So the i......er donor immune system cells that serve as natural defenses against an attackby the recipient's immune system; donor bone marrow seems to enhance the immunecapabilities and reduce the likelihood of rejection," explained Kenneth McCurry,M.D., assistant professor of surgery, division of cardiothoracic surgery, ......thin the body that can act asantibodies -- natural defenses against invading organisms called antigens. Aprocessed form of immunoglobulin made from blood plasma can be administered tobolster the body's natural levels. For transplant specialists looking to modifythe immune system so that it will accept the "fo...Stress Speeds Progression To AIDS
... CD8 and natural killer cells wereinvolved in host defenses against viral disease and that CD8 might inhibit HIV-1replication, we went on to look at the relevance of these findings to diseaseprogression. The results from our current study are the first to link stressfullife events with progression to AIDS," L......earchbiologist with Lau's group. They study immune defenses against viral infection. In two previous papers published in PNAS, they have described a dual role inantiviral control and apoptosis regulation for an enzyme in normal cells calledPKR, a protein kinase activated by RNA. The PKR gene produces this en...Researchers battle drug-resistant HIV on promising new ground
...o fight HIV and is resistant to many of the body's defenses to break it down, according to Pandey. "This approach has great promise," he said. "I am very optimistic that if we are able to find a delivery system for this treatment, this approach may be useful to patients suffering from HIV infection."...HIV protein stops cell division, leading to more virus and sicker patients
...- T cells are supposed to be one of the bodys best defenses against the invading intracellular foes like viruses and some bacteria. But when they encounter HIV, some of these immune system cells become targets for infection. Once infected, T cells begin producing HIV. New research at the Gladstone Institute o...USC researchers define role of protein, discover cause of chromosome damage
...s Lieber, is because the immune system creates its defenses by cutting and then rejoining bits of nuclear DNA (the rejoining relies on NHEJ). Without Artemis, the cells can't create the antibodies necessary to go after the myriad pathogenic invaders we regularly encounter. Of course, being unable to cut and s...Document destruction practices obliterate tobacco company defenses in critical Australian decision
...y 25, 2002, asking the judge to strike BAT's legal defenses to liability and leave the jury to determine on the amount of damages to be awarded. Three primary reasons cited in the motion included:1. The destruction of potentially relevant documents by the defendant, at a time when litigation was apprehended, ...Antioxidant gene mutation gives free radicals free reign
...ms against oxidation at the very place where these defenses are most needed. We wanted to investigate if this defect is a risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis in heart or brain vessels. Atherosclerosis leads to heart attacks and strokes, which are responsible for about 40 percent of all deaths...Study quantifies cost-benefit of family interventions to prevent teen alcohol use
...e family functioning, and to strengthen the childs defenses against negative peer influences, such as increasing the skills in resisting peer pressure to use alcohol. Analyses were based upon 478 families at the end of the four-year study. One hundred sixty-two families were in the ISFP group, 153 in the PDF...Protein essential for switching on T-cell response
...of a key type of immune cell to marshal the body's defenses against disease, according to a study by researchers at the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The study appears in the June 14 issue of ...Making cancer cells susceptible to therapeutic attack
...velop novel strategies to make human immunological defenses against tumors, as well as chemotherapy and radiation therapy, more effective in combating cancer," said Dr. James Cook, chief of infectious diseases and a member of the UIC Cancer Center. The latest study is published in the July 23 issue of the Pr...Mild injury may render brain cells vulnerable to immune system attack
...ues to the metabolic pathway by which the neuron's defenses against complement are compromised. Importantly, said McNamara, their finding raises the possibility of protecting the brains of patients with neurodegenerative disease. "The identification of a small-molecule inhibitor of the terminal pathway of com...New HIV vaccine holds promise of global effectiveness
... also by the virus' ability to elude immune system defenses through rapid mutation. "Any HIV vaccine must hit a constantly moving target," says Dr. Nabel. "Essentially, we are trying to enlarge that target through a multiclade vaccine." Researchers do not yet know if a multiclade vaccine will be more effec...Subversive strep bug strategy revealed
...ng how this extremely common bug evades our immune defenses opens exciting new avenues for research into ways to hamper this evasive maneuver."...Comfort-food cravings may be body's attempt to put brake on chronic stress
...other region of the adrenal glands, providing such defenses as an anti-inflammatory function. Once an acute threat has subsided, these hormones are shut off through an inhibitory feedback system. During chronic stress, however, the system does not turn off, and glucocorticoids, which were formerly inhibitory,...University of Illinois at Chicago receives $15.7 million grant to stop anthrax
...o search for new drugs that will provide alternate defenses against an engineered organism. Michael Johnson, professor and director of the UIC College of Pharmacy's Center for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, will direct the four-and-a-half-year program, which is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and I......transplant patients when T-cells mount unnecessary defenses against their new organs, leading to organ rejection. The two Nature Immunology papers, by senior authors Strom and BWH immunologist Vijay Kuchroo, DVM, PhD, found, for the first time, that Tim-3 proteins selectively serve as "checkpoints" for the ...