How Are Antibodies Produced and What’s Their Role in the Immune System?
The immune system Antibodies are an integral part of your body’s immune system. There are different kinds of antibodies, but all are necessary to the immune system to fight foreign bacteria and viruses. Your immune system is composed of organs, cells, and chemicals that all work together to fight infections that threaten your body. In […]
Researchers investigate role of gene associated with Alzheimer’s disease in brain’s immune cells
When immune cells move throughout the brain, they act as the first line of defense against viruses, toxic materials and damaged neurons, rushing over to clear out them. Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine have been investigating how these immune cells in the brain — microglia — relate to a gene mutation recently found […]
Metabolic changes in plasma and immune cells associated with COVID-19 severity, can predict patient survival
COVID-19 patients have differing immune responses that lead to disease outcomes ranging from asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection to death. After examining the blood samples from nearly 200 COVID-19 patients, researchers have uncovered underlying metabolic changes that regulate how immune cells react to the disease. These changes are associated with disease severity and could be used to […]
New research provides clues to developing better intranasal vaccines for COVID-19 and flu
While gut microbiota play a critical role in the induction of adaptive immune responses to influenza virus infection, the role of nasal bacteria in the induction of virus-specific adaptive immunity is less clear. New research published this week in mBio,an open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, explores the role of nasal bacteria and […]
Cytokine increases production of ‘beige fat’ to burn more cellular energy: New insights point toward a potential obesity treatment
An immune signal promotes the production of energy-burning “beige fat,” according to a new study publishing Aug. 5 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Zhonghan Yang of Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China, and colleagues. The finding may lead to new ways to reduce obesity and treat metabolic disorders. The beige color in beige fat […]
Researchers find immune component to rare neurodegenerative disease: Niemann-Pick disease type C, long thought to be tied to cholesterol metabolism, may eventually be treated with immune inhibitors
UT Southwestern researchers have identified an immune protein tied to the rare neurodegenerative condition known as Niemann-Pick disease type C. The finding, made in mouse models and published online in Nature, could offer a powerful new therapeutic target for Niemann-Pick disease type C, a condition that was identified more than a century ago but still […]