Glioblastoma is a nasty type of brain cancer that's super tough to treat. Doctors have been trying out a new trick to fight it: oncolytic viruses. These viruses are designed to target and kill cancer cells while also ramping up the body's immune response. But there's a catch. These viruses don't stick around for long, and the body's natural defenses can kick them out...
Cancer treatment has changed a lot with immunotherapy. But herein lies the problem. Some patients do not respond well to treatment. This is on top of having to deal with serious side effects caused by the immune system going into overdrive. Scientists have found a novel way to tackle this. These smart scientists developed a new kind of injectable ...
Have you ever wondered why some people get really sick from COVID-19 while others barely notice it? A lot has to do with our genes. Scientists looked into how changes in two genes, FAS and FASL, affect how severe COVID-19 can be and if it leads to long-term symptoms. These genes play a role in T-cell death, which can cause lymphopenia, a condition where you have fewe...
Imagine you're fighting off a new infection like COVID-19. Your T-cells, the immune system's special forces, play a crucial role. But why do some people's T-cells respond better than others? Age and inflammation have a lot to do with it, especially when it comes to severe COVID-19 cases. Scientists looked into this, focusing on patients infected during the first wav...
Imagine you're at war with tiny invaders. Your body's immune cells, like soldiers, need to know where to strike. One key soldier here is a protein called Granzyme B (GzmB). It plays a huge role in fighting off bacterial infections by causing bacteria to self-destruct. Scientists have created a sort of glowing beacon to spot GzmB in action. This beacon helps them see ...
Necrotizing Enterocolitis, or NEC, is a serious health issue that mainly affects premature babies. It's like a fire in the belly, causing severe inflammation in the gut. Scientists are trying to understand how this happens by looking at it from different angles. They're combining insights from doctors, microbiologists, and molecular scientists to get a full picture. ...
Imagine trying to fight a bad guy (like cancer) but not having enough soldiers (immune cells) to help. That’s where interferon gamma (IFNγ) comes in. This tiny protein wakes up immune cells so they can fight invaders or even cancer cells. Scientists wanted to make a super vaccine for colon cancer, so they played with some cellular genetics. They took CT26 colon canc...
Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a big deal—it's when your body doesn't make insulin, and sugar levels go way up. Scientists have long known it's caused by a mix of genes, environment, and unknown stuff. Immune cells, especially T cells, play a big part. Now, researchers are paying attention to B cells too. In lab mice, without B cells, T1D doesn't happen. Even if it starts,...
Did you know that having adequate zinc in your blood might make the COVID-19 vaccine work better? That's what a study from Japan found. Researchers looked into how much zinc people had in their blood before getting the COVID vaccine. They wanted to see if it affected how well the vaccine worked. It turns out, people with higher zinc levels had a stronger immune respo...
Human endogenous retroviruses, or HERVs, are ancient viral fragments tucked away in our DNA. They've been there since our primate ancestors faced exogenous retroviral infections long ago, and we've been passing them down ever since. HERVs aren't just sitting idle; they can impact our immune system, potentially causing inflammation, neurological issues, or even tumors...