Immune system

A new study at UTHealth Houston in the US has found that several routine vaccinations are linked to a significant reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Prior vaccination against tetanus and diphtheria, with or without pertussis (Tdap/Td); herpes zoster (HZ), better known as shingles; and pneumococcus are all associated with a reduced risk for developing […]

A team of researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of University of Southern California (USC) have found a drug with the potential for curbing painful hyperinflammation from osteoarthritis, according to results of an animal study. The findings indicate that a drug compound, R805/CX-011, may modulate an important cell receptor in the body’s immune system, […]

DDW Editor Reece Armstrong explores recent research looking into why cancer cells are so effective at avoiding the body’s immune system. Scientists may have discovered clues to why cancer cells can avoid the body’s immune system in a study conducted by researchers at Harvard Medical School. For years now, scientists have been trying to understand […]

University of Queensland researchers have identified a pathway in cells that could be used to reprogramme the body’s immune system to fight back against both chronic inflammatory and infectious diseases. Dr Kaustav Das Gupta and Professor Matt Sweet from UQ’s Institute for Molecular Bioscience discovered that a molecule derived from glucose in immune cells can […]

RSV is a complicated virus, and traditional vaccine methods have not worked. But UW’s Institute for Protein Design may have solved the problem using computational design. With the help of an innovative computer program, Icosavax has constructed virus-like particles (VLPs) using a two-part assembly (like a soccer ball). Adam Simpson, CEO of Icosavax, talks to […]

A study by clinical scientists at The University of Manchester has shown that schizophrenia may – in some part – be caused by disordered functioning of the immune system. The first ever trial in schizophrenia of the powerful immune suppressant drug, Methotrexate, produced what the team described as ‘promising’ effects on what are known as […]