In studies with mice, treatment with a new monoclonal antibody that targets immune system B cells has shown considerable promise for treating leukemias, autoimmune diseases and transplant rejection, according to immunologists at Duke University Medical Center.

B cells are the immune system’s “arms factories,” producing antibodies that target invading microbes for destruction. Abnormal B cell proliferation causes such leukemias as multiple myeloma and acute lymphoblastic leuk

More than 150 years after the discovery of Hassall’s corpuscles in 1849, the function of these round blobs of cells in the human thymus gland has now been explained. The answer, in turn, ends an intense hunt for the origin of regulatory T cells that has been under way for years.

Reporting in the Aug. 25 issue of Nature, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center found that Hassall’s corpuscles produce chemical signals that instruct dendriti

A peptide identified in a fungus found in northern European pine forests possesses as much power as penicillin as well as vancomycin, according to an international team of researchers.

Reporting in the October 13 issue of Nature, a team from Denmark-based biotech company Novozymes, and researchers from Georgetown University Medical Center and the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, say they have isolated “plectasin,” the first defensin ever found in fungi. The research wa

Researchers at New York University School of Medicine and Wayne State University have found a molecule that reveals the early stages of pleural mesothelioma, a chest cancer caused by asbestos. The finding opens the way to a blood test for the disease, according to a new study published in the Oct. 13 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.

An estimated 7.5 million workers in the United States have been exposed to asbestos and, according to government statistics, it remains a hazard

Research by an EU-supported international team of scientists has shown that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)[1] – synthetic organic chemicals found widely in the environment and absorbed in the diet – may damage sperm.

But, lead author Dr Marcello Spanò, of the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment (ENEA), stressed that the study had found no dramatic effects on human fertility and had not revealed any serious public health threat. However, the

Artificial microgravity causes suppression of 99 key immune genes, leading to T-cell suppression

Researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center have identified a set of key immune-response genes that do not turn on in a weightless environment. The discovery is another clue in the effort to solve an almost 40-year-old mystery: why the human immune system does not function well in the weightlessness of space.

The researchers, led by SFVAMC biochemist and former astronau

Study in Oct. 1 ’Development’ shows when, where Alzheimer’s, some cancers and genetic ills begin

Biologists at Florida State University have uncovered the pivotal role of a gene called “Cut” that acts as a sort of middleman in cell-to-cell communication.
A DNA-binding protein, Cut interprets and transcribes the developmental signals sent through the “Notch” gene, which regulates a layer of epithelial cells as they replicate and divide. But when Cut garbles

Duke engineers have added a new construction tool to their bio-nanofabrication toolbox. Using an enzyme called TdTase, engineers can vertically extend short DNA chains attached to nanometer-sized gold plates. This advance adds new capability to the field of bio-nanomanufacturing.

“The process works like stacking Legos to make a tower and is an important step toward creating functional nanostructures out of biological materials,” said Ashutosh Chilkoti, associate professor of biom

A Michigan State University researcher and his colleagues have shown that playing violent video games leads to brain activity pattern that may be characteristic for aggressive thoughts.

In a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, 13 male research participants were observed playing a latest-generation violent video game. Each participant’s game play was recorded and content analyzed on a frame-by-frame basis.

“There is a causal link between playing the first-

The gene encoding an enzyme that hinders muscle from burning fat manufactures three times more enzyme in the muscle of obese people than lean people, researchers from Duke University Medical Center and Louisiana State University have found. This causes the obese muscle tissue to both store more fat and burn less fat, the researchers said.

“Obesity is a very complex disease, and this metabolic pathway does not fully explain obesity, but it is a likely contributor,” said Debor

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have discovered that the small intestine communicates with the liver to control the production of bile acids – a finding that has great medical implications in treating people at risk for certain types of liver disease.

“We’ve discovered a new hormone, and new hormones are always exciting,” said Dr. Steven Kliewer, professor of molecular biology and pharmacology and senior author of a study available online and appearing in t

Understanding how voltage-gated ion channels operate is requisite for improving disease treatment

One of the biggest mysteries in molecular biology is exactly how ion channels – tiny protein pores through which molecules such as calcium and potassium flow in and out of cells – operate. Such channels can be extremely important; members of the voltage-gated ion channel family are crucial to generating electrical pulses in the brain and heart, carrying signals in nerves and muscles.

For the first time, stem cell researchers at the University of Minnesota have coaxed human embryonic stem cells to create cancer-killing cells in the laboratory, paving the way for future treatments for various types of cancers (or tumors). The research will be published in the Oct. 15 issue of the Journal of Immunology.

Researchers generated “natural killer” cells from the human embryonic stem cells. As part of the immune system, natural killer cells normally are present in t

Inhabitants of South-East Asia and Africa have been using papaya fruit and leaves for a long time to heal wounds and burns. Now, Russian scientists have confirmed curative properties of the exotic fruit.

The papaya-based medication accelerates healing of burn wounds, as the fruit possesses antiphlogistic and antibacterial action. That has been confirmed by the researches of Russian State Medical University. It has turned out that papaya weakens the action of enzyme excreted by p

Patients on statin treatment need not worry about cholesterol dropping too low

(Very low LDL cholesterol levels appear to be safe for heart patients on statin therapies, according to a new study in the Oct. 18, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

“There was no apparent safety concern for patients whose resultant LDL on intensive therapy was lower than current guidelines. There was a trend toward improved clinical outcomes in the lowest LDL

Authors say patients and policies should favor high-volume practitioners.

As the implantation of cardioverter-defibrillator devices to prevent sudden cardiac death becomes increasingly popular, patients are likely to get the best results when they are treated by physicians who perform the procedures frequently, according to a new study in the Oct. 18, 2005, issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

“Defibrillator implantations performed by physicians w