Latest Human leukocyte antigen Stories
The cocktail maintaining immune gene variation The great variation of a specific form of immune genes makes organ transplants so complicated. On the other hand, we need such a great variability in order to resist infectious diseases. This is why it also plays a major role in the selection of sexual partners. Up until now, the mechanisms for maintaining this standing genetic variation have remained an evolutionary puzzle. In a study of sticklebacks, researchers from the Max Planck Institute...
The association between the inflammatory bowel disease ulcerative colitis and a gene that makes certain cell surface proteins has been pinpointed to a variant amino acid in a crucial binding site that profoundly influences immune response to antigens, including gut bacteria, reports a team of researchers at the University of Pittsburgh, Cleveland Clinic, Carnegie Mellon University and Harvard Medical School. They published the findings today in the online version of Genes & Immunity....
A vaccine designed to re-educate the immune system has been shown to be safe and feasible in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, according to research presented this week at the American College of Rheumatology Annual Scientific Meeting in Chicago. Chicago, Illinois (PRWEB) November 05, 2011 A vaccine designed to re-educate the immune system has been shown to be safe and feasible in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, according to research presented this week at the American College...
Sexual encounters with Neanderthals produced offspring who inherited vital genes that have helped modern humans combat illness and disease, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science. The scientists extracted material from the leg of a Neanderthal and the fingerbone of a Denisovan, an apparent sister species, which yielded readable DNA. An analysis of the DNA revealed that most of us have some of the genes of these ancient humans. Indeed, the Neanderthals...
A Stanford University scientist is claiming that interbreeding between human ancestors and Neanderthals that took place between 65,000 and 90,000 years ago may have helped our kind survive and gain evolutionary dominance. According to Peter Parham, an immunology expert at the California university's medical school, crossbreeding between the two species "provided humans with a ready-mixed cocktail of disease-resistant genes when the species first ventured out of its native Africa," Graeme...
A national transplant policy change designed to give African-American patients greater access to donor kidneys has sliced in half the racial disparities that have long characterized the allocation of lifesaving organs, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.Before 2003, the researchers note, an African-American patient who joined the kidney transplant list on the same day as a white patient would have a 37 percent smaller chance than a white counterpart of getting a transplant. In recent years,...
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A new treatment for hard-to-match kidney transplant patients is providing dramatic survival benefits. According to the study, hard-to-match transplant candidates who receive a new treatment designed to make their bodies more accepting of incompatible organs are twice as likely to survive eight years after transplant surgery as those who stay on dialysis for years waiting for compatible organs.It's estimated that there is more than 20,000 hard-to-match transplant...
(Ivanhoe Newswire) "“ Avoiding kidney mismatching is beneficial in pediatric kidney transplant patients, however, the likelihood of finding a matching donor must be considered against the wait time for a possible donation, according to this study."Although avoiding HLA [human leukocyte antigen; cell surface antigens that regulate host cell responses to transplanted cells] antigen mismatching has been shown to benefit long-term graft survival, it has raised concerns about disadvantaging...
Avoiding HLA-DR mismatching appears to be beneficial in pediatric kidney transplant patients, however the likelihood of finding a matching donor must be considered against the wait time for a possible donation, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals."Although avoiding HLA [human leukocyte antigen; cell surface antigens that regulate host cell responses to transplanted cells] antigen mismatching has been shown to benefit long-term...
CHICAGO, May 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ImmusanT, Inc., a biotechnology company developing an immunotherapeutic vaccine, companion diagnostic and monitoring tool for celiac disease, reported positive results from a Phase 1 study evaluating the safety, tolerability and bioactivity of Nexvax2® in patients with celiac disease. ImmusanT Chief Scientific and Medical Officer Dr. Bob Anderson presented results from the Nexvax2 Phase 1 study and led a symposium and session discussions about celiac...
