Latest Lymphocyte Stories

Discovery could lead to new and better vaccines for Listeria, HIV and other pathogens Researchers at the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology have identified a previously unknown mechanism that generates protective immune memory cells to fight recurring infections at the body's mucosal linings – which include the mouth, the intestines, the lungs and other areas. These are the main entry points for many viruses and other infectious organisms. The findings were published online...

Phase I clinical trials developed by Spanish Superior Scientific Research Council (CSIC) together with Gregorio Marañón Hospital in Madrid and Clínic Hospital in Barcelona, reveals MVA-B preventive vaccine's immune efficiency against Human's immunodeficiency virus (HIV). 90% of the volunteers who went through the tests developed an immunological response against the virus and 85% has kept this response for at least one year. Safety and efficiency of this treatment have been described in...

Scientists reveal how a type of white blood cells, called Natural Killer cells, protect the body from tumors and virus-infected cells Scientists reveal in more detail than ever before how white blood cells kill diseased tissue using deadly granules, in research published today in PLoS Biology. The researchers, from Imperial College London and the University of Oxford, used 'optical' laser tweezers and a super-resolution microscope to see the inner workings of white blood cells at the...

Bleeding calf syndrome (bovine neonatal pancytopenia or BNP) affects new born calves resulting in low blood cell counts and depletion of the bone marrow. It first emerged in 2007 and a serious number of cases are reported each year. In affected calves, bone marrow cells which produce platelets are also destroyed. Consequently the calves' blood does not clot and they appear to bleed through undamaged skin. There is evidence that BNP is linked to the use of a particular vaccine against "Bovine...

Gene therapy approach provides tumor-attack roadmap for other cancersIn a cancer treatment breakthrough 20 years in the making, researchers from the University of Pennsylvania's Abramson Cancer Center and Perelman School of Medicine have shown sustained remissions of up to a year among a small group of advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients treated with genetically engineered versions of their own T cells. The protocol, which involves removing patients' cells and modifying them...

In the latest issue of Nature, researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania clarify the role of two proteins key to T-cell development. They found that one well-known protein called Notch passes off much of its role during T-cell maturation to another protein called TCF-1. T cells are required for many aspects of immunity, and understanding how these proteins influence the production of infection-fighting cells could improve treatments for immune-suppressed...

Blue Ocean Biomedical introduces the LG Series Flow Cytometry Systems, the first fully automated, load & go systems for counting CD4 cells and other lymphocyte subsets. Pembroke Pines, FL (PRWEB) July 15, 2011 Blue Ocean Biomedical introduces the LG Series Flow Cytometry Systems, the first fully automated, load & go systems for counting CD4 cells and other lymphocyte subsets. These subsets (percent and absolute counts of T cells, B cells, and NK cells) are used in immune status...

Researches near goal of using a patient's own cells to make stem cells that can replace lost or diseased tissueScientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have developed an improved technique for generating large numbers of blood cells from a patient's own cells. The new technique will be immediately useful in further stem cell studies, and when perfected, could be used in stem cell therapies for a wide variety of conditions including cancers and immune ailments."There are...

After eight years of work, researchers have unearthed what has been a well-kept secret of our immune system's success. The findings published online on June 9th in Immunity, a Cell Press publication, offer an explanation for how specialized immune cells are able to kill infected or cancerous cells without killing themselves in the process.The focus of the study is a molecule known as perforin, whose job it is to open up a pore in cells targeted for destruction. With that pore in place,...

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have taken a machine already in use for the measurement of impurities in semiconductors and used it to analyze immune cells in far more detail than has been possible before. The new technology lets scientists take simultaneous measurements of dozens of features located on and in cells, whereas the existing technology typically begins to encounter technical limitations at about a half-dozen.The investigators were able not only to...