Latest Monocyte Stories

Immune cells implicated in fatal seizuresNYU Langone Medical Center scientists and their collaborators at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., have discovered an unexpected cause for the fatal seizures seen in mice with viral meningitis, an infection of the central nervous system, according to a study published in the journal Nature. The finding may lead to a new way of thinking about how the human immune system responds to viral diseases.The NYU researchers, Michael L. Dustin,...

Irregular, heavy drinking pattern clogs blood vesselsAs the holidays arrive, a group of researchers has identified the precise mechanisms by which binge drinking contributes to clogs in arteries that lead to heart attack and stroke, according to a study published today in the journal Atherosclerosis. The works adds to a growing body of evidence that drinking patterns matter as much, if not more, to risk for cardiovascular disease than the total amount consumed.According to the National...

Physicians might one day be able to treat a disease that destroys brain cells in children using genetically modified cells to transport a "drug" to the site of the dying neural cells (cells that transmit impulses). This discovery occurred based on results of a laboratory study of the technique published by investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. A report on this work appears in the prepublication online issue of Blood. There is currently no cure for such disorders, which are...

Boston, MA - With the unusual opportunity that human leprosy infections provide for study of human immune responses, scientists have discovered how the body's early warning system prompts a rapid immune response by two separate armies of defensive cells. The finding helps explain why, when threatened by microbes like the leprosy bug, this initial defense sometimes succeeds in limiting the damage, but in other cases yields to a dangerous, spreading infection.Led by Stephan R. Krutzik of UCLA,...