Immunology

Families who introduce peanut butter and eggs to their baby’s diet at about six months of age can significantly reduce the chances of them developing a life-threatening allergy, according to a study published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice.

A team of researchers led by NYU Tandon School of Engineering’s Weiqiang Chen has developed a miniature device that could transform how blood cancer treatments are tested and tailored for patients.

Human exposure to toxic particles drives various diseases. Examples include gout, an acute arthritis driven by monosodium urate crystals, or MSUc; CPPD disease, another inflammatory joint disease driven by calcium pyrophosphate dihydrate crystals, or CPPDc; and the lung disease silicosis, driven by inhaled silica-derived nanoparticles.

Thousands of bacterial and other microbial species live in the human gut, supporting healthy digestion, immunity, metabolism and other functions. Precisely how these microbes are protected from immune attack has been unclear, but now a study led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators has found that this immune “tolerance” to gut microbes depends on an ancient bacterial-sensing protein called STING—normally considered a trigger for inflammation. The surprising result could lead to new treatments for inflammatory bowel disease and other conditions involving gut inflammation.

When a house is hit by a hurricane, you must first remove the damaged parts before reconstruction can begin. The same applies to our muscles after injuries—and now researchers from Aarhus University and Steno Diabetes Center Aarhus have discovered who functions as the coordinator of this repair process.

In modern immunotherapy, modified immune cells are introduced into the body to attack tumors and other targets. Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed a method for tracking these cells in the body. This new approach could deepen our understanding of cellular therapies and help make future treatments safer.

Scientists with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC have created an engineered model of the supportive tissue found within a lymph node to study human health.

Sepsis is when the immune system overshoots its inflammatory reaction to an infection, so strongly that the vital organs begin to shut down. It is life-threatening: each year in the US alone, approximately 750,000 patients are hospitalized for sepsis, of which approximately 27% die.

If we have an allergy to peanuts, strawberries or dairy, we are quick to blame our immune systems. But when we enjoy a diverse diet without any adverse reaction, we generally don’t realize that this is also the immune system’s doing.

Most vaccines—and boosters—are injected directly into muscle tissue, usually in the upper arm, to kickstart the body’s immune system in the fight against disease. But for respiratory diseases like COVID-19, it can be important to have protection right where the virus enters: the respiratory tract.