Immune Systems

Human body's natural process of removing old and damaged cell parts could be harnessed to treat infections like tuberculosis (TB), reducing reliance on antibiotics, according to a new study. Researchers at the Francis Crick Institute, UK, investigated genes important for bacteria to evade autophagy, a self-destruction mechanism cells resort to when stressed. Their study is published in Nature Microbiology. According to the study, from induced pluripotent stem cells, a kind of specialist stem cells and are able to become any cell type in the body, the scientists engineered macrophages, or human immune cells. Following this, they disabled these macrophages from performing autophagy using genome editing tools. The cells were then infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, bacteria causing TB. The scientists found that the infection took hold, replicating more within the edited macrophages and causing mass host-cell death. The results evidence the role of autophagy in controlling ...

Scientists have found that children's immune systems, unlike those of adults, do not remember the virus and do not adapt, and so when exposed to SARS-CoV-2 again, their body still treats it as a new threat, risking reinfection. According to the study, children have largely avoided severe COVID-19 symptoms because they have a strong initial 'innate' immune reaction that quickly defeats the virus. And now, researchers led by scientists at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Australia, have uncovered what this might mean for the immune system, the study published in the journal Clinical Immunology said. "The price that children pay for being so good at getting rid of the virus in the first place is that they don't have the opportunity to develop 'adaptive' memory to protect them the second time they are exposed to the virus," said lead author Tri Phan, Co-Lead of the Precision Immunology Program at Garvan. "Because children haven't been exposed to many viruses, their immune syst

Scientists have found that the baseline immune statuses in men previously infected with SARS-CoV-2 was altered in ways that changed the response to an exposure different from SARS-CoV-2. The team of researchers systematically analyzed immune responses of healthy people who had been given the flu vaccine. From that data, they then compared the responses between those who had never been infected by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and those who experienced mild cases but recovered. The team led by John Tsang, an immunobiologist from Yale University, US, found that immune systems of men who had recovered from mild cases of COVID-19 responded more robustly to flu vaccines than women who had had mild cases or men and women who had never been infected. "This was a total surprise," said Tsang. "Women usually mount a stronger overall immune response to pathogens and vaccines, but are also more likely to suffer from autoimmune diseases," said Tsang. The long-term effects of ...

Karolinska Institute researchers have demonstrated that B lymphocytes, on which the efficient operation of the immune system depends, can occasionally cause more harm than good

The findings, showed that the immune system's antibodies against one coronavirus spike protein could, potentially, also recognise other similar spike protein as disease-causing

When vaccinated and unvaccinated people mixed, a substantial number of new infections would occur in vaccinated people, even in scenarios where immunisation rates were high: Study

In a subset of persons who recover from the initial Covid illness, various symptoms persist, such as fatigue, mental haziness, and shortness of breath which is generally classified as long Covid

The researchers found that the two dominant sub lineages of Omicron have unprecedented numbers of spike protein mutations, with BA.1 having 33 and BA.2 having 29 variations

Long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with an increased risk of autoimmune disease, particularly rheumatoid arthritis, connective tissue and inflammatory bowel diseases

The findings, published in the journal Nature, suggest that declining antibody levels in the months after vaccination primarily represent a shift to a sustainable immune response

A team of researchers from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and St Vincent's hospital Sydney have found clear biological marker in patients experiencing long Covid.

"it's not impossible to have confection of two strains, especially if the patient has an immuno-compromised status", Dr Dipu T.S said

AstraZeneca is one of the frontrunners in the drugs industry's search for a Covid-19 vaccine

Some skin symptoms appear soon after infection, while others arise later or in more severe disease

According to the scientists, in people with severe Covid-19, one of most abundant cytokines released is called TNF

In certain patients, according to a flurry of recent studies, the virus appears to make the immune system go haywire

Unlike humans, the scientists said bats have specific mechanisms which reduce the replication of viruses in their bodies, and also dampen their immune response to a virus

The study, published in the journal Science Immunology, assessed T cells from 10 Covid-19 patients under intensive care treatment

From India's first non-agri-driven recession, to Parliament missing in action, and why study suggests blood cancer patients usually survive Covid-19 - read these and more in today's India dispatch

Good nutrition is essential to a strong immune system, which offers protection not only from novel infections, such as COVID -19, but also seasonal illness