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Allergy and immunology news
Disease tolerance research points to treatments that limit infection damage instead of killing microbes
Two identical mice experience the same deadly infection. One survives, while the other dies. Why? Scientists long thought the answer lay in the pathogen burden—the amount of harmful bacteria present in the body. They assumed ...
Aug 21, 2026
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Microglia caught eating living motor neurons in ALS mice via unexpected immune pathway
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease that, according to the CDC, currently affects around 35,000 Americans—with 5,000 more diagnosed each year. Risk climbs with age, and treatments only slow ...
Aug 20, 2026
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Lung tumor bacteria plus vitamin B2 metabolite may boost immune response to cancer
Bacteria in lung tumors may boost the activation of innate immune cells in the presence of a common vitamin metabolite, according to a preclinical study by researchers from the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and its Bloomberg~Kimmel ...
Aug 20, 2026
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Parkinson's-linked gene holds clues to battling deadly bacterial infections
Innovative research led by a University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine professor whose lab focuses on mechanisms that maintain a healthy immune system has discovered that a gene best known for increasing the risk of Parkinson's ...
Aug 20, 2026
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Why immune responses to vaccines vary from person to person
Vaccines protect most people from serious illness, but the strength of that protection can vary considerably from one person to another. A new study led by Arizona State University helps us understand why.
Aug 20, 2026
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Math and medicine join forces to solve a cancer mystery
Immunotherapy has transformed outcomes for many cancer patients. Unlike conventional treatments, these therapies do not attack tumors directly. Instead, they enable the body's immune system to identify and kill cancer cells ...
Aug 20, 2026
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Dietary compound boosts immunosuppressant's effect for lupus treatment
University of Alabama researchers have found that a combination of an existing immunosuppressant drug and a compound derived from dietary sources showed greater benefit than either treatment alone in a preclinical model of ...
Aug 20, 2026
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Supercentenarians have an abundance of cancer-killing immune cells
The human immune system has specialized cells called CD4 cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CD4 CTLs), which have been shown to kill tumor cells in some cancers. When a person gets sick, these cells multiply in a process called clonal ...
Aug 19, 2026
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Newly found 'immune organ' inside skull directs brain defense
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have discovered lymph node-like structures in the skull bone marrow of mice for the first time and demonstrated that they act as rapid first responders ...
Aug 19, 2026
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Does your immune system learn like AI?
Could AI hold the key to answering questions that have stumped doctors and scientists for decades? A recent study at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) borrows concepts from machine learning to address an age-old riddle ...
Aug 19, 2026
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Early immune 'checkpoint' could help explain why the same virus affects individuals so differently
Age, genetics and lifestyle are known to influence how people respond to viral infections. Scientists also know that differences in immune responses play an important role, but exactly how these factors shape the course of ...
Aug 19, 2026
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Single-gene edits fail to protect transplanted insulin-producing cells
In people with type 1 diabetes, the immune system mistakenly destroys the pancreatic beta cells responsible for producing insulin. Patients therefore require lifelong insulin therapy to regulate their blood glucose levels.
Aug 19, 2026
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T cells ditch exhaustion marker to escape tumors and protect against cancer relapse
As the immune system battles cancer, chronic stimulation gradually drives T cells to a state of exhaustion. But some of these exhausted T cells can lose expression of the exhaustion marker LAG3, move out of the tumor and ...
Aug 18, 2026
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An immune defect that may set Crohn's disease in motion
Crohn's disease, a condition characterized by widespread inflammation in the gut, may arise from a weakened immune response, according to new research from the University of Toronto's Temerty Faculty of Medicine.
Aug 18, 2026
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New mechanistic insights into the role of inflammatory molecules in cancer progression
Immune checkpoint inhibitors have revolutionized cancer treatment, yet many colorectal tumors remain resistant. Even among patients who initially respond, more than half eventually develop resistance, highlighting the need ...
Aug 18, 2026
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How chronic environmental stress drives immune dysfunction in cold tumors
Immunotherapy has transformed cancer treatment, yet many tumors remain stubbornly resistant to its effects. Among the most challenging are "cold tumors," including ovarian, breast and prostate cancers, which evade immune ...
Aug 18, 2026
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Hidden immune environment uncovered in thymuses of myasthenia gravis patients
Northwestern Medicine scientists have uncovered a previously hidden immune environment in the thymus that may help drive myasthenia gravis (MG), a chronic autoimmune disease that causes muscle weakness and fatigue, mainly ...
Aug 17, 2026
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Focusing on bodily sensations may dampen acute inflammation, human experiments suggest
We usually think of bodily sensations as information the brain receives. What if the way we attend to those sensations can feed back and change the biological response itself?
Aug 17, 2026
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Tsimané and Moseten peoples of lowland Bolivia demonstrate an intriguing case of epidemiological resilience
Despite widespread COVID-19 infection in the Tsimané and Moseten populations of Bolivia, the mortality rate in these remote Indigenous groups was the lowest ever recorded for any population or region.
Aug 17, 2026
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Obesity weakens anti-tumor immune response in lung cancer, but exercise may restore it
Obesity can weaken the immune system's tumor-killing responses in lung cancer, leading to disease progression, but a new study by experts at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center reveals that exercise may reverse this ...
Aug 17, 2026
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Immunotherapy found effective against a subtype of difficult-to-treat ovarian cancer
A research group has revealed through studies in humans and mice that a subset of clear cell ovarian cancers, which have been considered difficult to treat with anticancer drugs and immunotherapy, responds to immunotherapy.
Aug 17, 2026
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Booster vaccination strengthens existing defenses against newer COVID-19 variants
The SARS-CoV-2 genome is subject to constant mutations. Some of these mutations reduce the effectiveness of RNA-based vaccines, which consequently have to be adapted regularly. Until now, however, it was unclear how the immune ...
Aug 17, 2026
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TLR2 links inflammation to neonatal heart regeneration, mouse study finds
Unlike adult hearts, the hearts of newborn mammals can temporarily regenerate after damage. However, this remarkable ability is rapidly lost within the first days of life. In a new study, scientists investigated how neonatal ...
Aug 17, 2026
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New way to help CAR-T cells fight solid tumors could change cancer treatment
For more than a decade, CAR-T cell therapy has been one of the biggest breakthroughs in cancer medicine. By reprogramming a patient's own immune cells to attack cancer, doctors have produced remarkable results against certain ...
Aug 16, 2026
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New approach opens rare immune cells to genetic risk research
Much of how genetic risk leads to disease has remained hidden. In many cases, genetic variants linked to disease do not act on nearby genes along the chromosome. Instead, they influence genes located far away along the DNA ...
Aug 15, 2026
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