News by Subject Medicine & Health

T cell immunotherapy uses the immune system to kill cancer cells. To increase the efficacy of this new treatment, researchers at the MUSC aimed to discover a master regulator of T cell fate. The signaling lipid sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) influences the T cell lineage: high levels of S1P lead to an inhibitory regulatory T cell phenotype, while low levels of S1P lead to a central memory-like phenotype, which exhibit increased anti-cancer functions.

Children with a high genetic risk of developing type 1 diabetes have different gut microbiomes than children with a low risk, according to a new study from Linköping University in Sweden and the University of Florida in the US. The results published in the scientific journal Nature Communications suggest that genetic risk can shape an individual's response to environmental factors in the development of autoimmune diseases.

Children with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) run a greater risk of psychiatric disorders, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in JAMA Pediatrics. The researchers claim that more psychological support and longer follow-up is needed for the children affected and their parents.

Giving children an additional dose of rotavirus vaccine when they are nine months old would provide only a modest improvement in the vaccine's effectiveness in low-income countries, according to a new study led by the Yale School of Public Health and the Institute of Infection and Global Health at the University of Liverpool.

Gluten-free diets have been trendy for several years now, with adherents claiming that avoiding grains that contain the substance helps with weight loss or improves general health. However, for people with celiac disease, avoiding gluten is not a fad but a necessity. Now, researchers reporting in the Journal of Proteome Research have developed a method to detect proteins from rye, which could help food manufacturers meet regulatory requirements for 'gluten-free' claims on foods.

A team led by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research has gained new insights into the mechanism of vaccine-induced T cell immunity, including regulation, gene expression and metabolic pathways. This study, published in Nature Communications, used samples from a Phase 1 clinical trial for TAK-003, a live-attenuated tetravalent dengue vaccine. Though these discoveries occurred in the context of a dengue vaccine trial, they are applicable to the development of vaccines for numerous viral diseases.

A new study shows that the risk of giving birth to a child with microcephaly might be related to how the immune system reacts against the Zika virus -- specifically what kind of antibodies it produces.

New research led by scientists at The Rockefeller University in New York may help explain why Zika virus infection causes birth defects in some children but not others. The study, which will be published August 14 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, suggests that the risk of developing an abnormally small head (microcephaly) depends on the types of antibody produced by pregnant mothers in response to Zika infection.