T Cell News and Research

Latest T Cell News and Research

Functional human blood vessels grown in mice using cells from adult human donors

For the first time, researchers have successfully grown functional human blood vessels in mice using cells from adult human donors - an important step in developing clinical strategies to grow tissue, researchers report in Circulation Research: Journal of the American Heart Association.

19 Jul 2008

HIV-I damages the immune system early than originally thought

New research into the earliest events occurring immediately upon infection with HIV-I shows that the virus deals a stunning blow to the immune system earlier than was previously understood. According to scientists at Duke University Medical Center, this suggests the window of opportunity for successful intervention may be only a matter of days - not weeks - after transmission, as researchers had previously believed.

19 Jul 2008

Standards in stem cell research

Standards in stem cell research help both scientists and regulators to manage uncertainty and the unknown, according to new research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council. Efforts to standardise practices across different labs is, however, a balancing act where the autonomy of scientists and fragility of living material need to be weighed against the need for comparable data.

17 Jul 2008

New ultrasound imaging system spots early evidence of peripheral arterial disease

Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University have devised an ultrasound imaging technique that picks up subtle early evidence of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) that current conventional tests miss.

17 Jul 2008

New discovery on Candida infections

Scientists here have found that certain substances from bacteria living in the human intestine cause the normally harmless Candida albicans fungus to become highly infectious.

17 Jul 2008

Sale of liver disease therapeutic patents

IpAuctions, Inc. will auction the worldwide biotherapeutic patents previously owned by Cell Works Inc., a Maryland-based biotech company, and acquired by CellPoint Diagnostics, Inc., based in Mountain View, Calif. These patents primarily consist of organ-targeted drug delivery systems to combat liver disease.

17 Jul 2008

Researchers find better way to distinguish melanoma from some benign moles

University of Rochester Medical Center researchers found a new protein produced excessively in malignant melanoma, a discovery that is particularly relevant as skin cancer rates climb dramatically among young women.

17 Jul 2008

Genetic resistance to HIV

Some people may be naturally resistant to infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The results of a study conducted by Dr. Nicole Bernard of the Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) bring us closer to a genetic explanation. Her study findings were published on July 16 in the journal AIDS.

17 Jul 2008

Shared gene expression alterations in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

Both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder can be disabling conditions, and both present clinically with significant mood and psychotic symptoms. These two illnesses also share genetic variants that might be involved in the predisposition to both disorders.

17 Jul 2008

EpiCept and GNI partner to develop anti-viral hepatitis drug in Asia

GNI Ltd and EpiCept Corporation have announced that they have reached agreement to develop a new therapeutic drug, EP1013, in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, for late-stage viral infection-induced hepatitis. EpiCept will retain the rights in the rest of the world. GNI’s wholly owned subsidiary, Shanghai Genomics, will start preparation for pre-IND and clinical development in China immediately.

17 Jul 2008

Gene variant increases HIV risk in Africans

A genetic variation which evolved to protect people of African descent against malaria has now been shown to increase their susceptibility to HIV infection by up to 40 per cent, according to new research. Conversely, the same variation also appears to prolong survival of those infected with HIV by approximately two years.

17 Jul 2008

New therapies revealed for diabetes-induced microvascular disease

New findings from Bristol scientists could lead to future treatments to prevent lower limb amputations in diabetes - which currently affect 100 people a week in the UK (source Diabetes UK). The research from the University of Bristol is published online in Circulation Research and was funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and the European Vascular Genomic Network of Excellence (EVGN).

17 Jul 2008

Turning on hormone tap could aid osteoporosis fight

A potential new drug that 'opens the taps' for the release of useful hormones could stimulate new bone growth - and may eventually bring relief to osteoporosis sufferers.

From The University of Manchester 16 Jul 2008

New understanding of fetal hemoglobin regulation in patients with sickle cell disease

Although sickle cell disease is a single-gene disorder, its symptoms are highly variable. In a study published online July 14 by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, scientists at Children's Hospital Boston and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI), in collaboration with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, report five gene variants that could potentially be helpful in predicting sickle cell disease severity, perhaps even leading to better treatment approaches in the future.

15 Jul 2008

Improving understanding of cell behaviour in breast cancer

The invasion and spread of cancer cells to other parts of the body, known as metastasis, is a principal cause of death in patients diagnosed with breast cancer. Although patients with early stage, small, breast tumours have an excellent short term prognosis, more than 15 to 20 per cent of them will eventually develop distant metastases, and die from the disease. Vascular invasion - through lymphatic and blood vessels - is the major route for cancer spreading to regional lymph nodes and to the rest of the body.

15 Jul 2008

Diabetes could be a hidden condition for heart disease patients

Researchers at the University of Warwick have discovered diabetes could be a hidden condition for some patients with coronary heart disease.

15 Jul 2008

New technology revolutionizing drug discovery

The National Science Foundation has awarded Weill Cornell Medical College researcher Dr. Scott Blanchard its prestigious Career Award, recognizing his groundbreaking work in cell biology -- work that is poised to revolutionize research for the next generation of young scientists.

15 Jul 2008

Corneal transplant technique shows promise in children

For infants and children with blinding diseases of the cornea, a sophisticated new corneal transplantation technique offers the hope of improving vision while overcoming the technical difficulty and low success rate of traditional penetrating keratoplasty (PK) in children, according to reports in the current issue of the Journal of AAPOS (American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus).

15 Jul 2008

Virus injection could offer long term relief for Parkinson's

Gene therapy could offer a new, long-lasting way to treat Parkinson's disease, research results announced Tuesday 15 July at FENS 2008 suggest. Dr Deniz Kirik of the University of Lund in Sweden has been using viruses to insert a new combination of genes into animals' brains, where they help produce the dopamine that is lacking in Parkinson's disease. The results suggest the treatment is very effective in animal models for several months, possibly years.

15 Jul 2008

An inflamed response

Paul Martin, Professor of Cell Biology in the University of Bristol Departments of Physiology and Pharmacology, and Biochemistry, talked to Cherry Lewis about the discovery made in his lab that speeds up wound healing and reduces the size of the wound scar. She was interested not only in the discovery itself, but also in the processes and years of research that led up to it.

15 Jul 2008