Infection Control Today - Immune System

More Evidence that Vitamin D Boosts Immune Response

Laboratory-grown gingival cells treated with vitamin D boosted their production of an endogenous antibiotic, and killed more bacteria than untreated cells, according to a paper in the June issue of the journal Infection and Immunity. The research suggests that vitamin D can ...More

June 16, 2011

Posted in News

How Killer Immune Cells Avoid Killing Themselves

After eight years of work, researchers have unearthed what has been a well-kept secret of our immune system's success. The findings published online on June 9 in the journal Immunity offer an explanation for how specialized immune cells are able to kill infected or ...More

June 9, 2011

Posted in News

Innate Immune System Proteins Attack Bacteria by Triggering Bacterial Suicide Mechanisms

A group of proteins that act as the body’s built-in line of defense against invading bacteria use a molecular trick to induce bacteria to destroy themselves, researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine have determined. The research could point the way toward ...More

May 23, 2011

Posted in News

Spaceflight Discovery Could Have Implications for Earthbound Patients Fighting Infection

The trip to Mars just got a little more difficult now that French researchers have discovered that antibodies used to fight off disease might become seriously compromised during long-term space flight. In a new report published online in the FASEB Journal, the scientists ...More

May 19, 2011

Posted in News

SNL Unlocks Secrets of Plague with New Imaging Techniques

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a super-resolution microscopy technique that is answering long-held questions about exactly how and why a cell’s defenses fail against some invaders, such as plague, while successfully fending off others like ...More

May 17, 2011

Posted in News

Vitamin D Deficiency in Pneumonia Patients Associated with Increased Mortality

A new study published in the journal Respirology reveals that adult patients admitted to the hospital with pneumonia are more likely to die if they have Vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D is known to be involved in the innate immune response to infection. The team of ...More

May 10, 2011

Posted in News

Step in Breakdown of HIV Proteins Essential to Recognition, Destruction of Infected Cells

A key step in the processing of HIV within cells appears to affect how effectively the immune system's killer T cells can recognize and destroy infected cells. Researchers at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard have found that – as HIV proteins are broken down ...More

May 9, 2011

Posted in News

Scientists Show How Shifts in Temperature Prime Immune Response

Researchers at the Scripps Research Institute have found a temperature-sensing protein within immune cells that, when tripped, allows calcium to pour in and activate an immune response. This process can occur as temperature rises, such as during a fever, or when it ...More

May 6, 2011

Posted in News

Scientists Discover How White Blood Cells Detect Infectious Invaders

Scientists at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center have discovered how a molecular receptor on the surface of white blood cells identifies when invading fungi have established direct contact with the cell surface and pose an infectious threat. The receptor called Dectin-1, studied ...More

April 29, 2011

Posted in News

Simple Fungus Reveals Clue to Immune System Protection

A discovery by Johns Hopkins scientists about how a single-celled fungus survives in low-oxygen settings may someday help humans whose immune systems are compromised by organ transplants or AIDS. A report on the discovery in a yeast called Schizosaccharomyces pombe appears ...More

April 21, 2011

Posted in News

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