The Immune System

Avian influenza viruses have a gene that makes them incredibly resistant to heat, rendering our body's natural defense system – fever – powerless in fighting infection. In fact, higher temperatures actually help those bird-derived bugs replicate.

Scientists have found the clearest evidence yet that Epstein-Barr virus – which nearly all of us carry for life – is directly responsible for hijacking our immune system's cells to cause lupus, a chronic disease that affects up to a million Americans.

Researchers have demonstrated how a secret weapon made in the gut, produced by consuming pomegranate and walnuts, can rejuvenate the immune system in middle age, shielding us from cell damage, inflammation and chronic diseases including cancer.

In a world-first breakthrough, scientists have discovered how a sugary “cloak” helps bowel cancer hide from the immune system, and how stripping it away could turn the body’s anti-cancer defenses back on.

Even in death, cells leave a trace. Scientists have discovered a microscopic “Footprint of Death” that not only helps the immune system clean up but can also give viruses a new way to spread infection.

A one-time gene therapy using a patient’s own stem cells has effectively cured a deadly immune disorder in 95% of treated children, offering a lasting, donor-free solution to ADA-SCID, known as the “bubble boy” disease.

A new study offers hope for brain cancer patients facing memory loss from radiotherapy. By blocking a single immune receptor, scientists preserved cognition in mice without dulling the cancer-killing power of radiation.

People with severe chronic pain were far more likely to have elevated levels of eosinophils, a type of white blood cell, a new study found, hinting at an immune link to pain – but the rise in these cells didn’t make treatments any less effective.

A next-generation cancer vaccine has shown stunning results in mice, preventing up to 88% of aggressive and difficult-to-treat cancers by harnessing dual-pathway nanoparticles that train the immune system to recognize and destroy tumor cells.

An existing transplant drug has shown promise in slowing the progression of type 1 diabetes in newly diagnosed young people, potentially paving the way for the first therapy that modifies the disease after diagnosis.

Switching off a single enzyme in immune cells protected mice from obesity, type 2 diabetes, and fatty liver disease in a new study, offering a potential new treatment target for metabolic disorders.

Signs of immune system aging appear years before rheumatoid arthritis takes hold, offering new hope for early diagnosis and treatments that could slow or stop the disease before it starts, according to new research.