The Immune System

The autoimmune disorder celiac disease is thought to result largely from genetic predisposition, but environmental factors also play a part. Now, researchers have found evidence that exposure to certain bacteria may be one of these external factors.

Parents of children with autism have often reported a strange phenomenon: when their child has a fever, their behavioral symptoms seem to improve. Now a new study from MIT and Harvard may have uncovered why.

Cancer has a knack for deceiving the immune system, giving itself time to grow and spread. Now, researchers at QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute have identified one way it does so, and found a method to counter it in mouse tests.

One of the most alarmingly plausible (and overlooked) doomsday scenarios is the rise of the superbug, bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. But now, scientists have found a new potential treatment – and it was hiding in our skin the whole time.

Exactly how do immune cells avoid wiping themselves out while attacking invaders? Researchers at Peter Mac and UCL have now found that they create a tough shield around themselves, and this discovery could lead to new cancer therapies.

A study, from Sweden’s Karolinska Institutet, has demonstrated a new method that can distinguish between two different, but closely related, strains of the herpes virus, offering evidence to suggest the virus plays a role in multiple sclerosis.

Several new studies are reporting evidence affirming a growing hypothesis that links inflammation with the cognitive deficits seen in bipolar disorder and Alzheimer’s. It's also suggested low-grade inflammation can result in mental sluggishness.

New research has found the ketogenic diet can protect from influenza infection in mice. Whilst experts are calling the study intriguing, many are also cautioning these animal results are not transferable to humans.

In a new study, researchers looked at the immune systems of people who have hit the milestone of 110 years old, and found that they have a high number of a particular type of immune cell that’s rare even in healthy, younger people.

Impressive research has verified a long-held hypothesis called immune amnesia, demonstrating how infection by the measles virus can remove pre-existing immune system protections, leaving a person vulnerable to other infections for several years.

During and after nuclear bomb tests, levels of the radioactive isotope carbon-14 spiked in the atmosphere and in our bodies. Now, researchers have used that to carbon date our immune cells, helping solve a mystery about how our immune systems age.

A new metastudy is suggesting anti-inflammatory drugs can reduce symptoms of depression, affirming the long-suspected link between neuroinflammation and depression. However, another study is claiming there is no causal link between the two factors.