When undertaking a study on allergen-induced anaphylaxis in mice, researchers have found that not only the immune but also the nervous system may potentially play a part in the anaphylactic response. In their study published March 17, 2023, in Science Immunology, researchers from Duke University Medical Center reported that mice undergoing anaphylaxis displayed an “extended posture behavior” similar to the one that mice exhibit when exposed to high temperatures.
In the March 2023 issue of Science Immunology, researchers working at the City of Hope National Medical Center reported on the discovery the mechanisms by which the spliced X-box–binding protein 1 (XBP1s) served essential functions in the IL-15-dependent survival of natural killer (NK) cells. Since XBP1s is known to play critical roles in MHCII expression, the unfolded protein stress response, and ultimately tumorigenesis, the study provided deep insights into the understanding of NK cell biology with translational potential.
It is approved as a food additive. But it now appears that sucralose can dampen T-cell-mediated immune responses, suggesting it could be a means of treating T-cell-dependent autoimmune disorders. While stressing (repeatedly) that they were studying intakes well above normal, at high but achievable doses sucralose has an unexpected effect on T-cell responses and functions in autoimmune, infection and tumor models, researchers at The Francis Crick Institute, London, reported in Nature March 15, 2023.
The traps that neutrophils develop against microorganisms also hold T cells and prevent the success of immunotherapy in pancreatic cancer. To free the immune system from itself, scientists at the Istituto Oncologico Veneto in Italy made a key that unlocked this sticky dungeon from an antibody against arginase-1 (ARG1), an enzyme also present in the trap.
The U.S. FDA has accepted Mesoblast Ltd.’s BLA resubmission for its allogeneic stem cell treatment remestemcel-L in children with steroid-refractory acute graft-vs.-host disease (SR-aGVHD). Mesoblast received a complete response letter from the FDA in October 2020 for remestemcel-L even though approval was highly anticipated after the FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted 9-1 that the stem cell therapy showed evidence of efficacy as a treatment for SR-aGVHD in children.
Swiss orphan biotech AB2 Bio Ltd. has completed enrollment in a pivotal phase III trial for its recombinant interleukin-18-binding protein drug tadekinig alfa for an inherited form of the ultra-rare condition hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis that results from an excess of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-18.
The U.S. FDA has accepted Mesoblast Ltd.’s BLA resubmission for its allogeneic stem cell treatment remestemcel-L in children with steroid-refractory acute graft-vs.-host disease (SR-aGVHD). Mesoblast received a complete response letter from the FDA in October 2020 for remestemcel-L even though approval was highly anticipated after the FDA’s Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee voted 9-1 that the stem cell therapy showed evidence of efficacy as a treatment for SR-aGVHD in children.
Modex Therapeutics Inc., an Opko Health Inc. company, has entered into an exclusive worldwide license and collaboration agreement with Merck & Co. Inc., for the development of MDX-2201, Modex's preclinical nanoparticle vaccine candidate targeting Epstein-Barr virus (EBV).
Autoantibodies are typically not good news. But a group of researchers from Bellinzona, Switzerland, have observed that the presence of autoantibodies against chemokines, a special class of cytokines, is associated with mild disease and less risk of developing long COVID. “Our hypothesis was that antibodies to chemokines, if they existed, would also be associated with a negative outcome of the disease. But, what we found, in fact, was the exact opposite of what we were predicting,” Davide Robbiani, director of the Institute for Research in Biomedicine, told BioWorld.
RSS
