Neurosurgeon Michael Lim studies how to unleash the immune system to attack a type of brain cancer called glioblastoma.
Tag: autoimmune disease
Yes, it’s inflammatory bowel disease — but what kind? Soon it might be easier to tell
Diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease currently requires an invasive procedure. New research identifies a way to identify the disease using a blood draw.
Rheumatoid arthritis may be triggered by a missing molecular “anchor,” but new research suggests a fix
Stanford scientists have dug up a defect at the heart of rheumatoid arthritis: a faulty "anchor" that should be tethering a key molecule to the spot inside immune cells where it has to be in order to do its job. It seems this defect can be reversed with a not yet commercially available small-molecule drug.
Mistaken identity: Influenza/narcolepsy autoimmunity link confirmed
New research has confirmed that an antigen in some variants of the flu virus and vaccine can, in rare cases, trigger an autoimmune response leading to narcolepsy.
Common link — a glucose-guzzling immune cell — involved in coronary artery disease and rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis and coronary artery disease share a common culprit: an important type of immune cell, called a macrophage, that has gone haywire. Stanford investigators have zeroed in on a molecular defect in macrophages' metabolic process that drives both disorders.
Upcoming narcolepsy book stars Stanford researchers
While reporting a Stanford Medicine magazine story on narcolepsy — and an awfully cute sleepy Chihuahua named Watson -- I remember thinking, "Gosh, this would …
Stanford research uncovers possible drug treatment for lymphedema
For decades, Stanley Rockson, MD, a Stanford professor of medicine, has been researching possible causes and cures for lymphedema, which affects millions around the world. …
Immune cells gobble out-of-control fibroblasts when “don’t-eat-me” signal is blocked
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, scleroderma and liver cirrhosis are just a few of a pantheon of confusingly named, difficult-to-treat and sometimes life-threatening diseases caused by the malfunction of …
Autoimmune advocate: My reason for being
Have you ever had one of those dreams where you’re trying as hard as you can to run away but you can’t seem to break …
Celiac disease and anorexia nervosa linked, study shows
New research from Sweden has uncovered an unexpectedly strong link between celiac disease and anorexia nervosa. The study of nearly 18,000 women with celiac disease …
Autoimmunity and cancer: Flip sides of the same coin?
Many patients with cancer are now treated with "checkpoint inhibitors." These new drugs release molecular brakes that ordinarily keep immune cells from running amok and damaging healthy tissues. …
Hedgehog pathway plays a role in colitis, new research suggests
The Hedgehog signaling pathway — named after a gene mutation that caused short, spiky protrusions on fruit fly larvae — received much attention in the …
New hope for autoimmune-related baldness suggested by Stanford study
When my daughter was in elementary school she had a classmate with just a few patches of hair on an otherwise bald scalp. The effect …
New Stanford celiac disease resource offers help with gluten-free diets
Receiving a diagnosis of celiac disease can be pretty daunting. The most common inherited autoimmune disease, celiac disease causes a lifelong inability to tolerate gluten, …
Promising new path for refractory rheumatoid arthritis patients?
I blogged last week about some important new findings concerning the underlying causes of rheumatoid arthritis. As I mentioned then, it takes a long time - it can …
Unmasked: molecular mechanism of rheumatoid arthritis revealed
In a new study in Science Translational Medicine, Stanford rheumatologist and immunologist Connie Weyand, MD, and her colleagues have figured out what sparks the aberrant activation …