Muscle stem cells are wily beasts. As I've written about before, they nestle along our muscle fibers and quietly await the biological red flag that …
Tag: immunology
Current “humanized” mice not good models for studying stem cell transplants, say researchers
Laboratory mice have made valuable contributions to biological research for centuries, at first as a model to study broad questions such as blood circulation and …
Progress in search for vaccine providing broad immunity to scourge of developing-world infants
A vaccine is, in essence, a "virtual-reality mug shot" that spurs the immune system to (among other things) generate antibodies that gum up whatever pathogen …
Meet the glucose-guzzling immune cells behind coronary heart disease and, it turns out, shingles
As if they didn't have enough to worry about, people with coronary artery disease -- the industrialized world's number-one killer -- are more vulnerable to …
“Lifting the hood” on rare immune diseases can help patients get the treatment they need
Imagine you're driving and hear a worrisome noise coming from your vehicle. You pull over to the side of the road and add some oil. …
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. …
An inside look at immune cells might eventually shorten wait times for cancer patients
Anyone who has had an encounter with cancer knows about waiting. You have to wait for test results, wait for appointments and wait to see …
Successful immunotherapy requires a body-wide response, say Stanford researchers
Harnessing a patient's immune system to tackle tumors seems like a no-brainer. Why wouldn't we avail ourselves of such a natural, already-in-the-trenches, weapon? And much …
Exploring the promise and challenges of cancer immunotherapy
The immune system is primed to protect the body from outside invaders, like viruses and bacteria. But can the immune system also be trained to …
Faulty DNA repair makes for old, crotchety immune cells; triggers inflammatory disease
I recently wrote an article for our magazine, Stanford Medicine, about the disturbing tendency of our immune systems, as the years go by, to get stuck …
On genetics, immunology and autism: A Q&A with Stanford’s Theo Palmer
Stanford researcher Theo Palmer, PhD, has long sought to understand how genetic and environmental factors shape brain function. His team is investigating a genetic …
Iron nanoparticles prompt immune system to attack cancer, Stanford researchers find
Recently, a team of Stanford researchers was testing a new way to fight cancer when something strange happened. The team, led by pediatric radiologist Heike …
Vitamin A byproduct helps combat colorectal cancer in mice and humans
When foreign invaders like bacteria end up in the intestines, the immune system gears up to squelch them. Oftentimes, inflammation — the release of chemicals …
Stanford researchers develop a new target for immunotherapy: sugars
Cancer immunotherapies have been big news in the past few years, particularly after former President Jimmy Carter’s melanoma was successfully treated with one such immune-stimulating …
Stanford Medicine to join $250 million Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy
The field of cancer immunotherapy, which uses the body's own defenses — the immune system — to battle tumor cells is at an "inflection point," …
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 …