Newswise Feature Channel: Immunology

Researchers at Johns Hopkins Medicine have uncovered a critical biological mechanism that helps explain how inflammation is triggered and sustained in a wide range of diseases--highlighting a promising avenue for future therapeutic development.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa typically carries three T6SSs, but clinical isolates can harbor an additional H4 system whose function was unknown. Wu et al. show that the H4-T6SS of clinical isolate LYSZa7 is a functional secretion apparatus when transcriptionally activated. They identify TseMt as a major antibacterial effector that acts in the periplasm, binds membranes, and forms ion-conducting pores. …

Natural killer (NK) cells are frontline immune defenders against cancer, but their behavior inside tumors is far more complex than previously understood. A comprehensive review now shows that the tumor microenvironment does not simply suppress these cells -- it actively reshapes them into distinct functional subsets with specialized roles, ranging from exhausted fighters to potent memory-like kil…

Targeting the spleen with engineered mycobacterial nanocomplexes turns tumor-supporting cells into active cancer fighters through trained immunity.

New research from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists suggests that cyclin-dependent kinase 2 (CDK2) inhibitors, which are currently being tested as treatments that slow the growth of a narrow range of cancers, could potentially be more broadly applicable to a wide range of cancers when combined with immunotherapy.

WashU Medicine researchers have found that blocking immune cells in the body's lymph nodes significantly reduces Alzheimer's-like neurodegeneration in mice.

UIC researchers have identified two therapeutic targets for pulmonary arterial hypertension, an as-yet incurable disease that can be caused by a parasite laying eggs in the abdomen. The targets represent an opportunity to diagnose, prevent, and treat the life-threatening condition.

* Researchers have discovered that mammalian genes can combine to make chimeric mRNAs, which carry the instructions to produce previously unknown, functional proteins. * The first chimeric mRNA they investigated, in mice, has an important role in modulating inflammatory responses. * Findings expand understanding of biology, genome and add potentially thousands of new targets for drug discovery.

An international research network led in North America by UC San Francisco (UCSF) has received a $9 million award to uncover how the immune system attacks the heart, leading to myocarditis and other inflammatory heart muscle diseases. The goal is to systematically identify the T cells involved in inflammatory heart disease, determine the cardiac antigens they recognize, and use that information t…

The Mathers Foundation, a highly selective national funder of innovative basic biomedical research, is supporting Thaxton's work on a discovery that has the potential to transform human health.

In their quest to understand how cancers take root, grow and spread, scientists have for the past half-century explored the genetic aberrations and microenvironmental peculiarities of tumors and their constituent cells.

Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and an international team of collaborators published findings August 20, 2026, in Nature Aging unpacking a biological paradox, finding that a well-known cell proliferation gene also plays a distinct role in cells that no longer proliferate. It served as a driver of chronic inflammation linked to age-related disease, marking it as a …

A preclinical study tested a new strategy for treating glioblastoma by using focused ultrasound to deliver microRNA-containing nanoparticles to the brain.

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have identified a protein that helps the immune system respond to tuberculosis (TB), one of the world's leading infectious diseases. The findings, published in The Journal of Immunology, revealed that a protein called sorting nexin 5 (SNX5) plays a previously unknown role in helping immune cells alert the body to infection and control damaging inflamm…

Mayo Clinic is a clinical collaborator on an award of up to $27.7 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to help develop affordable, scalable gene-editing therapies for children with rare inherited immune disorders.

Australian researchers are challenging decades-old assumptions about brain cancer treatment in a bid to make radiation therapy more effective against tumours, while reducing damage to healthy tissue.

Van Andel Institute scientists have discovered a new layer to the arms race between human cells and bacterial pathogens that infect them. The findings focus on RomA, a protein that Legionella bacteria release into host cells to create more favorable conditions. RomA works by altering how the host's genes are controlled. The team discovered RomA can read and respond to the host cell's existing ep…

Researchers affiliated with UTHealth Houston, competing under the team name Novamab AI, placed among the top five teams in the international AIntibody Challenge, a blinded, prospective benchmark published in Nature Biotechnology.