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Staphylococcus aureus bacteria turns immune system against itself

By Guest PostDecember 6, 2013Healthadenosine synthase a, adsa gene, antibiotic resistant strain, bloodstream, dado, deoxyadenosine, destroy, DNA, dominique m missiakas, human function, immune defense mechanism, immune system, kevin jiang, macrophage, mrsa, mutation, nets, neutrophil extracellular traps, nuc, olaf schneewind, protein, s. aureus, staphylococcal nuclease, staphylococcus aureus bacteria, university of chicago, vilasack thammavongsa, white blood cells

Around 20 percent of all humans are persistently colonized with Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, a leading cause of skin infections and one of the major sources of hospital-acquired infections, including the antibiotic-resistant strain MRSA.

University of Chicago scientists have recently discovered one of the keys to the immense success of S. aureus—the ability to hijack a primary human immune defense mechanism and use it to destroy white blood cells. The study was published Nov. 15 in Science. (more…)

The real killer behind cancer

By Guest PostDecember 1, 2013Healthaggressive therapy, akhouri sinha, anticancer research, behind cancer, bloodstream, bones, cancer positive, cancer surgery, immune system, lymph node, metastasis, metastatic cancer cells, metastatic disease, original tumor, pathologist, pelvic lymph node, prostate cancer, prostate cancer patients, real killer, researcher, solid organ cancer, staging cancer, university of minnesota

This story is short. Not much is known about metastasis.

And that’s the point. (more…)

IRCM scientists find a novel research model for the study of auto-immune diseases

By Guest PostJuly 26, 2013Healthaffinity maturation, antibodies are proteins, auto immune diseases, class switching, diversity of antibodies, genetic diversity, immune system, viral infection

A team of researchers at the IRCM, led by Dr. Javier M. Di Noia in the Immunity and Viral Infections research division, discovered a novel research model for the study of auto-immune diseases. The Montréal scientists are the first to find a way to separate two important mechanisms that improve the quality of antibodies. This study was featured in a recent issue of The Journal of Immunology. (more…)

Scientists Reveal Quirky Feature of Lyme Disease Bacteria

By Guest PostApril 15, 2013Environmentantioxidant enzyme, bloodstream, borrelia burgdorferi, borrelia enzymes, cape cod, catalyze, christine vazquez, cobalt, defense mechanism, enzyme, frank gherardini, hillary clark, hormone, immune system, j daphne aguirre, james posey, jhu, johns hopkins university, liver produces hepcidin, lyme disease bacteria, mak saito, manganese, metal trafficking, metalloproteins, oceanographic institution, pathogen, pathogens of iron, proteins, shaina palmere, superoxide dismutase, university of georgia, university of texas, valeria culotta, vitamin supplements, whoi, woods hole, zinc

Unlike most organisms, they don’t need iron, but they crave manganese

Scientists have confirmed that the pathogen that causes Lyme Disease—unlike any other known organism—can exist without iron, a metal that all other life needs to make proteins and enzymes. Instead of iron, the bacteria substitute manganese to make an essential enzyme, thus eluding immune system defenses that protect the body by starving pathogens of iron.

To cause disease, Borrelia burgdorferi requires unusually high levels of manganese, scientists at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and the University of Texas reported. Their study, published March 22, 2013, in The Journal of Biological Chemistry, may explain some mysteries about why Lyme Disease is slow-growing and hard to detect and treat. The findings also open the door to search for new therapies to thwart the bacterium by targeting manganese. (more…)

Building Healthy Bones Takes Guts

By Guest PostFebruary 22, 2013Health, Scienceamericans, bacterium, balance, begins at childhood, bone density, bone fractures, bone loss, bone tissue, cellular physiology, chronic condition, coevolved with humans, female mice, food fermentation, gut, harmful effect, healthier bones, immune system, infection, inflammation, inflammatory bowel disease, joint, laura mccabe, laura schaefer, male mice, mice lactobacillus reuteri, michigan state university, microorganisms, muscle pain, natural probiotic supplement, natural remodeling, negative side effects, osteoporosis, osteoporosis drugs, postmenopausal women, regina irwin, robert britton, species, treatments, type 1 diabetes

In what could be an early step toward new treatments for people with osteoporosis, scientists at Michigan State University report that a natural probiotic supplement can help male mice produce healthier bones.

Interestingly, the same can’t be said for female mice, the researchers report in the Journal of Cellular Physiology.

“We know that inflammation in the gut can cause bone loss, though it’s unclear exactly why,” said lead author Laura McCabe, a professor in MSU’s departments of Physiology and Radiology. “The neat thing we found is that a probiotic can enhance bone density.” (more…)

New Details on the Molecular Machinery of Cancer

By Guest PostFebruary 17, 2013Scienceactivation, adam smith, addition of phosphate, anton arkhipov, autophosphorylation, berkeley lab, cancer, cancer therapies, cancers, cell surface protein, cellular functions, computational modeling, egf ligand, egfr, epidermal growth factor, fluorescence spectroscopy, gene, immune system, jay groves, john kuriyan, ligand induced dimerization, living cells, molecular machinery, nicholas endres, nuclear magnetic resonance, photon, post translational process, protein activation, quantitative approach, quantitative biology techniques, rahul das, receptor, receptor tyrosine kinases, single compound molecule, specific proteins, t-cell receptors, time resolved, uc, university of california

Berkeley Lab Researchers Resolve EGFR Activation Mystery

Researchers with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have provided important new details into the activation of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a cell surface protein that has been strongly linked to a large number of cancers and is a major target of cancer therapies.

“The more we understand about EGFR and the complex molecular machinery involved in the growth and proliferation of cells, the closer we will be to developing new and more effective ways to cure and treat the many different forms of cancer,” says chemist Jay Groves, one of the leaders of this research. “Through a tour-de-force of quantitative biology techniques that included cutting edge time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy in living cells, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, and computational modeling, we’ve determined definitively how EGFR becomes activated through to its epidermal growth factor (EGF) ligand.” (more…)

Vitamin D, Omega-3 May Help Clear Amyloid Plaques Found in Alzheimer’s

By Guest PostFebruary 12, 2013Healthalzheimer, amyloid beta, amyloid beta absorption, amyloid plaques, avi siani, blood samples, brain, cell death, critical immune cells, dihydroxyvitamin d3, docosahexaenoic acid, eicosapentaenoic acid, fatty acid dha, fatty acid epa, fatty acids, guanghao liu, immune system, improve plaque clearance, inflammation, inflammatory genes, james sayre, larry magpantay, macrophages, mathew mizwicki, milan fiala, nutrition molecule, omega 3 dha, omega-3, oxidation, vitamin D, vitamin d3

A team of academic researchers has pinpointed how vitamin D3 and omega-3 fatty acids may enhance the immune system’s ability to clear the brain of amyloid plaques, one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease.

In a small pilot study published in the Feb. 5 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, the scientists identified key genes and signaling networks regulated by vitamin D3 and the omega-3 fatty acid DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) that may help control inflammation and improve plaque clearance. (more…)

Native Delaware: Parenting’s toll

By Guest PostNovember 20, 2012Scienceandrew hydrusko, bluebirds, breeding season, chris williams, coverdale farm preserve, delaware nature society, ian stewart, immune system, migratory birds, mike moore, tree swallows

Stewart studies birds to understand trade-offs between reproduction, immunity

Does parenting take a toll on the immune system?

If you’ve ever been the parent of a newborn who demanded to be fed every three to four hours, your gut instinct tells you the answer is an absolute, unequivocal yes.

University of Delaware post-doctoral researcher Ian Stewart is conducting research to answer this question a bit more scientifically. His subjects – tree swallows – make human parents look like slouches. Both the mother and father tree swallow feed their hatchlings every five minutes, 12 hours a day. (It should be noted, though, that their parenting gig is much shorter than ours — after 17 or 18 days the young leave the nest.) (more…)

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