Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a neurodegenerative disorder that leads to muscle loss and can severely impair the mobility of those affected. It is usually caused by a defect in the SMN1 gene, which is expressed in all cells of the body. Whether this…
Immunotherapy, which uses a patient’s immune system to treat disease, has increased survival for some adults and children with cancer. However, it has had limited success against many pediatric solid tumors, in part because T cells can become functiona…
Pancreatic cancer does not respond to most immunotherapies, but RAS inhibitors could alter tumors to make them more sensitive to a novel immunotherapeutic approach. In pancreatic tumors with RAS mutations, RAS inhibitors cause massive cell death and re…
A group of innate immune cells, known as group 2 lymphoid cells (ILC2), are essential for maintaining a stable metabolism in adipose tissue. Obesity significantly impairs the number and function of ILC2 cells, leading to the progression of metabolism-r…
A joint team of researchers at Bar-Ilan University and the Weizmann Institute has used advanced computational design methods to enhance the ability of genetically engineered immune cells to recognize and attack cancer and viral targets.
Our understanding of how cells interact with each other has been driven for decades by the central concept of receptor-mediated signal transduction. Now, researchers from Boston Children’s Hospital are reporting the discovery of a new, receptor-free me…
Type 1 diabetes isn’t an overnight attack against the body’s ability to make insulin. It can be a sustained campaign over years that relentlessly targets insulin-producing cells in the pancreas. Scientists have not fully understood why this autoimmune …
A new preclinical study led by investigators from Mass General Brigham offers a potential explanation for two longstanding questions in allergy: Why do allergies often emerge only after repeated exposure, and why do people with one allergy frequently d…
Researchers from City of Hope have developed a new “plug-and-play” technology that adds engineered molecules to chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells after treatment, allowing scientists to better control the cells and redirect them to attack differe…
A UCLA research team has engineered a new type of immune cell that attacks atherosclerotic plaques—the fatty buildup inside artery walls that drives most heart attacks and strokes. These engineered cells work by recognizing three harmful cell types wit…
