autoimmune diseases

The transportation of antibodies from a mother to her newborn child is vital for the development of that child's nascent immune system.

Antibodies help shape a baby's response to foreign pathogens and may influence the later occurrence of autoimmune diseases.

Images from Caltech biologists reveal for the first time the complicated process by which antibodies are shuttled from mother's milk, through her baby's gut and into the bloodstream -- offering new insight into the mammalian immune system.

The discovery of "complementary" antibodies against plasminogen in patients with blood vessel inflammation caused by anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibodies may lead to new approaches to research, testing and treatment of ANCA vasculitis and other autoimmune diseases, suggests a new article.

B cells, precursors of autoantibody-secreting cells, have emerged as promising new therapeutic targets in autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis.

Scientists have developed a new approach to treating such autoimmune diseases as irritable bowel syndrome using genetically-engineered regulatory T cells.

This approach may be adapted to a number of autoimmune diseases, as it can be used treat the disease without knowing its exact cause.

An old, fickle therapy for a variety of autoimmune diseases is getting a makeover, thanks to a decade-long investigation.

The original treatment, called intravenous immunoglobulin or IVIG, is an amalgam of specific antibodies made from the pooled blood plasma of thousands of healthy donors.

Physicians have used it both on-label and off in patients with lupus, arthritis, asthma and other immune disorders, to varying degrees of success.

Fully differentiated mouse cells, such as mature B cells, can be reprogrammed to embryonic-stem-cell-like induced pluripotent stem cells, without the use of an egg.

Using reprogrammed mature B cells, researchers may be able to create mouse models that will aid in understanding autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes.

Fully differentiated mouse cells, such as mature B cells, can be reprogrammed to embryonic-stem-cell-like induced pluripotent stem cells, without the use of an egg.

Using reprogrammed mature B cells, researchers may be able to create mouse models that will aid in understanding autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and type 1 diabetes.

In the first comprehensive study of the genetic basis of psoriasis, researchers have discovered seven new sites of common DNA variation that increase the risk of the troublesome skin condition.

They also found that variations in one genetic region link psoriasis and a related joint disorder, psoriatic arthritis, to four autoimmune diseases: type 1 diabetes, Grave's disease, celiac disease and rheumatoid arthritis.

A review of previously published research suggests that stem cells harvested from an adult's blood or marrow may provide treatment benefit to select patients for some autoimmune diseases and cardiovascular disorders.

University of Minnesota researchers have discovered a new way to turn genes off in human T cells, a type of white blood cell that helps the immune system fight infections.Turning off genes, through a process known as mRNA decay, is important for regulating the body's immune response after fighting infection.

This research could lead to development of new drugs that turn off the immune system in patients with autoimmune diseases -- such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.