blood cells

In experiments using blood cells from human patients with diabetes and other autoimmune disorders, researchers have confirmed the mechanism behind a potential new therapy for type 1 diabetes.

Scientists showed that blocking a metabolic pathway regulating the immune system specifically eliminated immune cells that react against a patient's own tissues.

Researchers have discovered a central molecular switch in fruit fly embryos that opens new avenues for studying the causes of birth defects and cancer in humans.

Scientists have determined the switch to be a main tuning mechanism for instructing cells whether to form sensory nerves or blood cells in different parts of the body.

Researchers from the Universities of Granada and León have shown that mononuclear blood cells from human umbilical cord can be an effective alternative to bone marrow.

This work, to be published in the journal Cell Transplantation, could potentially mean a great advance in regenerative hepatic medicine.

Researchers in Sweden have established and isolated the tissue-specific stem cell that produces blood cells (blood stem cell) by using genetically modified embryonic stem cells.

When too many blood platelets stick together in the bloodstream, they form dangerous clots that can clog blood vessels and cause a heart attack.

If a clot doesn't get dissolved or rapidly removed, it can cause permanent damage or even death. But new research suggests that it should be possible to create a clot-busting pill that targets a receptor on the blood cells' surface, something that high-risk patients could take at the first sign of chest pain.

Chronic inflammation triggers bone marrow-derived blood cells to travel to the brain and fuse with a certain type of neuron up to 100 times more frequently than previously believed.

A new method of filming blood-vessel cells that move in accordance with targeted signals has been developed.

The method can also be used to study how migration of cancer cells and nerves can be controlled. Formation of new blood cells and lymph vessels takes place with a number of different diseases.

When injected into aged laboratory animals, human umbilical cord blood cells improved the brain's microenvironment, decreasing inflammation in the brain, increasing neurogenesis, and restoring some lost capacity of stem/progenitor cells to proliferate and differentiate into neurons.

Researchers found that the number of proliferative cells increased within 24 hours of injection, with proliferation continuing for at least 15 days.

Researchers concluded that cell therapy may be an effective way of improving the microenvironment of the hippocampus.

Cancer cells get a helping hand from platelets, specialized blood cells involved in clotting. Platelets shelter and feed tumor cells that stray into the bloodstream, making it easier for cancer to spread, or metastasize.

Research suggests that inactivating platelets could slow down or prevent metastasis.

A gene that "wakes up" the blood system's stem cells in times of stress also plays an important role in protecting against infection, said researchers in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

Researchers note that it makes sense that a serious infection with a pathogen or disease-causing organism could require that stem cells rally to generate new blood cells to fight against the invading organisms.