Monitoring immune responses in diseaseSeptember 04, 2008A recent study (doi:10.1016/j.clim.2008.06.009) published in Clinical Immunology, the official journal of the Clinical Immunology Society (CIS), describes a new method enabling the detection of multiple parameters of single human cells. The report demonstrates the characterization of specific blood cells from an individual with type 1 diabetes, providing information about the role these cells might play in the development of the disease and during therapy. Classification of blood cells, including B and T cells, is important for distinguishing immune responses to pathogens, allergens, or self-antigens in autoimmune diseases. Although various techniques are available to identify cell surface determinants, cytokines and antibodies secreted by blood cells, so far it has not been possible to study multiple secreted proteins while also assigning surface displayed markers to individual living cells. A collaborative group of investigators from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USA, describe how a combination of existing and enhanced immunological methods can identify and characterize rare B cells from blood of a recent onset type 1 diabetic subject.
"Although this is a small pilot study, it is a useful proof of principle for single cell interrogation methodology, which is potentially of general utility", according to immunologist Gerald Nepom from the University of Washington, School of Medicine in Seattle, USA in his commentary published in the same issue of Clinical Immunology (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/yclim). "This article describes a very exciting new immunodiagnostic tool, potentially enabling the discovery of novel biomarkers for the pathogenesis of immunologic disorders and in monitoring therapy", said Andy Saxon", the Editor-in-Chief of the CIS journal. Elsevier | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Related Clinical Immunology Current Events and Clinical Immunology News Articles Drinking milk to ease milk allergy? Giving children with milk allergies increasingly higher doses of milk over time may ease, and even help them completely overcome, their allergic reactions, according to the results of a study led by the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and conducted jointly with Duke University. Type-1 diabetes not so much bad genes as good genes behaving badly, Stanford research shows Investigators combing the genome in the hope of finding genetic variants responsible for triggering early-onset diabetes may be looking in the wrong place, new research at the Stanford University School of Medicine suggests. First international guidelines for treatment of psoriatic arthritis Rheumatologists, dermatologists, and patient advocates have come together to publish the first-ever international guidelines for the treatment of psoriatic arthritis, a disease that mainly affects people who have psoriasis but also some people without it. Oral vitamin D may help prevent some skin infections A study led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine suggests that use of oral Vitamin D supplements bolsters production of a protective chemical normally found in the skin, and may help prevent skin infections that are a common result of atopic dermatitis, the most common form of eczema. More findings on gene involved in childhood asthma Asthma researchers have found that a gene variant known to raise the risk of childhood asthma in European children plays a similar role in white American children, but not in African American children. Obese people with asthma have nearly 5 times greater risk of hospitalization for asthma Obese people who have asthma are nearly five times more likely to be hospitalized for the condition than non-obese people with asthma, according to a Kaiser Permanente study published in the September issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. New Guidelines for Treating Rheumatoid Arthritis Proven combinations of medicines and the introduction of new anti-arthritis drugs have significantly improved the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), according to guidelines issued by the American College of Rheumatology and co-authored by physicians at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Aggressive treatment of childhood eczema could help prevent asthma, says new study The study, published online in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, calls for trials of aggressive therapies against childhood eczema in attempt to reduce the incidence of asthma in later life. Asthma risk increases in children treated for HIV Children whose immune systems rebound after treatment with potent anti-viral drugs for HIV infection face an increased risk of developing asthma, said a federally funded consortium of researchers led by those from Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears online in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology. Study reveals link among childhood allergies, asthma symptoms, and early life exposure to cats A study released by researchers at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health (CCCEH) at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health, shows that cat ownership may have a protective effect against the development of asthma symptoms in young children at age five. More Clinical Immunology Current Events and Clinical Immunology News Articles |
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