Aimee Pugh Bernard, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus e David Higgins, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus
Even if you’re healthy and fit, you still need vaccines to protect yourself from severe disease.
Iron carries oxygen throughout the body, but ironically, it can also make it harder to breathe for people with asthma.
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Asthma attacks can result from immune cells overreacting to a harmless allergen. Tamping down iron levels in certain immune cells can help control their activity.
A Bothrops asper is prepared for its venom to be milked to use in making antivenom.
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Your immune system is often able to fend off pathogens it’s never seen before. But defending your body against all of them all at once is a tough challenge.
Two hurdles mRNA drugs face are a short half-life and impurities that trigger immune responses.
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The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the promise of using mRNA as medicine. But before mRNA drugs can go beyond vaccines, researchers need to identify the right diseases to treat.
Surface proteins on a virus enable it to attach to and get inside a cell to start replicating.
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Viruses can get into cells in several ways. Figuring out how to stop them from entering in the first place is a key to developing better vaccines and stopping future pandemics.
When immune cells become overactive, your immune system itself can cause disease.
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Dietary supplements claim to be able to ‘boost your immune system’ to combat disease. But attaining immune balance through a healthy lifestyle and vaccination is a safer bet to keep in good health.
Itching, and the subsequent urge to scratch, can make eczema worse.
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Itch-sensing neurons in your skin are intertwined with your immune cells. Counterintuitively, the molecule that connects them triggers responses that both worsen and improve skin conditions.
Blocking viruses from replicating their RNA is one way antivirals work.
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The human body has been making antivirals for eons, long before scientists did. A protein in your cells called viperin produces molecules that work similarly to the COVID-19 antiviral remdesivir.
Programmed cell death such as apoptosis is a common stage of cellular life.
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The heat and chills that come with fever are not only uncomfortable but also metabolically costly. Increased body temperature, however, can make all the difference when you’re sick.
How are people with long COVID faring two years after their initial infection? Many have recovered. Some still struggle with symptoms – this is more likely for those who were initially hospitalised.
This microscopy image shows a cytotoxic T cell (blue) attacking a cancer cell (green) by releasing toxic chemicals (red).
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T cells recognize and kill cancer cells but quickly lose their effectiveness. This fast dysfunction may help explain why immunotherapy doesn’t lead to long-term remission for many patients.
Cancer vaccines are an emerging personalised treatment for cancer. Using the same mRNA technology as COVID vaccines, they stimulate the immune system to destroy cancer cells.
Why are Australian black swans so quick to die from bird flu? A new genome study comparing them to their bird brethren helps to unravel the mystery.
Bacteria (clusters of light pink, surrounded by larger magenta blood cells) can cause deadly infections, but overreactive immune responses can deliver the lethal blow.
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An overactive immune response to infection can be deadly. Studying how one key player called tumor necrosis factor, or TNF, induces lethal immune responses could provide new treatment targets.
Nasal vaccines for COVID-19 are still in early development.
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An effective nasal vaccine could stop the virus that causes COVID-19 right at its point of entry. But devising one that works has been a challenge for researchers.