Stem cell transplants involve completely eliminating and then replacing the immune system of a patient, often by transplanting the bone marrow.
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Patients with blood cancer undergoing stem cell transplantation have a high risk of complications. The bacteria in their gut, however, can help their immune system recover and fight infections.
Immunosenescence, or immune aging, can lead to less effective responses to vaccines and greater vulnerability to invading pathogens.
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While the immune system naturally gets weaker with age, social stressors like trauma and discrimination can hasten immunosenescence.
Dendritic cells (green) produce cytokines like IL-12, which can train T cells (pink) to attack tumors.
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Aslan Mansurov, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering
One promising cancer treatment has been in the works for decades, but severe side effects have kept it out of the clinic. A reengineered version may offer a way to safely harness its potent effects.
Some of the omicron variant’s unique properties – such as its ability to spread rapidly while causing milder COVID-19 infections – could usher in a new phase of the pandemic.
Nucleic acid vaccines use mRNA to give cells instructions on how to produce a desired protein.
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DNA and mRNA vaccines produce a different kind of immune response than traditional vaccines, allowing researchers to tackle some previously unsolvable problems in medicine.
People with HIV need to take daily medication to keep the virus at bay. A study has found that a new treatment combination could boost immunity and control virus levels even after stopping medication.
It’s unclear whether the patients were already predisposed to these diseases, or the infection unmasked a process that had already begun. Or perhaps the infection triggered a completely new illness.
Cancer and organ transplant patients, people with untreated HIV and people with other immunodeficiencies are at high risk of severe COVID-19 infection.
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If you’ve already had the coronavirus and recovered, you might be tempted to give the vaccine a pass. A scientist explains why the shot offers the best protection against future infection.
Patients had fewer lymphocytes in their blood.
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Vaccines work by teaching your immune system about new viruses. Your immune cells are very clever – they will remember what they learnt, and protect you if you encounter that virus in the future.
Masking up is one way to cut down on risk of COVID-19 infection.
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