Immunotherapy Weekly articles from July 2001

Immunotherapy Weekly archives from July 2001

Development Of Helper T Cells Is More Complicated Than Scientists Thought.
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers studying the way immune cells differentiate have discovered that an important family of white blood cells divides into separate identities in a much more complicated fashion than current...

African Children Hold Clue To Immunity.(malaria )
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Some children in Africa who show a level of immunity to malaria may provide a clue in the development of an effective vaccine against the disease. A group of researchers from the University of...

HIV Immunoglobulin G3 Superior To Other Antibody Subclasses.
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - The G3 subclass of HIV immune globulin blocks HIV cell fusion and entry more efficiently than other immunoglobulin subclasses, researchers in Maryland...

Immunotherapy With Strategic Interruptions Evaluated.
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The Orange County Center for Special Immunology (CSI), California, announced that it will begin a research trial involving a new approach to treating human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection....

Contamination From Natural Rubber Stoppers In Drug Bottles Can Induce Latex Reactions.
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Armed with evidence from a recent study of latex allergy skin reactions in patients, scientists at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions encourage the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and drug...

Survivin Mediates Cytokine Tumor Regulation.
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - The survivin gene, with help from cytokines, appears to help protect leukemic tumors from induced apoptosis, according to researchers in Texas. ...

Aspirin Targets Key Cell That Triggers Organ Rejection And Other Immune Responses.
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, researchers have identified a new cellular target for aspirin, shedding light on the mechanisms of the most widely used drug in the world and raising a set of...

Selective In Vivo T-Cell Depletion Suppresses Graft-Versus-Host Disease.
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Deborah W. Heinrich, PhD, staff medical writer - In a recent research, a group in Wisconsin enhanced alloengraftment and decreased graft-versus-host disease in irradiated mice after bone marrow...

Monoclonal Antibody Enters Phase I Clinical Trials.(CAT-213)
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Cambridge Antibody Technology (Nasdaq:CATG) announced that a Phase I clinical trial has commenced of CAT-213, their human monoclonal antibody which neutralizes eotaxin(1). The Phase I trial...

Phase II Clinical Trial Anti-inflammatory Compound Initiated.
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:MLNM) announced that a Phase II clinical trial has been initiated with LDP-977, an orally active investigational drug. LDP-977 is a second-generation...

Immune Modulation Therapy Inhibits Inflammation.(treatment of autoimmune disease)
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Vasogen, Inc. (TSE:VAS; AMEX:MEW) announced that results from clinical and preclinical studies of its immune modulation therapy in the treatment of autoimmune disease were presented at the 62nd...

Increased Patient Survival Follows Treatment For Metastatic Disease.(cancer vaccines)
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Demonstrating new success in cancer immunotherapy, researchers reported that they have increased the survival time of cancer patients using novel therapeutic vaccines. Data show, for the first...

Cooking Methods May Play A Role In Peanut Allergies.
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The methods of frying or boiling peanuts for public consumption, as practiced in China, reduces the allergenicity of peanuts compared with the method of dry roasting practiced widely in the United...

Foreign Protein Expression Stimulates T- And B-Cell Responses.
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Deborah W. Heinrich, PhD, staff medical writer - A recent study by researchers at Harvard University revealed strong immune responses against enhanced green fluorescence protein (eGFP) expressed...

New Source Of Stem Cells Increases Availability For Therapy and Research.
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Deborah W. Heinrich, PhD, staff medical writer - Researchers working in Poland envision an international stem cell bank for therapeutic and experimental purposes made possible by their novel...

Oral Human Gamma Globulin Receives Orphan Drug Status.(for the treatment of juvenile rheumatoid arthritis)
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Protein Therapeutics, Inc., announced that it has received orphan drug designation from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the use of oral human gamma globulin for the...

Maintenance Regimen Reported Safe, Effective.(kidney transplant)
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- An immunosuppression regimen consisting of Daclizumab, mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), tacrolimus, and steroids was shown to be safe and effective in a study of 241 primary kidney transplant...

Identifying Autoimmune Illness Early Stops Progression In Children.
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - When the source of liver disease in children stems from the body's attack on itself, early identification and treatment can prevent progression to liver...

Peptide Vaccine Ready For Testing In Humans.(myasthenia gravis)
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - A new report in Experimental Biology and Medicine describes the potential for a vaccine against myasthenia gravis in humans, following its success against a...

Therapeutic Vaccine For Earlier Stage Disease.(prostate cancer)
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Dendreon Corporation (Nasdaq:DNDN) announced the expansion of its clinical trial program for Provenge(TM), its therapeutic cancer vaccine, with the initiation of a Phase III trial targeting men with...

Vaccine Generates Potent Immune Response.(prostate cancer)
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:PGNX) and Cytogen Corporation (Nasdaq:CYTO) announced that in preclinical studies their experimental prostate cancer vaccine generated a potent dual-immune...

Infliximab Provides High Degree Of Clinical Benefit.(psoriasis)
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The investigational drug infliximab may provide a rapid and high degree of clinical benefit in patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis, according to a new study. Approximately a quarter of...

Topical Antisense Therapy Improves Pathology.(psoriasis )
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists from the Psoriasis Research Institute (PRI) demonstrated that a topical antisense cream reduced psoriasis disease severity scores in an animal model of psoriasis. In the study,...

Natural Revertants Point To New Gene Therapies.(adenosine deaminase deficiency-induced severe combined immunodeficiency)
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Deborah W. Heinrich, PhD, staff medical writer - Researchers in Hokkaido, Japan, documented two separate, natural adenosine deaminase mutation reversions that shed new light on stem cell gene...

Gastrin And Its Receptor Genes Activated At Earliest Stages.
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Scientists in collaboration with Aphton Corporation (Nasdaq:APHT) recently published a peer-reviewed article with the new findings that the genes for both the gastrointestinal hormone gastrin and...

Phase II Clinical Trial Of Combination Therapy Initiated.(hepatitis B )
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- XTL Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. (London:XTL) announced the initiation of a Phase II clinical study of XTL-001 in combination with lamivudine for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV)...

PEGASYS Studied In Post-Liver Transplant Patients.(peginterferon Alfa-2a to prevent hepatitis C infection)
July 4, 2001... 2001 JUL 4 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Preliminary data were presented in a plenary session at the American Society of Liver Transplantation (AST) from a study of PEGASYS(R) (peginterferon Alfa-2a) in patients with recurrent hepatitis C...

Interferon Is Cause Of Retinal Disease In Patients Treated For Melanoma.
July 11, 2001... 2001 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - Ophthalmologists in Atlanta, Georgia, at Emory University School of Medicine have identified at least seven patients who developed retinal disease while...

Boosted Immunity Needed For Patients Who Undergo Stem Cell Transplants.
July 11, 2001... 2001 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers have begun two innovative stem cell transplant studies that will look at ways to bolster a patient's immune system in an effort to protect the patient from infection and make the...

Viral Protein Particles Enable Strain-Specific Antibody Production.(HIV )
July 11, 2001... 2001 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Immunogenic particles made up of HIV proteins can act as a strain-specific vaccine in rhesus macaques, enabling them to produce effective immune responses...

Genes May Determine Success Of Anti-Inflammatory Therapy.(for rheumatoid arthritis)
July 11, 2001... 2001 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Small genetic differences may explain why the same drug works well in one individual but not in another. These genetic variations could be exploited to develop individually tailored treatment...

Researchers Reverse Established Disease In Mice.(type 1 diabetes )
July 11, 2001... 2001 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have shown that an unexpectedly simple treatment cures type 1 diabetes in mice. Published in the July 1, 2001, Journal of Clinical...

Long-Term Immune-Based Therapy Is Safe And Effective.(Remune for HIV infection)
July 11, 2001... 2001 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Trinity Medical Group USA, Inc., (OTC Bulletin Board: TMGU) presented clinical data on HIV positive patients who have undergone treatment using its immune-based Remune(TM) product, suggesting that...

Immunosuppression May Cause Risk Of Death From Pneumonia.(in alcoholics)
July 11, 2001... 2001 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Alcoholics are among those considered most at risk of dying from bacterial pneumonia. Alcohol consumption suppresses the release of cytokine interleukin-17 (IL-17) in response to bacterial...

Can A "Universal" HIV-1 Vaccine Be Developed?
July 11, 2001... 2001 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Some researchers fear that vaccinations designed to target a single HIV-1 strain wouldn't offer sufficient protection from all versions of the virus. Vaccines based on the viral forms most...

Immunotherapy Shows Promise To Prevent Recurrence.(head and neck cancer )
July 11, 2001... 2001 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Promising results from a study suggest that treating head and neck cancer patients with a combination of the biologic agents retinoid, interferon, and vitamin E may lead to improved survival in...

VerticalNews Launch Uses NewsRx Artificial Intelligence Technology.
July 11, 2001... 2001 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- NewsRx, the leading provider of life science databases and daily and weekly health news, has leveraged its technology platform to create a new media company, VerticalNews. VerticalNews'...

Lifelong Re-Infection Has Previously-Unrecognized Consequences.(respiratory syncytial virus and parainfluenza virus)
July 11, 2001... 2001 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and parainfluenza virus - the chief causes of hospitalization for respiratory illness in young children - may be even more menacing than previously believed. ...

Early Specialist Referral Is Key To Improved Long-Term Patient Outcome.(rheumatoid arthritis )
July 11, 2001... 2001 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Timely identification of patients with early stage, active rheumatoid arthritis and referral to a specialist for treatment with drugs that have the potential to modify the disease process is the...

Monotherapy Shows Sustained Efficacy, Ongoing Tolerability.(Enbrel for rheumatoid arthritis)
July 11, 2001... 2001 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In clinical data presented from three long-term studies of moderately to severely active rheumatoid arthritis (RA), patients receiving Enbrel(R) (etanercept) demonstrated a sustained therapeutic...

National Family Registry Established In U.S.(scleroderma)
July 11, 2001... 2001 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- A national Scleroderma Family Registry and DNA Repository has been established by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) of the U.S. National Institutes...

Stem Cell Transplantation Effective Despite Risks.(systemic sclerosis )
July 11, 2001... 2001 JUL 11 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Michael Greer, senior medical writer - Hemopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) provides systemic sclerosis patients with a chance for effective treatment although it carries substantial...

Interleukin-10 Prevents Induced Liver Injury In Mice.(viral hepatitis)
July 25, 2001... 2001 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Sonia Nichols, senior medical writer - The anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-10 prevents liver cell injury in mice, scientists say. This same cytokine, also produced in humans, may be...

Dendritic Cells Expressing IL-4 Inhibit Th1 Responses In Arthritic Mice.
July 25, 2001... 2001 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by Deborah W. Heinrich, PhD, staff medical writer - Dendritic cells that express interleukin-4 (IL-4) reduce the incidence and severity of collagen-induced arthritis in mice. "Dendritic cells...

New mAb Vaccine Protects Mice From Human C. Trachomatis Strain.(chlamydia)
July 25, 2001... 2001 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - A new report in Vaccine heralds the arrival of a monoclonal antibody (mAb) vaccine that protects mice against challenge with a human urogenital strain of...

New Generation Adenovirus Vectors Overcome Preexisting Immunity.
July 25, 2001... 2001 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - The latest generation of adenovirus vectors are effective even in animals previously immunized with the same adenovirus serotype, suggesting their efficacy...

Findings For Bovine Trichomoniasis Vaccine May Be Applicable To Humans.
July 25, 2001... 2001 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- by N.R. Saltmarsh, staff medical writer - Both systemic and local immunization of cows with an antigen to bovine trichomoniasis protected them from trichomonads and be useful against other sexually...

Patient Enrollment Completed In Immune Modulation Trial.(congestive heart failure )
July 25, 2001... 2001 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Vasogen Inc. (VAS) announced that it has completed patient enrollment in its double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial in chronic congestive heart failure (CHF), in which patients are being...

FDA Plans To Make Allergen Inspections.(to detect ingredients in food and candy that may cause allergy)
July 25, 2001... 2001 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plans to inspect thousands of candy makers, bakeries, and other processors over the next two years to make sure ingredients that cause common allergic...

Faulty Bee Tests Make For Stinging Surprises.
July 25, 2001... 2001 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Summer has arrived and so have the bees. So what's the latest buzz on the matter? According to a recent study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, even the usually reliable bee...

Clinical Trial Of Cancer Vaccine Initiated.(melanoma)
July 25, 2001... 2001 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- MediGene AG (MDG) announced the start of a Phase I/II clinical trial for a vaccine against malignant melanoma. The first step of the therapy against malignant melanoma is the excision of the...

Interferon Alfa-n3 Reduces Brain Lesions.(multiple sclerosis )
July 25, 2001... 2001 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Interferon alfa-n3 (Alferon N) reduces brain lesions in multiple sclerosis patients, a new retrospective study shows. Interferon Sciences, Inc. (IFSC) announced the presentation of a poster at...

Radiolabeled Humanized CD22 Antibody Shows Promise.(for the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma)
July 25, 2001... 2001 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Immunomedics, Inc. (IMMU) announced that early clinical trial data of CD22 antibodies for the treatment of non-Hodgkin lymphoma are encouraging. Dr. David M. Goldenberg, Immunomedics,...

Three Humanized Antibodies In Clinical Development.(for treating psoriasis)
July 25, 2001... 2001 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Protein Design Labs, Inc. (PDLI) announced testing of humanized monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of psoriasis. The company reviewed the three humanized antibodies it is developing for...

Topical Antisense Drug Penetrates And Reduces Plaque Thickness.(psoriasis)
July 25, 2001... 2001 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- In a Phase II study, the drug ISIS 2302 was found in high levels in patients' psoriatic plaques, demonstrating for the first time in humans that topical antisense drugs can penetrate psoriatic...

Patients With Severe Eye Disease Benefit More From Immunosuppressive Drugs, Study Finds.(uveitis)
July 25, 2001... 2001 JUL 25 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) -- Most people who suffer from uveitis, inflammation of the eye that is a leading cause of blindness worldwide, are prescribed steroids as an initial treatment. Many patients with chronic or recurrent...