Naegleria fowleri—commonly known as “the brain-eating amoeba”—can be found in warm fresh water. It’s a single-celled, free swimming animal that reaches the brain through the
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When we are exposed to a pathogen, the immune system’s B cells swarm to our lymph nodes, spleens, and tonsils. There, those cells mutate in
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Immunologists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have identified a biological pathway that selectively controls how key immune cells, called T follicular helper cells, mature
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The body’s immune cells naturally fight off viral and bacterial microbes and other invaders, but they can also be reprogrammed or “trained” to respond even
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The intestinal disease necrotizing enterocolitis is a leading cause of death among premature infants born in the U.S. and across the globe. Characterized by excessive
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Protective immune memory—through B cells, which make antibodies, and/or T cells, which in the case of CD8+ T cells can kill virus-infected cells—can be induced
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It’s a real-life plot worthy of a classic spy novel: Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and other Boston-area research centers
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Like a stern bodyguard for the central nervous sytem, the blood-brain barrier keeps out anything that could lead to disease and dangerous inflammation—at least when
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Some melanoma patients respond very well to immunotherapy, experiencing profound and durable tumor regression. A fraction of these patients will also develop autoimmunity against their
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According to the National Institutes of Health, respiratory viruses are the most frequent cause of disease and death in humans, a fact highlighted by the
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