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Articles on Immune cells

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Iron carries oxygen throughout the body, but ironically, it can also make it harder to breathe for people with asthma. Hiroshi Watanabe/Stone via Getty Images

Iron fuels immune cells – and it could make asthma worse

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.
Chemotherapy is used to treat all lung cancer patients. Yet many would not need such invasive treatment if diagnosis of the risk of recurrence were more refined. A new technology could change all that. (Shutterstock)

Lung cancer: Predicting which patients are at high risk of recurrence to improve outcomes

Treatment for lung cancer patients is the same for everyone, regardless of the risk of recurrence. The use of a new technology could refine diagnosis.
When immune cells become overactive, your immune system itself can cause disease. NIAID/Flickr

Immune health is all about balance – an immunologist explains why both too strong and too weak an immune response can lead to illness

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.
This microscopy image shows a cytotoxic T cell (blue) attacking a cancer cell (green) by releasing toxic chemicals (red). Alex Ritter and Jennifer Lippincott Schwartz and Gillian Griffiths/National Institutes of Health via Flickr

Immune cells that fight cancer become exhausted within hours of first encountering tumors – new research

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.
Insect bites or stings, like the one on this person’s hand, are a manifestation of inflammation. Suthep Wongkhad/EyeEm via Getty Images

What is inflammation? Two immunologists explain how the body responds to everything from stings to vaccination and why it sometimes goes wrong

Inflammation is a complicated and important part of how the immune system responds to threats to the body. But when the inflammatory response goes awry, it can lead to serious problems.
Sepsis begins with infection by bacteria or a virus. This panoramic ilustration inside a blood vessel shows rod-shaped bacteria, red blood cells and immune cells called leukocytes. Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library via Getty Images

Sepsis still kills 1 in 5 people worldwide – two ICU physicians offer a new approach to stopping it

Sepsis onset can be difficult to recognize, in part because its symptoms can mimic those of many other conditions. A treatment delay of even a few hours can make the difference between life and death.
During pregnancy, the body’s specialized immune cells must learn to recognize the fetus as part of the self so that they don’t attack it. Raja Segar via Wikimedia Commons

Specialized cells maintain healthy pregnancy by teaching the mother’s immune system not to attack developing fetus

How the immune system learns not to attack a developing fetus and placenta is important to understanding pregnancy and its common complications, like miscarriage.
The relationship between the coronavirus and human genetics is murky. fatido/E+ via Getty Images

Your genes could determine whether the coronavirus puts you in the hospital – and we’re starting to unravel which ones matter

Researchers from Oregon Health and Science University found that variations in genes that code for parts of the cellular alarm system might play a role in how well people fight off COVID-19.

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