PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Cellular force that drives allergy and asthma can be blocked by interferon

Cellular force that drives allergy and asthma can be blocked by interferon
2014-06-16
(Press-News.org) DALLAS – June 16, 2014 – A mechanism that could underlie the development of cells that drive asthma and allergies has been uncovered by immunology researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center.

Asthma and allergies are both driven by an inappropriate activation of the immune system, primarily a subtype of white blood cells known as T helper 2 cells, or Th2 cells. These cells are normally responsible for defense against parasites, but are also the main culprits behind the symptoms of asthma and allergies.

Dr. David Farrar, Associate Professor of Immunology and Molecular Biology at UT Southwestern, and his team found that the antiviral molecules known as type I interferons (IFNs) block the development of these allergy- and asthma-driving Th2 cells.

"The fact that interferon could stop the activation of these harmful cells was of particular interest because interferons are already approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of other diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and hepatitis," said Dr. Farrar, who holds the J. Wayne Streilein, M.D. Professorship in Immunology.

The work, published in the Journal of Immunology, could eventually give rise to new therapies.

To demonstrate the prevalence of asthma, in the United States about 13 percent of adults – nearly 30 million people – have received a diagnosis of asthma. This frequency compares to 11 percent who have been diagnosed with heart disease and 8 percent who have had any form of cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Asthma is reported more often among women than men, among Caucasians, and in families with limited economic resources. Allergies, too, are prevalent, with more than 17.5 million people suffering from hay fever in the U.S.

The development of Th2 cells is stimulated by a particular immune molecule that triggers the production of a protein called GATA3. Frequently referred to as the master regulator of Th2 cell development, GATA3 turns on the genes that distinguish Th2 cells from other cell types, including other T cells.

Dr. Farrar's group found that type I IFNs block this process by targeting a part of the GATA3 gene known as exon 1a and turning it off, thereby inhibiting the production of the GATA3 protein and, consequently, the development of Th2 cells.

"Targeting this pathway may lead to permanent tolerance of these cells to allergens," said Dr. Farrar.  "We are currently pursuing studies that may lead to clinical trials that will determine whether interferon can be used to treat allergic asthma patients."

Dr. Farrar's lab studies how a collective group of proteins called cytokines regulate immune responses. Type 1 interferon, the first immune cytokine discovered, is one of the very first lines of defense against viruses. The protein was initially identified based on its ability to inhibit influenza virus.  Since then, scientists have discovered that almost any cell in the body can secrete interferon if it becomes infected with certain viruses, and that most cells can respond to interferon.

INFORMATION: Other UT Southwestern researchers involved in the study include Dr. Michelle Gill, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, Immunology, and Internal Medicine, and student research assistants Sarah R. Gonzales-van Horn, Jonathan Huber, and Kole Roybal. The work was supported by the Crystal Charity Ball and by the National Institutes of Health grants AIF31094800, AIT32005284, and AIR0156222.

About UT Southwestern Medical Center

UT Southwestern, one of the premier academic medical centers in the nation, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institution's faculty includes many distinguished members, including six who have been awarded Nobel Prizes since 1985. Numbering more than 2,700, the faculty is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UT Southwestern physicians provide medical care in 40 specialties to nearly 91,000 hospitalized patients and oversee more than 2 million outpatient visits a year.

[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Cellular force that drives allergy and asthma can be blocked by interferon

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Studies in family planning publishes special issue on unmet need

2014-06-16
NEW YORK, NY (16 June 2014) — Studies in Family Planning, a leading journal published by the Population Council, released "Unmet Need for Family Planning"—a special issue featuring ten articles, including a comprehensive introduction to the topic of unmet need. Distinguished researchers explore trends related to unmet need for contraception, and many articles point to practical strategies for increasing contraceptive knowledge and uptake, and for overcoming barriers that prevent women from practicing contraception. "Unmet need has been an important indicator for measuring ...

NASA catches short-lived tropical cyclone Hagibis landfalling in China

NASA catches short-lived tropical cyclone Hagibis landfalling in China
2014-06-16
Tropical storm Hagibis only lived through 6 bulletins issued by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center in its short lifetime in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. The final bulletin was issued on June 15 at 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EDT) after Hagibis made landfall in China. Hagibis was born in the South China Sea on June 14 at 0900 UTC (5 a.m. EDT) near 20.7 north latitude and 117.0 east longitude, about 183 nautical miles east-southeast of Hong Kong when a low pressure system quickly consolidated and maximum sustained winds jumped to 35 knots (40 mph/62 kph). Hagibis is the seventh ...

How sperm get into the zona

How sperm get into the zona
2014-06-16
Before it can fertilize an egg, a sperm has to bind to and bore through an outer egg layer known as the zona pellucida. Despite decades of research, some of the biological mechanisms behind this process remain unclear. A study in The Journal of Cell Biology now identifies the protein in the zona pellucida that sperm latch onto. The zona pellucida protects the egg and the early embryo before implantation. Its structure seems simple—in humans it contains four kinds of glycoproteins, and in mice it only contains three. But researchers haven't been able to identify the sperm's ...

High number of fatalities despite unchanged level of armed conflicts

2014-06-16
At 33, conflicts in the world last year increased by one compared to 2012. This is reported by peace researchers at Uppsala University's Conflict Data Program. The number has remained stable over the past decade. 2012 saw an increase in the number of battle-related deaths with the number of casualties in Syria completely overshadowing any other ongoing conflict. In 2012, two out of five people dying in battles, died in Syria. The new dataset is described by peace researchers at Uppsala University's Conflict Data Program (UCDP) in an article which will soon be published ...

Anxious children have bigger 'fear centers' in the brain

2014-06-16
Philadelphia, PA, June 16, 2014 – The amygdala is a key "fear center" in the brain. Alterations in the development of the amygdala during childhood may have an important influence on the development of anxiety problems, reports a new study in the current issue of Biological Psychiatry. Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine recruited 76 children, 7 to 9 years of age, a period when anxiety-related traits and symptoms can first be reliably identified. The children's parents completed assessments designed to measure the anxiety levels of the children, ...

Stress early in life can increase the risk of overweight in adulthood

2014-06-16
There are indications that unborn children who are exposed to severe stress levels, have an increased risk of becoming overweight or developing obesity as adults. This is shown by a new registry study from Aarhus University published in PloS ONE. The researchers have previously shown that severe stress experienced by pregnant women can lead to weight problems for children between 10 and 13 years; however, a correlation between the mother's level of stress during pregnancy and the risk of developing overweight or obesity as an adult is new: "Overall our results indicate ...

Wind turbine payback

2014-06-16
US researchers have carried out an environmental lifecycle assessment of 2-megawatt wind turbines mooted for a large wind farm in the US Pacific Northwest. Writing in the International Journal of Sustainable Manufacturing, they conclude that in terms of cumulative energy payback, or the time to produce the amount of energy required of production and installation, a wind turbine with a working life of 20 years will offer a net benefit within five to eight months of being brought online. Wind turbines are frequently touted as the answer to sustainable electricity production ...

Coalition's deficit reduction has made UK tax base more regressive

2014-06-16
Taxation in the UK has become increasingly regressive since the financial crisis, particularly since the coalition government came to office, according to academics at the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute (SPERI). The latest evidence on tax revenue shows that progressive taxes such as income tax and capital gains tax contribute 54 per cent of total tax receipts, down from 58 per cent five years earlier. In contrast, regressive taxes such as VAT contribute 28 per cent of total tax receipts, an increase from 25 per cent.Tax Research found that of all the ...

Effective drugs for Parkinson's reduce symptoms of Rett syndrome in mice

Effective drugs for Parkinsons reduce symptoms of Rett syndrome in mice
2014-06-16
IDIBELL researchers, led by the director of the Program for Epigenetics and Cancer Biology, ICREA researcher and Professor of Genetics at the University of Barcelona, Manel Esteller, have shown that a combination of effective drugs for Parkinson's disease in mice that are used as a model of human Rett syndrome reduces some of the symptoms associated with this disease. The results of the study are published in the journal Neurophsycopharmacology Second leading cause of mental retardation in females Rett syndrome is the second most common cause of mental retardation in ...

Could politics trump economics as reason for growing income inequality?

2014-06-16
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Most research examining growing income inequality in the United States has focused on economic causes, for seemingly obvious reasons. But a new study suggests that a different cause – the politically induced decline in the strength of worker unions – may play a much more pivotal role than previously understood. In fact, the role that union decline has played in growing income inequality may actually be larger than many of the favorite explanations offered by economists, such as the education gap in the United States. Among their contributions to income ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

It takes a village: Chimpanzee babies do better when their moms have social connections

From lab to market: how renewable polymers could transform medicine

Striking increase in obesity observed among youth between 2011 and 2023

No evidence that medications trigger microscopic colitis in older adults

NYUAD researchers find link between brain growth and mental health disorders

Aging-related inflammation is not universal across human populations, new study finds

University of Oregon to create national children’s mental health center with $11 million federal grant

Rare achievement: UTA undergrad publishes research

Fact or fiction? The ADHD info dilemma

Genetic ancestry linked to risk of severe dengue

Genomes reveal the Norwegian lemming as one of the youngest mammal species

Early birds get the burn: Monash study finds early bedtimes associated with more physical activity

Groundbreaking analysis provides day-by-day insight into prehistoric plankton’s capacity for change

Southern Ocean saltier, hotter and losing ice fast as decades-long trend unexpectedly reverses

Human fishing reshaped Caribbean reef food webs, 7000-year old exposed fossilized reefs reveal

Killer whales, kind gestures: Orcas offer food to humans in the wild

Hurricane ecology research reveals critical vulnerabilities of coastal ecosystems

Montana State geologist’s Antarctic research focuses on accumulations of rare earth elements

Groundbreaking cancer therapy clinical trial with US Department of Energy’s accelerator-produced actinium-225 set to begin this summer

Tens of thousands of heart attacks and strokes could be avoided each year if cholesterol-lowering drugs were used according to guidelines

Leading cancer and metabolic disease expert Michael Karin joins Sanford Burnham Prebys

Low-intensity brain stimulation may restore neuron health in Alzheimer's disease

Four-day school week may not be best for students, review finds

Using music to explore the dynamics of emotions

How the brain supports social processing as people age

Túngara frog tadpoles that grew up in the city developed faster but ended up being smaller

Where there’s fire, there’s smoke

UCLA researchers uncover key mechanism of brain repair in vascular dementia, revealing promising therapeutic target

Why Human empathy still matters in the age of AI

COVID-19 and cognitive change in a community-based cohort

[Press-News.org] Cellular force that drives allergy and asthma can be blocked by interferon