Penn researchers identify immune cells that fight parasites may promote allergies and asthma

Contact: Jordan Reese
jreese@upenn.edu
215-573-6604
University of Pennsylvania
PHILADELPHIA - Millions of people in both the developing and developed world may benefit from new immune-system research findings from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine.

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Identified: Switch that turns on allergic disease in people

Contact: Julie Wu
wujuli@niaid.nih.gov
301-402-1663
NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Read more

Folic acid may help treat allergies, asthma

Hopkins Children’s study: Folic acid may help treat allergies, asthmaFolic acid, or vitamin B9, essential for red blood cell health and long known to reduce the risk of spinal birth defects, may also suppress allergic reactions and lessen the severity of allergy and asthma symptoms, according to new research from the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

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Children who complete treatment for peanut allergies achieve long-term tolerance

A carefully administered daily dose of peanuts has been so successful as a therapy for peanut allergies that a select group of children is now off treatment and eating peanuts daily, report doctors at Duke University Medical Center and Arkansas Children’s Hospital.

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Munich researchers discover key allergy gene

Together with colleagues from the Department of Dermatology and Allergy and the Center for Allergy and Environment (ZAUM) of the Technische Universitt Mnchen, scientists at the Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen have pinpointed a major gene for allergic diseases. The gene was localized using cutting edge technologies for examining the whole human genome at the Helmholtz Zentrum Mnchen.

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New treatment combination safe for pancreatic cancer patients

Treating pancreatic cancer with a combination of chemotherapy, biotherapy and radiotherapy prior to surgery is safe and may be beneficial for patients, according to a University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute (UPCI) study presented at the 44th annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Chicago.

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Immune system pathway identified to fight allergens, asthma

Role of genetic components of dendritic cells could lead to more effective drugs, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine study says

For the first time, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine have identified genetic components of dendritic cells that are key to asthma and allergy-related immune response malfunction. Targeting these elements could result in more effective drugs to treat allergic disorders and asthma, according to a study reported in the May edition of the journal Nature Medicine.

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National Jewish Medical and Research Center Evaluating Treatment To Prevent Allergic Reactions to Food

Researchers at National Jewish Medical and Research Center are conducting trials to evaluate a method to prevent allergic reactions to food. They are feeding peanut- and egg-allergic people increasing doses of an investigational protein extract from the foods to see if they can induce the participants immune systems to tolerate the food.

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Scientists puzzled by severe allergic reaction to cancer drug in the middle Southern US

A recent study from the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Vanderbilt-Ingram Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Sarah Canon Cancer Center in Nashville have identified an unusually high rate of allergic reaction in cancer patients living in the middle South who received a common drug used for treating their cancer. Read more

Role seen for cannabis in helping to alleviate allergic skin disease

Administering a substance found in the cannabis plant can help the body’s natural protective system alleviate an allergic skin disease (allergic contact dermatitis), an worldly group of researchers from Germany, Israel, Italy, Switzerland and the US has found. Read more