John Lambris, PhD, and Daniel Ricklin, PhD, are co-authors of a recent study describing a possible new way to fight a disease that is currently treatable only with the most expensive drug available for sale in the United States. The research team outlines a strategy based on the complement system, the oldest part of the human immune system, that could turn out to be less costly and more effective for the majority of patients with the rare but life-threatening hematological disorder paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH).
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The lab of Avinash Bhandoola, MBBS, PhD, recently published a paper in Nature Immunology "T cell development requires constraint of the myeloid regulator C/EBP-a by the Notch target and transcriptional repressor Hes1." Notch signaling induces expression of genes that promote the maturation of T cells and discourage alternative cell fates. Hematopoietic deficiency in the Notch target Hes1 results in severe T cell lineage defects, but the underlying mechanism is unknown.
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Nina Luning Prak, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, is the 2013 recipient of the Lady Barbara Colyton Award for Autoimmune Research, which recognizes outstanding research in the field of autoimmune diseases. Dr. Luning Prak, who works on the genetics of the antibody repertoire in autoimmunity, was selected as the sixteenth recipient of the 2013 Colyton Award as part of the annual Perelman School of Medicine Awards of Excellence.
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Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania demonstrate for the first time that the immune system influences the skin microbiome. A new study found that the skin microbiome–a collection of microorganisms inhabiting the human body–is governed, at least in part, by an ancient branch of the immune system called complement. In turn, it appears microbes on the skin tweak the complement system, as well as immune surveillance of the skin.
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