15 Results
Calling for Reinforcements: A New Way to Recruit Immune System Helpers Could Lead to Better Flu Vaccines
Flu causes hundreds of thousands of deaths and millions of hospitalizations worldwide. The best way to protect against serious illness is annual vaccination, but the vaccine’s effectiveness is not perfect. Now, NIH-funded researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have taken a new approach to crafting flu vaccines that resulted, in lab tests, in a more broadly protective immune response compared to currently available vaccines.
Gene Signature at Birth Predicts Sepsis in Newborns Before Signs Appear
A four-gene signature in newborns’ blood at birth predicts before symptom onset whether a baby will develop neonatal sepsis during the first week of life.
Our Words Have Power—NIAID Embraces Respectful, Inclusive, and Person-First Language
by Jeanne Marrazzo, M.D., M.P.H., NIAID Director
Our institute is responsible not only for advancing scientific knowledge, but for doing so in a way that honors the dignity, individuality, and autonomy of the people affected by the health issues we address. For this reason, I am very proud to share the updated NIAID HIV Language Guide, a thoroughly vetted resource to inform our written and verbal communications.
Antiretroviral Drug Improves Kidney Function After Transplant in People with HIV
An HIV drug that suppresses the activity of the CCR5 receptor—a collection of proteins on the surface of certain immune cells—was associated with better renal function in kidney transplant recipients with HIV compared to people who took a placebo in a randomized trial. According to the authors, these findings warrant further exploration of the benefit of CCR5 antagonists in all kidney transplant recipients regardless of HIV status. The findings of the NIAID-sponsored trial were presented today at the 2024 American Transplant Congress in Philadelphia.
Championing Asthma Research to Reduce the Burden of Disease
Today on World Asthma Day, NIAID reaffirms its commitment to reducing illness from this chronic lung syndrome and improving quality of life for people with asthma through research that informs the development of new asthma prevention and treatment strategies. NIAID-funded studies recently uncovered new risk factors for asthma and a previously unreported cause of frequent, severe asthma attacks. Other studies shed light on poorly understood causes of airway inflammation, as well as on genes and proteins involved in regulating asthma severity.
Making an Impact: Results from an NIAID-funded Study of Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients
Why do some people hospitalized with COVID-19 succumb, while others—with apparently similar disease severity at the time of hospitalization—survive? Among older individuals, are there particular immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 virus infection that set the stage for the increased risk of severe COVID-19? New publications from the NIAID-funded IMPACC study help provide answers.
The HIV Field Needs Early-Stage Investigators (VIDEO)
by Jeanne Marrazzo, M.D., M.P.H., NIAID Director
The HIV research community is led by scientists with deep personal commitments to improving the lives of people with and affected by HIV. Our collective decades of work have generated HIV testing, prevention and treatment options beyond what we could have imagined in the 1980s. Those advances enable NIAID to explore new frontiers: expanding HIV prevention and treatment modalities, increasing understanding of the interplay between HIV and other infectious and non-communicable diseases, optimizing choice and convenience, and building on the ever-growing knowledge base that we need to develop a preventive vaccine and cure. The next generation of leaders will bring these concepts to fruition, and we need to welcome and support them into the complex and competitive field of HIV science.
NIAID Renews Consortium for Food Allergy Research in Its 19th Year
NIAID has awarded 11 new cooperative agreements to support the Consortium for Food Allergy Research, or CoFAR, in the latest renewal of the program since its establishment 19 years ago. The institute expects to fund the awards with more than $11 million annually for seven years, contingent upon the availability of funds.
In People with Stable Lupus, Tapering Immunosuppressant Linked to Low Flare Risk
In people with a form of lupus called systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), the risk for a severe flare-up of disease was low for both individuals who tapered off long-term immunosuppressive therapy and those who remained on it, a clinical trial has found. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, sponsored and funded the trial. The findings were reported today in the journal The Lancet Rheumatology.
A Secret to Health and Long Life? Immune Resilience, NIAID Grantees Report
Do you know some people who almost never get sick and bounce back quickly when they do, while other people frequently suffer from one illness or another? NIAID-supported researchers have pinpointed an attribute of the immune system called immune resilience that helps explain why some people live longer and healthier lives than others.
NIAID-Supported Study Provides Stronger Evidence of Link Between RSV and Childhood Asthma
The study found that infants who were not infected with RSV in the first year of life had a 26% lower risk of asthma at 5 years of age than those who were infected with RSV as infants.
Some Reported Allergic Reactions to mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines Were Likely Stress Responses
Some responses to the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines reported as severe allergic reactions were likely a recently described, non-allergic condition called immunization stress-related response (ISRR), according to a study by investigators. The symptoms of ISRR can closely mimic those of a severe allergic reaction known as anaphylaxis, a potentially life-threatening, systemic allergic reaction in which the immune system releases a dangerous flood of chemicals.
NIAID Researchers Identify Link Between Common Chemicals and Eczema
NIAID scientists have found an association between widely used chemicals called diisocyanates and atopic dermatitis, a chronic inflammatory skin disease commonly known as eczema.
NIAID-Supported Studies Identify Universal Predictors of Antibody Response to Vaccination
Two recently published studies explain why some people respond better to vaccines than others and could guide the development of new strategies to enhance the antibody response to vaccination.
Newly Discovered Species of Gut Bacteria May Cause Some Cases of Rheumatoid Arthritis
Research by NIAID grantees strongly suggests that immune responses to a newly discovered species of gut bacteria may cause some cases of a common autoimmune disease called rheumatoid arthritis. The findings were recently published in Science Translational Medicine.
