immune system

Clinical pharmacologist Jens Titze, M.D., and his colleagues have identified a new cast of cells and molecules that function in the skin to control sodium balance and blood pressure.

Vanderbilt University investigators have developed a new strategy for identifying the “bits” of a pathogen that spark a protective immune response.

Immune cells that recognize self antigens (e.g. insulin), but are functionally silent, can trigger autoimmune diseases such as diabetes.

The kidney can mediate its own repair through proliferation of resident immune system cells.

Viruses that cause acute respiratory infections — such as human metapneumovirus (HMPV) and flu — impair a set of immune system cells that should clear the virus from the lungs. Now, Vanderbilt University investigators have discovered the signaling pathway that disables these immune cells.

Antibodies to the 2009 H1N1 influenza strain reveal new insights into how antibody diversity forms and functions, with possible implications for designing flu vaccines.