A new genetic model has generated new strategies for promoting tolerance to transplants – and improving long-term transplant outcomes – in the background of autoimmune disease.

Understanding how to control the generation of regulatory T cells could have important implications for treating autoimmunity and cancer.

Women with chronic autoimmune diseases who take immunosuppressive medications during their first trimester of pregnancy are not putting their babies at significantly increased risk of adverse outcomes, according to a Vanderbilt study released online by the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism.

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

The protein Syk is essential for clearing away neuron “corpses” in the developing peripheral nervous system.