According to new research from the University of Sydney, Nicotinamide (VitB3), a vitamin found in common foods like meats, nuts, grains and cereals, may provide the next advance in skin cancer prevention. Presenting the results of a trial to the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia’s Annual Scientific Meeting, Associate Professor Diona Damian said tests had shown the vitamin prevented damage from ultraviolet (UV) radiation by protecting the immune system. The tests on volunteers using nicotinamide both as a lotion and in tablet form offered equally strong protection, against both UVB and UVA.

A new vaccine principle is being developed by scientists at the University of Copenhagen which if it works to its full expected potential could help to save millions of lives and revolutionise current vaccine technology. The ‘InVacc’ platform, as it is known, represents an advance on the original DNA vaccines and generates new vaccines with greatly enhanced properties. The platform consists of a chain of amino acids attached to a gene of the virus being vaccinated against.

www.Everythingantiaging.com has added LimuZ Nei from Immune Tree to their online catalog of nutritional supplements. LimuZ Nei is a blend of 5 all natural ingredients including Colostrum, limu with Fucoidan, zeolite and acetyl-L-carnitine. It is specifically designed to treat the immune, endocrine, nervous and anti-aging systems. LimuZ Nei has the same electrolyte balance as the blood in our bodies. This balance makes LimuZ Nei highly absorbable allowing for immediate delivery into the body systems because it bypasses the digestive process.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has expanded the indication for Tibotec Pharmaceuticals’ PREZISTA (darunavir) tablets once-daily dosing as a part of the HIV combination therapy in adult patients who have not taken medication for HIV before. Also, PREZISTA has been approved as a twice-daily for use in adults with a prior experience of treatment. With this approval, the protease inhibitor when administered with 100 mg PREZISTA/r (ritonavir) and other ARVs (antiretroviral agents) can be used for the treatment of HIV-1 infection.

Scientists from the University of Cambridge have found that alemtuzumab, a drug originally developed for leukemia can curb the progression of multiple sclerosis (MS) even reverse some damage caused by the neurological disorder. The drug, a monoclonal antibody, has also been tested for treatment of other immune system disorders. Alemtuzumab targets the cells of the immune system that attack the myelin sheath and the nerve fibers.

A study conducted by researchers at the University of Wisconsin Hospital, Madison has concluded that wheezing illness in childhood caused by rhinovirus is associated with the development of asthma. The doctors reported that almost 90% of kids who suffered from wheezing related to rhinovirus at 3 years of age developed asthma by the age of 6 years. Also, episodes of rhinovirus wheezing may help in revealing children who are predisposed to the disease.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given the approval to Lev Pharmaceuticals, Inc’s Cinryze™ (C1 inhibitor [human]) for preventing angioedema attacks in patients suffering from hereditary angio-edema (HAE). Cinryze is expected to be commercially available for prophylaxis against HAE later this year. It should be noted that Cinryze is the first and the only therapy approved by FDA for routine prophylaxis against attacks caused by the deficiency of C1 inhibitor. The approval will benefit the people suffering from the painful swelling.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.’s Reyataz (atazanavir) capsule (300 mg) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for use in combination with ritonavir (100 mg) to treat HIV-1 infection. On the basis of results of the year-long trial which show that atazanavir was as effective as lopinavir along with ritonavir in achieving virologic response  in adult patients who received tenofovir and emtricitabine (300 mg/200 mg once daily) therapy simultaneously.

A recent research carried out jointly by scientists from the universities of Bristol and Harvard has shown the way in which immune system can detect and destroy the bacterium, pneumococcus. It paves the way for the development of a novel vaccine for the prevention of diseases like meningitis and pneumonia that are found in both children and adults. Many infections start because of the carriage of this bug in the nose.  The existing vaccines for these diseases are not suitable for use in poorer countries as they are too expensive. Immune cells called TH17 cells have been identified as beneficial in killing this bug.

A new survey published in the June 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases shows that drugs commonly prescribed for patients suffering from immunological disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease may carry risks of serious infections. Among these drugs are agents that inhibit tumor necrosis factor-á (TNF), a cytokine receptor involved in cellular communication. Although patients using these immune-modulating therapies are known to susceptible to tuberculosis, the new survey indicates that there is probably greater risk for other serious infections, such as histoplasmosis, nontuberculosis mycobacterial infections and Staphylococcus aureus in these patients.

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