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Cancer, Immunology, Pancreatic Cancer, Vaccines

Are New Immune-Based Treatments for Kidney and Pancreatic Cancer on the Horizon?

New immune-based treatments for kidney and pancreatic cancer have shown promising results in two small clinical trials. In both trials, the treatments appeared to prevent cancer from returning in patients who had successful surgery to remove their tumors. The treatments are called therapeutic cancer vaccines because they help the immune system eliminate an existing cancer.

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Allergies, Drugs, Immunology

Know Which Medication Is Right for Your Seasonal Allergies

An allergy is your body’s reaction to an otherwise innocent substance that it has identified as an invader. If you have allergies and encounter a trigger (allergen), your immune system fights it by releasing chemicals, such as histamine (hence the term “antihistamine”). Histamine causes symptoms, such as runny nose, itchy nose, sneezing, and itchy and watery eyes.

Immune cell immunology
Autoimmune Diseases, Blood and Hematology, Immunology, Infectious Disease

Immune health is all about balance – an immunologist explains why both too strong and too weak an immune response can lead to illness

Many social media posts push supplements and other life hacks that “boost your immune system” to keep you healthy and fend off illness. However, these claims are not based on science and what is known about immune function. Healthy immune systems don’t need to be “boosted.” Instead, the immune system works best when it is perfectly balanced.

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Allergies, Antibiotics, Drugs

Most people who think they are allergic to penicillin aren’t

About 6% of people in the UK are wrongly labelled on their medical records as being allergic to penicillin. This figure is concerning because being labelled as allergic to this class of highly effective antibiotics is associated with an extra six deaths per 1,000 patients a year after being treated for an infection. If patients received the right antibiotic for their infection, many lives could be saved.