By Steve Connor, Science Editor THE INDEPENDENT
Date: 11/02/2010
Viruses are still mankind's biggest killers, responsible for twice as many deaths as cancer, essentially because they can get inside cells where they can hide away from the body's immune defenses and the powerful antibiotic drugs that have proved invaluable against bacterial infections.
However, a study by a team of researchers from the world-famous Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge has shown that this textbook explanation of the limits of the human immune system is wrong because anti-viral antibodies can in fact enter the cell with the invading virus where they are able to trigger the rapid destruction of the foreign invader.
"In any immunology textbook you will read that once a virus makes it into a cell, that is game over because the cell is now infected. At that point there is nothing the immune response can do other than kill that cell," said Leo James, who led the research team.
But studies at the Medical Research Council's laboratory have found that the antibodies produced by the immune system, which recognize and attack invading viruses, actually ride piggyback into the inside of a cell with the invading virus.
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By MARIA CHENG, AP Medical Writer Maria Cheng, Ap Medical Writer
Date: 11/19/2009
The danger of the Swine Flu Pandemic is increasing as efforts to battle the illness seem increasingly futile.
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By As reported by AP
Date: 11/17/2009
'Golden era' could bring vaccines against AIDS, Alzheimer's and addictions within 5 years
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