The immune system comprises organs, tissues, cells and molecules, which protect the body against pathogens.
Detailed description
The biological defense system can be separated into an innate and an adaptive part. The innate immune system developed early in the phylogeny of living things. The adaptive immune system adjusts to new or modified pathogens. Both parts collaborate closely. Moreover, the immune system can destroy abnormal or defective cells of the own body.
During pregnancy, a mother’s immune system is suppressed to protect the fetus, which is perceived as a foreign body because it is genetically different. A partly DZIF funded study in mice found that
The human immunodeficiency virus has to overcome major obstacles to infect inactive immune cells. DZIF scientists have investigated the defence mechanism of these cells and found indications of a new
Researchers of the University of Tübingen and DZIF in collaboration with the biotech company Sanaria Inc. have demonstrated in a clinical trial that a new vaccine for malaria called Sanaria® PfSPZ
Almost everybody has it: Scientists estimate that approximately 98 percent of adults around the world are infected with the Epstein-Barr virus. In rare cases, an infection with this virus causes
An international team of scientists has sequenced the genomes of two rare malaria pathogens, both parasites of the plasmodium species. A scientist from the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical
Scientists from the University of Tübingen and the German Center of Infection Research (DZIF) have been able to demonstrate that sugar polymers on the outer cell envelope of Staphylococcus aureus mean
Scientists from the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) are on a specific quest for the causes of and biomarkers for severe courses of Pfeiffer’s disease. The disease is caused by the Epstein
An international team of researchers have isolated and analyzed genetically tuberculosis bacteria from several thousand patients from over a hundred countries. This analysis demonstrates that the
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) prevents infected cells from being attacked by the immune system. The virus drives production of small molecules, so-called microRNAs, that suppress alarm signals sent out by
Some HIV-infected – and untreated children – who do not develop AIDS, control the virus in a different way from the few infected adults who remain disease-free. Scientists at LMU´s Max von Pettenkofer
