This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American The very first line of defence against any ...

Innate immunity constitutes the body’s first line of defence against invading pathogens. This ancient, evolutionarily conserved system is activated within minutes of encountering foreign agents, ...

Innate lymphoid cells, which curiously behave like T cells even though they don’t recognize specific antigens, show promise as a potential cancer therapeutic. In the years that followed, other groups ...

Scientists generally agree that eukaryotes, the domain of life whose cells contain nuclei and that includes almost all multicellular organisms, originated from a process involving the symbiotic union ...

University of Pennsylvania researchers have found a promising new treatment for periodontitis using a component of the immune system called complement, according to a new study in the Journal of ...

If the COVID-19 pandemic has done one thing, it’s made us all more familiar with some of the important players in the immune system. Antibodies, B cells, and T cells are among the best known parts of ...

Sepsis remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in critically ill patients, posing a major challenge to modern medicine. Despite advancements in treatment, the complexity of ...

The human body’s defensive lineup is impressive—from made-to-order antibodies to natural-born killers. Here’s how it wards off sickness in every season. When pathogens invade our bodies—in the form of ...

Cancer immunotherapies, including cancer vaccines, harness and amplify the immune system’s natural ability to detect and attack cancer cells. In this illustration, immune T cells (pink) attach to a ...

The newborn's immune system is a highly specialized mechanism that takes months to mature and become capable of effectively responding to pathogens. During this phase, adequate nutritional support, ...