A new study has identified a molecular tradeoff between growth and immunity in moths in response to the administration of subtherapeutic doses of antibiotics, a common practice in animal husbandry.
Researchers link the ability of the cells to bind and present DNA from pathogens and cell death to anemia, which is common in COVID-19, and immune activation.
A comparison of interferon-related genes across 20 primate genomes reveals differences in the speed at which they evolve and new targets for antiviral discovery efforts.
A pathway involved in the adaptive immune system, a relative newcomer in the world of pathogen defense, may have a more ancient role in protecting cells from invading viruses.
The rare complication known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) differs from both Kawasaki disease and severe adult cases of COVID-19, a study finds.
These antiviral proteins are produced by the body as a natural defense against viral infections and synthetic interferons might help prevent or treat the beginning stages of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
The viral protein known as ORF3b limits the induction of the type I interferon response, which typically alerts other immune system components to the presence of a virus, in cultured cells.
This previously unknown mechanism for spotting foreign genetic material in the cytoplasm launches antiviral defenses even when the well-known immune mediator STING is absent.
Human natural killer cells, previously considered not to participate in adaptive immunity, remember viral antigens after initial exposures, according to a new study.
The antimicrobial drug neomycin protects mice from some viral infections, complicating the picture of the relationship between antibiotics and susceptibility to viruses.
Interbreeding with Neanderthals appears to have reintroduced genetic sequences related to innate immunity that had been lost as humans migrated out of Africa.