A ground-breaking technique that hunts out cancer cells using the patient's own immune system has been hailed as a revolutionary way to treat or even cure cancer.

Immunosuppression resulting from HIV infection increases the risk of progression to active tuberculosis (TB) both in individuals newly exposed to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) and in those with latent infections. We hypothesized that HIV-positive individuals who do not develop TB, despite living in areas where it is hyperendemic, provide a model of natural resistance. We performed a genome-wide association study of TB resistance by using 581 HIV-positive Ugandans and Tanzanians enrolled in prospective cohort studies of TB; 267 of these individuals developed active TB, and 314 did not.

Scientists have pinpointed a gene responsible for grey hair - a discovery that could lead to new ways of delaying or preventing this natural sign of ageing, they say in Nature Communications.

Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a highly lethal condition for which no specific treatment has proven efficacy. In September 2014, while the Ebola outbreak was at its peak, the World Health Organization released a short list of drugs suitable for EVD research. Favipiravir, an antiviral developed for the treatment of severe influenza, was one of these. In late 2014, the conditions for starting a randomized Ebola trial were not fulfilled for two reasons.

Bats' immunity helps them combat lethal diseases.Flickr Creative Commons/Michael Pennay

A specialised white blood cell found in birds can destroy an infection that claims hundreds of thousands of human deaths every year, scientists have claimed.

Countries battling the Zika virus should consider new ways to curb disease-carrying mosquitoes, including testing the release of genetically modified insects and bacteria that stop their eggs hatch

Reservoirs of infectious HIV-1 persist despite years of combination antiretroviral therapy and make curing HIV-1 infections a major challenge. Most of the proviral DNA resides in CD4+T cells. Some of these CD4+T cells are clonally expanded; most of the proviruses are defective. It is not known if any of the clonally expanded cells carry replication-competent proviruses. We report that a highly expanded CD4+ T-cell clone contains an intact provirus.

Custom-made, living body parts have been 3D-printed in a significant advance for regenerative medicine, say scientists.

Having exhausted all treatment options, some cancer patients are seeking to undergo clinical trials

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