Spring allergies bring to mind thoughts of stuffy noses and watery eyes.

But allergies actually affect many different and interconnected systems within a person's body, according to the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI).

"Spring allergens such as pollen, mold spores and other airborne particles not only trigger nasal allergies, but also can have a profound e...

The harms of smoking are many, but new research delivers evidence of another troubling type of damage: Lighting up alters your immune system, leaving you more vulnerable to disease and infections even years after quitting.

"Stop smoking as soon as possible,"study co-author Dr. Violaine Saint-André, a special...

Women are much more prone than men to develop autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and lupus.

Now, researchers have come up with a potential explanation for that -- one that's rooted in genes that drive a person's gender.

The female body has a complex means by which it handles the additional X chromosome, and it appears this process also renders some wom...

It's long been known that people with immune deficiencies are at increased risk for severe COVID.

But a new study shows the threat varies dramatically based on how severe that immune suppression is and the reason behind it, researchers report in the Jan. 24 issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine.<...

Forget "Jaws": The remarkable wound-healing power of shark skin could end up helping humans, new research claims.

Shark skin is coated with a special film of mucus that more closely resembles mucus generated by people than that generated by other types of fish, noted researchers at Sweden's Karolinska Institute, in Stockholm.

They conducted their investigation at the Marine Biologic...

In rare cases, some patients may develop an autoimmune disease following a bout of COVID, Korean researchers report.

Conditions such as alopecia (hair loss), psoriasis, vitiligo (white skin patches), vasculitis (inflammation of blood vessels), Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, rheumatoid arthritis, adult-onset Still's disease (painful skin rash), Sjogren's syndrome (autoimmune disease...

Ginger supplements may help those with certain autoimmune diseases, such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, control inflammation.

New research has added evidence to support the impact of ginger on white blood cell function, particularly a type of cell called a neutrophil.

The researchers were particularly interested in neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation, also called NETos...

A new study in non-human primates shows potential for using a manmade monoclonal antibody to help prevent organ rejection after a transplant.

The antibody was successful in promoting graft survival after kidney and pancreatic islet cell transplantations, according to the research.

This clears a path for this new monoclonal antibody to move forward in human clinical trials, the rese...

A new type of medication, JAK inhibitors, can effectively treat moderate to severe alopecia areata, a hair loss condition that has been historically hard to treat.

A study of its effectiveness, by Dr. Brett King and Dr. Brittany Craiglo...

Children who have a chronic immune system disease that can prevent them from eating may eventually have a new treatment, decades after the condition was first identified.

"Parents and doctors may not be aware of this, but this is a very prominent and serious disease in the pediatric population, and it is increasing in number because it is directly related to food allergens, which are also...

More than half of all patients with autoimmune diseases also suffer from depression and anxiety -- but most are never asked about their mental health, a new study finds.

Surveying more than 1,800 patients, British researchers found more than half rarely or never reported their mental health symptoms to their doctor. This could mean the range of mental health and neurological symptoms is ...

A severe spinal cord injury is traumatic enough, but new research now shows that trauma can trigger an immune deficiency that puts patients at risk for developing life-threatening infections.

A new study from a team of international researchers sheds light on spinal cord injury-induced immune deficiency syndrome, which was initially discovered in experimental models.

"Infections an...

Space travel appears to weaken astronauts' immune systems, and researchers believe changes in gene expression are the culprit.

These immune deficits aren't permanent. They disappear when back on Earth, often within weeks, according to new research published June 22 in Frontiers in Immunology.

"Here we show that the expression of many genes relat...

Screening newborns for severe combined immunodeficiency -- SCID, sometimes referred to as "bubble boy disease" -- significantly increases survival rates, researchers say.

Infants with SCID appear healthy at birth, but have no immune defenses, making them highly susceptible to severe and often fatal infections. The 1976 TV movie "The Boy in the Plastic Bubble" promoted awareness of th...

Skin conditions may be the first sign that a person has a rheumatic disease that will also affect the joints, muscles or ligaments.

It's essential to know what to look for, said Dr. Kathryn Dao, an associate professor of internal medicine in the Division of Rheumatic Diseases at UT Southwester...

Centenarians might live 100 years or more thanks in part to a more agile and adaptive immune system, a new study reveals.

Blood tests of seven centenarians -- average age 106 -- found they possess highly functional immune systems that adapt readily to infections and illnesses, according to researchers.

"What we basically found is that centenarians manifest a history of exposure...

If you're one of the millions of people with allergic asthma or eczema, you may be more likely to develop the wear-and-tear form of arthritis as you age.

This is the main finding from a new study that examined the risk of developing osteoarthritis among people with the two allerg...

Some people may have a gene that helps protect them from respiratory diseases like COVID-19 -- and helped their ancestors fight the plague.

It comes at a cost.

This same gene variation may be linked to an increased risk of autoimmune disease, including rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease, according to British researchers.

"This gene essentially chops up protein...

Researchers are shedding light on a mystery medical condition called VEXAS syndrome that's believed to affect more than 15,000 people in the United States.

Identified in 2020, VEXAS syndrome is a rare, genetically linked disorder with a high death rate.

The syndrome includes unexplained fevers and low blood oxygen levels in people with other conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, ...

Ten children with an especially rare and hard-to-treat form of "bubble boy" disease are living normal lives after receiving a new gene therapy approach, researchers say.

Experts said the findings are a major advance for children with the disease -- a subtype of severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID).

SCID refers to a group of rare genetic diseases that cause babies to be born ...

COVID-19 is known to mess with a person's lungs, and can have long-term effects on the brain.

Now doctors have found another way COVID harms your health -- through your gut.

A COVID infection can reduce the number of bacterial species in the gut, creating an opportunity for dangerous antibiotic-re...

For the millions of people who live with vitiligo, a disease that robs the skin of its natural color, a newly approved cream called ruxolitinib (Opzelura) is quickly becoming a game changer.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration