Macrophages are a type of white blood cell that can engulf and destroy cancer cells. A research group led by Professor Matozaki Takashi, Kobe University Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Division of Molecular and Cellular Signaling, discovered that by using an antibody for a particular protein found on macrophages, the macrophage is activated, and cancer cells are effectively eliminated. This discovery could lead to the development of new cancer treatments.

Commonly used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen, used to treat back pain provide little benefit, but cause side effects, according to new research from The George Institute for Global Health. The findings of the systematic review, published in the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases, reveal only one in six patients treated with the pills, also known as NSAIDs, achieve any significant reduction in pain.

A team led by Motonari Uesugi, professor and deputy director of Kyoto University's Institute for Integrated Cell-Material Sciences (iCeMS), found that a vitamin D metabolite known as '25-OHD' inhibits proteins that regulate lipid production. Those proteins, called sterol regulatory element-binding proteins (SREBPs), cannot then stimulate expression of lipid-producing genes.

UCLA researchers have found that an anti-inflammatory drug primarily used in Japan to treat asthma could help people overcome alcoholism. Their study is the first to evaluate the drug, ibudilast, as a treatment for alcoholism. Study participants were given either the drug (20 milligrams for two days and 50 milligrams for the next four) or a placebo for six consecutive days.

Mayo Clinic researchers have found that engaging in mentally stimulating activities, even late in life, may protect against new-onset mild cognitive impairment, which is the intermediate stage between normal cognitive aging and dementia. The study found that cognitively normal people 70 or older who engaged in computer use, craft activities, social activities and playing games had a decreased risk of developing mild cognitive impairment.

Anti-inflammatory diets - which tend to be high in vegetables, fruits, fish and whole grains - could boost bone health and prevent fractures in some women, a new study suggests. Researchers examined data from the landmark Women's Health Initiative to compare levels of inflammatory elements in the diet to bone mineral density and fractures and found new associations between food and bone health.

Approximately 500 million people around the world are infected with the genital herpes virus known as herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV2). A vaccine that could bring an end to this global pandemic is needed desperately, yet no candidate vaccine has ever performed well in clinical trials. Now scientists in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have shown that a new type of vaccine provides powerful protection in standard guinea pig and monkey models of HSV2 infection.