r/Immunology

Hi all!

Drinking water at my house is from roof water into a tank. It is filtered through 3x different sized microbial filters and then UV treated before it gets to the tap.

However, I am constantly having regular, recurring gastro and immune response symptoms. I do have several diagnosed ongoing chronic autoinflammatory and autoimmune syndromes, so it's definitely not just the water causing me problems, but...

My question is, with an immunocompromised person, or someone with active autoinflammatory and autoimmune issues, is it possible that dead pathogenic material or cellular parts in the drinking water could be exacerbating my immune issues and causing recurring flares?

Any input greatly appreciated!

Hello everyone,
I recently read an interesting post in this forum that touched, among other things, on the Nobel Prize in Medicine and the research surrounding T cells, Tregs, and the discovery of peripheral immune tolerance. As I myself am affected by an autoimmune disease, I am very interested in this topic and have been following developments in science and medicine quite closely—especially the period of change we seem to be entering now that artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly integrated into both everyday life and scientific research.
My question is therefore how you would interpret the current state of the field in light of these findings (even though their significance is somewhat controversial, as I have also read that some of this has been known for quite a long time), what you think they could mean for the future, and how close we might be to groundbreaking new approaches or treatments for autoimmune diseases that could potentially lead to long-term or even permanent remission.
I am particularly interested in the prospects for diseases such as vitiligo, rheumatoid arthritis, atopic dermatitis, and alopecia areata (which I suffer from myself).
Thank you very much in advance!

I hold a Master degree in immunology and molecular pathology and did BS in physiology.i need a scholarship or fellow as a research in the field of immunology.Anyone guide me for abroad,what is the best opportunity for and what is the institute?

Hey I'm a first year med student and i know about the whole strategy of cold emailing programs im interested in. However id really like to first get myself actually useful and not just a kid who's tryna join a project. I want to learn certain skills independently to actually make a difference not just fill out some CV.

what are some prerequisite background I should know like stats or if i have to wait until i covered the material in med school?

For context im very keen on advancing actual treatments in Non-infectious Uveitis so that really narrows down the exact type of research and part of medicine id like to really nail down for a career. Reason being is Uveitis accounts for 10-20% of all blindness cases and I really hate that a lot of the current treatments are trial and error.

Please if anyone has online resources i could consult for help on getting started since I have no clue where to begin lmao.

Thanks 😄

For how long are the supernatant cytokines (from THP1 ) stable at 4C?

Thank you

My son is refusing more extensive bloodwork to test for Lyme, strep, etc. He developed severe OCD plus had a huge decline in school performance over the course of weeks.

Can he get a single test for Lyme? What are our choices to rule out PANS? Is it only bloodwork? We have an appointment with a neurologist but who knows if they will test for any underlying infections. We also hope to get an MRI. Is our only choice to try to continue to get bloodwork through a functional doctor? How about an immunologist? Any ways they can test for underlying infections? Or would they?

Hi, I am switching my career towards immunology research. I have very limited knowledge of the foundational immunity principles at the moment. Can you recommend any book that I can use as a beginner-friendly, up-to-date entry point to the field?

Hello everyone, I'm using ELISA kits from Invitrogen (Thermo Fisher Scientific) to measure IgG in the release medium from a hydrogel system. The standard curve range is 1.6-100 ng/mL. I don't know the approximate IgG concentration in each release sample, but the maximum possible concentration should be around 100 µg/mL, based on the amount of IgG encapsulated in the hydrogel.

Should I prepare a series of dilutions for every sample? How can I determine which dilution gives the most reliable results within the standard curve range? Any recommendations would be appreciated!

Guys i am genuinely confused in all of the CDs out there in immunology. I confuse them and I confuse myself. Is it by practice only or is there another way to stop being confused by all of these?

Hello everyone,

I'm running an ELISA to quantify IgG released from a hydrogel system. This is my first time performing an ELISA, so I wanted to start by testing the assay with the standards only.

I'm using the Invitrogen Human IgG Total Uncoated ELISA Kit:
https://www.thermofisher.com/elisa/product/Human-IgG-Total-Uncoated-ELISA-Kit/88-50550-88

I followed the protocol as described:

• 100 µL/well capture antibody solution, followed by overnight incubation at 4°C
• Washed 4 times, then added 250 µL/well blocking buffer and incubated for 2 hours at room temperature
• Washed 4 times, then added 100 µL standard + 100 µL assay buffer and incubated for 2 hours at room temperature with shaking
• Washed 4 times, then added 100 µL/well detection antibody solution and incubated for 1 hour at room temperature with shaking
• Washed 4 times, then added 100 µL/well substrate solution, with the plan to add stop solution once the color developed

However, no color developed, even after a couple of hours!

I'm wondering what might have gone wrong. Any suggestions or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

We recently published an open-access study describing a 3D co-culture model of human B cells and CD40L-expressing stromal cells using plates coated with N-hexanoyl glycol chitosan. The system supports spheroid formation, B-cell differentiation, and class-switch recombination, providing an in vitro approach to model aspects of secondary lymphoid organs.
I thought this might be interesting to researchers working on B-cell biology, immunology, biomaterials, spheroids, or 3D culture.
Happy to share and discuss the work!

https://doi.org/10.1039/d5bm01039j

I’ve been doing experiments where I culture mouse splenocyes or human PBMCs in anti-CD3 coated plates (for 18-24 hours, so pretty short), then stimulate with various compounds short term (5 hr) to assess interferon gamma gene expression changes via qPCR and protein via flow cytometry. From the flow data, IFNg production is increased in CD8+ T cells from both human and mouse cells with a specific compound. A few months ago, I was doing gene expression studies using the same protocol and am now having trouble seeing consistent IFNg expression between mouse experiments specifically. The human PBMC cultures are very consistent with IFNg gene expression after 5 hr compound stimulation. But on one day, with one mouse spleen, the results would show increased IFNg expression, and the next day different mouse, I would see no changes at all. RNA quality and housekeeping genes looked golden, just a total absence of any effect. I tried so many things like switching FBS lots, different cell density plating, sampling at earlier time points (the compound stimulation is 5 hours), etc. I ended up isolating pure mouse CD8 + T cells from the spleens and doing the same experiment a couple times, and found that IFNg gene expression was more consistent and peaked at an hour post compound addition. But I have gotten extremely convincing IFNg expression at 5 hours from the mixed splenocyes and cannot for the life of me figure out WHY it‘s so tricky to get consistent results each time. Does anyone with experience with mouse splenocytes and mouse CD8+ T cells gene expression studies (particularly for RNAseq) have any suggestions for how to improve consistency between experiments? Or is there anything else that I am not considering which may be at play here?

Hi,

I've been suffering invisible symptoms for nearly 6 years now. It's been one thing after another and I've been dismissed by doctors, gynnos, endos, GI dr, dermatologists, cardiologists, etc. Can someone pls read this history and offer insight? I am so beyond desperate. All of my blood tests are completely normal but I am NOT OK!

First, I became allergic to gluten seemingly out of nowhere in 2021. Before being diagnosed with non-celiac gluten intolerance, I had newfound symptoms that I never experienced in my life: fainting, weak, severe depression, severe anxiety, suddenly allergic to all my makeup, undiagnosable flakey skin all over my eyes, hair falling out, fatigue, brain fog & crazy unexplainable scalp buildup. I was also told my body wasn't retaining any vitamins (likely due to the severity of my gluten allergy) so I was prescribed a bunch.

This same year I had a seizure right after the covid vaccine & ended up in the ER. Again, no answers / told it was all a coincidence.

After cutting out gluten, I felt better, and my depression / anxiety went away, but my unusual symptoms persisted.

In 2023, my anxiety eventually came back & I was forced to go off birth control cold turkey (thanks to a fuck head dr.). I was off for 3 months and when I started my prescription again, I was suddenly allergic to the pills (I was on birth control for 15 yrs prior so... wtf)

I broke out in undiagnosable rash all over my body / so bad I couldn't leave the house. I went to primary dr., endocrinologist, gynecologist & nobody had a clue what was going on & they said I was nuts when I asked if it was possibly my birth control. After trying 2 different pills and having the rash persist, I finally stopped cold turkey again and the rash COMPLETELY went away within 24 hrs of stopping the pills. Nobody has been able to explain any of this to me.

In 2024, I started missing my periods, gaining weight, having wildly painful PMS symptoms like debilitating migraines, throwing up, fainting, unable to get out of bed, painful cramps, depression, anxiety, etc. I also lost my ability to tan??? My skin would either stay pale or instantly burn. (I used to get very dark very quickly / rarely ever burned)

In 2025, insomnia entered the chat. I was waking up at 2 am, 3 am, 4 am, 6 am, and each time, it wasn't just opening my eyes: I would wake up to severe chest pains/pressure, anxiety attacks, panic attacks, in the middle of uncontrollable racing thoughts, sometimes I'd be sweating, sometimes not, and I genuinely felt like I was going to have a heart attack. Again, nobody had a clue what was going on. I was told perimenopause was impossible (I was only 37) and I tried every all natural sleeping aid imaginable, NOTHING worked.

I also had severe brain fog (I was literally googling how young Alzheimer's could begin) and didn't even recognize my personality. I could not handle even a sip of alcohol or caffeine and if I ate gluten free pasta for dinner that wasn't made from a complex carb, I would sleep even less, get cramps, migraines & fatigue. I couldn't handle ANYTHING even remotely "unhealthy"!

I became completely unable to get over simple illness -- I was sick for 4 months straight multiple times between 2024 and 2026. I even had one doctor tell me to stop coming back because he already gave me every drug he could think of, INCLUDING STEROIDS that still... DID NOT WORK.

In early 2026, I developed what looks like vitiligo on my face, but again, nobody knows what it is.

All of this persisted on and off into March of 2026 until I finally found a functional medicine doctor (technically only a chiropractor tho). After 3 months of working with her (April - June) I felt like I was myself again. I even had my periods back (albeit, I still had some symptoms: 1 week before my period and newly 1 week before ovulation... it seemed like my symptoms split in half which was weird? but I was happy bc they weren't debilitating).

Now, month 4- I AM REGRESSING. Same symptoms, but far worse: 1 week before ovulation: unbearable migraines, insomnia, anxiety, chest pains. 1 week before menstruation: insomnia, panic attacks, depression, chest pain.

I CANNOT HANDLE THIS ANYMORE!!! I am writing this out of absolute desperation. Can someone PLEASE make some sense of this or tell me what to do??? Is this normal for functional medicine to regress? Should I give up this functional stuff? Try an immunologist? What do I do? I'm ready to throw all 34 supplements in the trash because I am so frustrated but I don't even know where to start. I have thrown so much money in the trash since 2021, I just need to know what will actually work!!!

PLEASE GIVE ME ADVICE OR HELP

Caucasian; height: 5'7"; weight: 125; no drugs/smoking/alcohol