Turmeric is a yellow coloured spice widely used in Indian and South East Asian cuisine. It’s prepared from the root of a plant called Curcuma longaand is also used as a natural pigment in the food industry. In the literature, curcumin is reported to be an antioxidant that protects the body against damage from reactive molecules. These are...
Post
Using CRISPR to reverse retinitis pigmentosa and restore visual function
A confocal micrograph of mouse retina depicting optic fiber layer. Using the gene-editing tool CRISPR/Cas9, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Shiley Eye Institute at UC San Diego Health, with colleagues in China, have reprogrammed mutated rod photoreceptors to become functioning cone photoreceptors, reversing cellular degeneration and restoring visual...
Post
A cure for chlamydia? Scientists discover key genes that control our immune response to the infection and could pave the way for new treatments
‘Switching off’ two key genes makes immune cells more susceptible to infection The genes could be a useful target for new chlamydia therapies, helping to combat antibiotic resistance that increasingly limits STI treatment options The researcher’s model demonstrates how chlamydia interacts with our immune system, which could also have important implications for other infections Scientists may...
Post
Plant powder snatches malaria victims from death’s door
Weathers has made several high-producing versions of the plant using tissue cultures When 18 malaria patients in the Congo failed to respond to conventional treatments and instead continued to head toward terminal status, doctors knew they had to act fast – and try something different. So instead of turning to more synthetic drugs, they turned instead...
Post
Savior of T-cells may be enemy of liver immune cells
With the signaling molecule caspase-1, OX40 proteins induce inflammatory cell death inside the liver blood vessel (red dots inside white section in the middle) and cause damage to liver cells (hepatocytes), altering their radiant structure. Researchers at Houston Methodist demonstrated that a surface protein called OX40, responsible for keeping one type of immune system...
Post
Suggests a novel treatment approach that may protect against diabetic kidney disease
George King, M.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Joslin Diabetes Center and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. More than 660,000 people in the United States suffer from end-stage kidney disease, which can only be treated by dialysis or kidney transplantation. Almost half of these patients develop the condition as a complication of diabetes....
Post
Results of glioblastoma clinical trial show safety and clinical benefit of CAR T cell therapy
Glioblastoma is the most common brain tumor in humans and also one of the most difficult cancers to treat; patients with this type of cancer only survive about one year from time of diagnosis. Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Cancer Center, and the Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at Baylor, Texas...
Post
UCLA scientists combine a peptide with a nano cancer drug formulation to improve treatment effectiveness and prevent metastasis in pancreatic cancer
Study shows the peptide enhances a vascular access pathway for nanocarriers in pancreatic cancer UCLA scientists have unlocked an important mechanism that allows chemotherapy-carrying nanoparticles – extremely small objects between 1 and 100 nanometers (a billionth of a meter) – to directly access pancreatic cancer tumors, thereby improving the ability to kill cancer cells and hence leading to more...
Post
Drug based on malaria protein shows promise against treatment-resistant bladder cancer
A new study shows that a drug derived from a protein found in the malaria parasite stopped chemotherapy-resistant bladder cancer tumors growing in mice. The researchers say that the finding could lead to much-needed new treatments for cases of bladder cancer that do not respond to standard therapy. Researchers believe that the study findings could...
Post
Amino acids in diet could be key to starving cancer
Cutting out certain amino acids—the building blocks of proteins—from the diet of mice slows tumour growth and prolongs survival, according to new research published in Nature. Researchers at the Cancer Research UK Beatson Institute and the University of Glasgow found that removing two non-essential amino acids—serine and glycine—from the diet of mice slowed the development of lymphoma...