PHOENIX, Ariz. — Jan. 22, 2019 — The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope, has identified a polio-like virus as a potential cause of an outbreak of a disease known as Acute Flaccid Myelitis (AFM), a crippling condition that causes muscle weakness and paralysis usually among children. At the request...
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Heating up cold tumors
NEW YORK, Jan. 22, 2019–A Ludwig Cancer Research study has uncovered a cellular mechanism by which melanomas that fail to respond to checkpoint blockade may be made susceptible to such immunotherapies. Led by Ping-Chih Ho of the Lausanne Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and reported in the current issue of Nature Immunology,...
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Test for esophageal cancer could save millions of lives
Cancer of the esophagus claims more than 400,000 lives around the world each year. With no efficient, reliable method of screening for the disease, by the time symptoms become apparent, it’s often too late to save the patient. IMAGE: THE ESOPHACAP IS PACKED INTO A GELATIN CAPSULE THAT DISSOLVES IN A PATIENT’S STOMACH. view more...
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PSA screening reduces prostate cancer deaths by 30%
PSA-screening cuts deaths from prostate cancer by some 30%. This is shown by research based on data on 20,000 men monitored for more than two decades. The men’s initially measured PSA level proved highly significant as a predictor of future cancer risk. “This research is important because it shows the long-term effects of an organized...
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When it comes to brain tumors, a patient’s sex matters
Have you ever wondered why, in most species, males are larger and more ornamented than females? It’s an evolutionarily determined aspect of biology, but what does it mean for human health and disease? What are the implications of needing one chart to describe normal growth in boys, and another to describe normal growth in girls?...
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Too much of this in the blood could predict unhealthy aging
A hormone found in the blood that’s commonly linked to heart disease also might signal when someone is more likely to grow weaker or lose their ability to balance before they’re 70. People in their early 60s with higher-than-normal levels of brain natriuretic peptide, or BNP, walked slower and were less able to raise themselves...
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Protein found more in advanced prostate cancer could be key to preventing drug resistance
A cancer-driving protein is found in the tumours of men with advanced prostate cancer after treatment with hormone drugs, but rarely found in early-stage disease, a new study shows. Image: Prostate cancer carousel (Credit: Mateus Crespo/Prof Johann de Bono, the ICR) The findings of the major study, published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, confirm...
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The Intestine Responds to Heart Failure by Enhanced Mitochondrial Fusion through Glucagon-like Peptide-1 Signaling
Aims Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is a neuroendocrine hormone secreted by the intestine. Its receptor (GLP-1R) is expressed in various organs, including the heart. However, the dynamics and function of the GLP-1 signal in heart failure remains unclear. We investigated the impact of the cardio-intestinal association on hypertensive heart failure using miglitol, an α-glucosidase inhibitor known...
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A Modular Vaccine Platform Combining Self-Assembled Peptide Cages and Immunogenic Peptides
Abstract Subunit vaccines use delivery platforms to present minimal antigenic components for immunization. The benefits of such systems include multivalency, self‐adjuvanting properties, and more specific immune responses. Previously, the design, synthesis, and characterization of self‐assembling peptide cages (SAGEs) have been reported. In these, de novo peptides are combined to make hubs that assemble into nanoparticles...
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Breakthrough in understanding male infertility
Hope has emerged for infertile men as scientists at Newcastle University have understood the importance of a gene in regulating the production of fully-functioning sperm. For the first time, experts have identified the role of gene, RBMXL2, which is very similar to a possible infertility gene found on the Y chromosome found only in men....