by SAGE Publications A new analysis of the clinical trials of HPV vaccines to prevent cervical cancer raises doubts about the vaccines’ effectiveness. The analysis, published by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, assessed 12 published Phase 2 and 3 randomised controlled efficacy trials of the HPV vaccines Cervarix and Gardasil. The analysis,...
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Drug combo reverses arthritis in rats
People with osteoarthritis, or “wear and tear” arthritis, have limited treatment options: pain relievers or joint replacement surgery. Now, Salk researchers have discovered that a powerful combination of two experimental drugs reverses the cellular and molecular signs of osteoarthritis in rats as well as in isolated human cartilage cells. Their results were published in the...
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Vitamin D supplementation linked to potential improvements in blood pressure in children
by University of Pittsburgh Overweight and obese vitamin D-deficient children who took a relatively high dose of vitamin D every day for six months had lower blood pressure and improved insulin sensitivity than their peers who took a lower dose, according to the results of a UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh clinical trial reported in...
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Scientists show gene therapy protection of eyesight in models of multiple sclerosis
by Jim Fessenden, University of Massachusetts Medical School New research by Dorothy P. Schafer, Ph.D., at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, reveals the molecular process in which synaptic connections in the brain are damaged in multiple sclerosis and how this contributes to neurodegenerative symptoms. The paper, published in Immunity, also shows how gene therapy...
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Treatment for depression must also restore proper functioning of the blood-brain barrier
by Laval University To better treat people with depression, not only must we treat the neurons affected by the disease, but we must also restore the integrity of the barrier that regulates exchanges between blood circulation and the brain. This is the conclusion of a study published today in PNAS by Université Laval researchers and...
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Immune cell health discovery could optimise cancer therapies
by University College London Scientists at UCL have discovered how immune cells, essential for tackling life-threatening infections and cancers, are able to ‘recycle’ material within themselves in order to stay healthy and function, a breakthrough finding which could lead to more effective immunotherapies. In the study, published in Cell Reports, researchers investigated how ‘autophagy’ –...
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Researcher discovers previously rejected function in the brain’s blood vessels
by University of Copenhagen Allegedly, they should not exist in the brain, the so-called precapillary sphincters—a kind of squeezing ‘muscle clamp’ between the larger and smaller vessels of the bloodstream. Close-up of precapillary sphincter (the strong red mark in the middle of the greenly marked blood flow) from two-photon microscope. According to the research results, these...
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Light therapy for immune cells helps with side effects of cancer therapy
by University of Freiburg Only within the past few years has malignant melanoma been treatable with immunotherapy. However, in every second patient, strong autoimmune reactions such as skin rash or diarrhea occur after immunotherapy. Researchers from the Medical Center—University of Freiburg and Swiss colleagues have now shown that these reactions can be stopped with a...
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Drug increases brown fat activity in healthy women
A National Institutes of Health study found that chronic treatment with mirabegron, a drug approved to treat overactive bladder, activated brown fat in a small group of healthy women and had several other beneficial metabolic effects. Brown fat, or brown adipose tissue, is a form of fat that burns calories to generate heat. The research,...
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Antiviral treatments inspire researchers to develop a new kind of cancer drug
by Stanford University Stanford virologist Jeffrey Glenn did not set out to tackle cancer. For years, he and his lab have worked to develop new ways of battling viruses like the ones that cause hepatitis delta and the common cold—but the lessons they’ve learned fighting viruses has led to a new kind of drug that...