Changing injected drugs into orally administered medications Biopharmaceuticals, medium- and high-molecular weight biologically active macromolecules, are not easily absorbed by the small intestine, the main organ responsible for gastrointestinal absorption, resulting in a bottleneck for oral administration type biopharmaceutical development. Now, researchers from Kumamoto University in Japan have found a new small intestine permeable peptide...
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New compound discovered in fight against inflammatory disease
A 10-year study by University of Manchester scientists for a new chemical compound that is able to block a key component in inflammatory illness has ended in success. The news follows last year’s discovery by Dr David Brough and his team that the drug mefenamic acid reversed memory loss and brain inflammation in a model of Alzheimer’s disease....
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Highest adverse effect rates for three drugs in parkinson’s
(HealthDay)—Ropinirole, bromocriptine, and piribedil are associated with the highest incidence rates of adverse effects in Parkinson’s disease, according to a review published online Sept. 4 in CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics. Bao-Dong Li, from the Hebei Province Cangzhou Hospital of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine in China, and colleagues conducted a systematic review to compare the adverse effects of 11 drugs...
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Drug combination may improve impact of immunotherapy in head and neck cancer
The combination therapy with TLR agonist and anti-PD-1 agent activates CD8+ T cells (red) in the tumors. Checkpoint inhibitor-based immunotherapy has been shown to be very effective in recurrent and metastatic head and neck cancer but only in a minority of patients. University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers may have found...
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Serum Institute’s vaccine demonstrates significant efficacy against severe rotavirus
Pune, India (26 September 2017) – Results from a Phase 3 efficacy study in India of the Serum Institute of India Pvt. Ltd.’s rotavirus vaccine BRV-PV (known as ROTASIIL) were published in the journal Vaccine. The study showed the vaccine to be safe, well tolerated, and to provide significant efficacy against severe rotavirus gastroenteritis. In 2013,...
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Immune cells produce wound healing factor, could lead to new IBD treatment
Specific immune cells have the ability to produce a healing factor that can promote wound repair in the intestine, a finding that could lead to new, potential therapeutic treatments for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), according to a new research study. The research team, led by Georgia State University and the University of Michigan, wanted to...
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Exfoliation syndrome study reveals genetic mutation that protects against glaucoma
A leading cause of glaucoma and blindness is exfoliation syndrome, or XFS, an age-related disorder that results in excess fibrous material building up. Now, A*STAR scientists, along with an international research team, have found a novel mutation on the LOXL1 gene that appears to protect against XFS and glaucoma, alongside five new locations on a...
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Steering the Immune Defense Against Fungal Pathogens
Fungal infections represent an increasing health crisis, especially for immune-deficient patients. American scientists now report in the journal Angewandte Chemie that specific help could be provided by small-molecule immunotherapeutics with novel mechanism of action. They developed small bifunctional molecules that simultaneously bind both chitin, a specific feature of the fungal cell wall and a molecule not found...
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Locking Down the Big Bang of Immune Cells
Forgotten strands of DNA initiate the development of immune cells Schematic diagram showing how a subset of immune cells, named DN2a T cells, mature into DN2b T cells. The maturation of this step is among the earliest in immune cell development and is controlled by the forgotten DNA strands that allow the genome to...
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Gene immunotherapy protects against multiple sclerosis in mice
This visual abstract depicts the work of Keeler et al., who developed a gene immunotherapy for multiple sclerosis in mice. A potent and long-lasting gene immunotherapy approach prevents and reverses symptoms of multiple sclerosis in mice, according to a study published September 21st in the journal Molecular Therapy. Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease in...