BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE (Boston)–In an effort to improve the survival of patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms, a type of leukemia, researchers inhibited a specific protein (alpha5beta1 integrin) to decrease the number of large bone marrow cells (megakaryocytes) in an experimental model. An increase in megakaryocyte numbers is thought to be the cause of many...
Month: <span>June 2020</span>
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Cancer’s reliance on fat could be targeted with new ‘drugs and diet’ treatment
by Institute of Cancer Research Cancers are often heavily reliant on breaking down fats for their growth and spread, and could be treated by a highly innovative combination of new drugs and dietary changes, a major new study concludes. The landmark research used a surgical ‘iKnife’ to analyze vaporized cancer tissue—and identified a metabolic weakness...
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New therapy reduces chronic low back pain in large international study
by University of Rochester Medical Center A new study has found that tanezumab, a monoclonal antibody that inhibits nerve activity, provides relief in patients with chronic low back pain, one of the leading reasons why people seek medical care and the number one cause of disability worldwide. “This demonstration of efficacy is a major breakthrough...
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How cells’ ‘lava lamp’ effect could make cancer drugs more powerful
Discovery that synthetic compounds form concentrated droplets inside cells could shake up drug development — including the hunt for coronavirus treatments. Fluorescently tagged molecules of the cancer drug cisplatin clump up inside droplets in cells.Credit: Isaac Klein/Whitehead Institute There’s a long-standing assumption in the pharmaceutical industry that when drug molecules enter a cell, they spread...
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COVID-19 immunology study reveals universally effective antibodies
A study of 149 people who have recovered from COVID-19 show that although the amount of antibodies they generated varies widely, most individuals had generated at least some that were intrinsically capable of neutralizing the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The findings are published in the journal Nature. Antibodies vary widely in their efficacy. While many may latch...
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A new weapon in the fight against sickle cell disease
A technology developed initially at Case Western Reserve University is behind the global launch by a Portland, Oregon, company of a new, faster and low-cost diagnostic test for sickle cell disease (SCD). The announcement by Hemex Health comes just in advance of World Sickle Cell Disease Awareness Day. SCD is the most well-known among a...
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Memory impairment in mice reduced by soy derivate that can enter the brain intact
Ingestion of the protein fragment improved working and long-term memory in mice treated to simulate Alzheimer’s disease KYUSHU UNIVERSITY In a study that could help one day give a literal meaning to food for thought, researchers from Kyushu University in Japan have reported that a protein fragment that makes its way into the brain after...
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The Parkinson’s disease gut has an overabundance of opportunistic pathogens
by Jeff Hansen, University of Alabama at Birmingham Parkinson’s disease is a common, progressive and debilitating neurodegenerative disease. It currently cannot be prevented or cured. In 2003, Heiko Braak proposed that non-inherited forms of PD are caused by a pathogen in the gut. He hypothesized that the pathogen could pass through the intestinal mucosal barrier...
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New light shone on inflammatory cell death regulator
by Walter and Eliza Hall Institute alter and Eliza Hall Institute researchers have used lattice light sheet microscopy to visualise cells dying by necroptosis, a form of inflammatory cell death. In this image, purple marks cells with undisrupted cell membranes; yellow shows disrupted cell membranes; blue shows that the cell membrane has broken and marks...
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Early clinical trial supports tumor cell-based vaccine for mantle cell lymphoma
by Rockefeller University Press A phase I/II clinical trial by researchers at Stanford University suggests that vaccines prepared from a patient’s own tumor cells may prevent the incurable blood cancer mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) from returning after treatment. The study, which will be published June 19 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), reveals that...