General

The recent emergence of immunotherapy has marked a sea change in research and care for many forms of cancer, bringing new hope to patients and families around the world. For those who respond to treatment, the results can be dramatic. Activation of a patient’s immune system against cancer can kill […]

Inflammation is a balanced physiological response – the body needs it to eliminate invasive organisms and foreign irritants, but excessive inflammation can harm healthy cells, contributing to aging and chronic diseases. To help keep tabs on inflammation, immune cells employ a molecular machine called the NLRP3 inflammasome. NLRP3 is inactive […]

Scientists from King's and Cambridge have developed a catalogue of DNA mutation ‘fingerprints’ that could help doctors pinpoint the environmental culprit responsible for a patient’s tumour – including showing some of the fingerprints left in lung tumours by specific chemicals found in tobacco smoke. Our DNA, the human genome, comprises […]

Medications known as PARP inhibitors have emerged as a promising therapy for several forms of cancer fueled by a defect in the cells’ DNA repair machinery. Yet many people with cancers caused by the defect, known as HR deficiency, who stand to benefit from PARP inhibitors, remain unidentified because standard […]

In the last six years, a tool called CRISPR-Cas9 has transformed genetic research, allowing scientists to snip and edit DNA strands at precise locations like a pair of tiny scissors. But sometimes, it takes more than scissors to do the job. Now, a collaborative international team has unveiled a new […]

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have mapped the genetic mutation behind the incurable disease systemic mastocytosis. The results give insights into the origin of the disease, and the researchers also discovered a protein with potential to improve disease diagnosis. The results are published in the journal EBioMedicine. Systemic mastocytosis is an incurable […]

Incurable diseases distort people's world view. It is a very well-known fact that people who suffer from Parkinson’s lose all their motivation. However, now scientists from the Monash University proved that dopamine levels in the brain can help people with Parkinson’s disease to combat cognitive apathy and regain cognitive motivation […]

Researchers at the University of Zurich and from IBM Research have investigated the varying composition of cancer and immune cells in over one hundred breast tumors. They've found that aggressive tumors are often dominated by a single type of tumor cell. If certain immune cells are present as well, an […]

Vitamin D is very important to us. Unlike many other vitamins, vitamin D is produced in our own body as a response to sunlight. Vitamin D is praised for its health benefits, but they are not fully understood. Scientists from the University of Edinburgh found that the vitamin D might […]

I’ve just had cataract surgeries, so I wasn’t thrilled to find a new report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences comparing the protein glitch behind them to the one behind Alzheimer’s. Fortunately the similarity is only in how the proteins fold. The amyloid beta buildup of cataracts could be an early […]

Researchers have known for decades that inflammation accompanies Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brain lesions. Several early studies suggested that “super-aspirins” or Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) could help avoid the disease. However, after clinical trials showed that NSAIDs don’t help patients who already have AD symptoms, doctors wondered whether these drugs could […]

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet present a publicly available resource that can accelerate the use of so-called FISH techniques for studying how the genome is spatially organised in the cell nucleus. The new platform, which enables more cost-effective analyses for both research and diagnostic labs, is described in the scientific journal Nature […]

The next cancer therapy could be a patient’s own cells. Tactiva Therapeutics, a Buffalo-based immuno-oncology startup, is developing a personalized cancer treatment based on engineered immune cells derived from patients’ own cells. The company’s approach involves attaching proteins called receptors to these cells. The receptors target antigens present in cancer […]

This may help identify the cause of the cancer, so that the children can receive more precise treatment in the long term and avoid unnecessary side effects. Personalized medicine is now a reality for Danish children with cancer. If children can be prevented from dying from the disease, receive a […]

If caught early, nearly all cases of colon cancer are curable. Though this should make screening tests straightforward, colon cancer screening suffers from a paradoxical combination of low compliance rates and overdiagnosis. In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, University of Wisconsin–Madison scientists identified four blood-based fingerprints – […]

Results from NASA’s landmark Twins Study, which took place from 2015-2016, were published Thursday in Science. The integrated paper — encompassing work from 10 research teams — reveals some interesting, surprising and reassuring data about how one human body adapted to — and recovered from — the extreme environment of space. The Twins Study provides the […]

Yale scientists with colleagues at University College London have taken the next step towards unravelling how cells work together during wound closure, a question that could be fundamental to determining optimal healing rates after injury or disease. How cells behave, the rate at which they repair skin tissue, and how […]

Recent advances in the development of cancer therapies have increased long-term survival and prognosis. However, the increased burden and prevalence of harmful side effects, including cardiomyopathy, have emerged alongside those therapeutic benefits. In particular, there have been increases in cancer therapy-induced cardiomyopathy (CCM) — a heart condition which may compromise […]

The ability of cancer to establish itself in distant parts of the body — called metastasis — causes 90% of deaths from solid tumors. Metastasis is the result of complex genetic interactions that have proven difficult for scientists to study. Now Yale researchers have devised a way to identify some […]

Rare types of cervical cancer can be effectively prevented with screening, a comprehensive study of identified cases of rare cervical cancer over a ten-year period in Sweden concludes. The study was conducted by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and is published in The BMJ. The main aim of cervical screening is to […]

University of Maryland researchers analyzed a DNA-based evolutionary tree for a majority of known bat species and found four bat lineages that exhibit extreme longevity. They also identified for the first time two traits that predict extended life spans in bats. Their work is described in a research paper, published […]

By speaking the brain’s language, the material is a portal between electronics and the brain. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — What if the brain could detect its own disease? Researchers have been trying to create a material that “thinks” like the brain does, which would be more sensitive to early signs […]

Researchers find new way to clean up cells; discovery could aid attack on human disease. Marie Kondo herself couldn’t do it any better. Usually cells are good at recognizing what doesn’t spark joy. They’re constantly cleaning house — picking through their own stuff to clear out what no longer works. […]

There could be new treatments on the horizon for diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG, a devastating form of brain cancer that afflicts young children and is currently incurable. Recent experiments in animal models of the disease have identified an experimental drug that effectively destroys DIPG cells. And a team […]

The ability to turn while walking is impaired among patients with Parkinson's disease. This difficulty is also associated with freezing of gait and falls, which can have devastating medical consequences in an older population. A new Tel Aviv University study advances the understanding of turns in Parkinson's patients, providing new insights into […]

Some of the deadliest cancers have mostly silent symptoms. By the time people go to their doctors because of worrisome changes, cancer may have already reached a late stage, giving physicians limited treatment options. Scientists are always looking for ways to detect cancer and other diseases through tests that show […]

Leukemia treatments often leave girls infertile, but a procedure developed by researchers at the University of Michigan working with mice is a step toward restoring their ability to be biological mothers. Ovarian follicles are the “nests” that carry eggs and support them to grow and become viable. The researchers demonstrated […]

University at Buffalo researchers have developed a new method to more accurately predict tumor growth rates, a crucial statistic used to schedule screenings and set dosing regimens in cancer treatment. The mathematical method successfully estimated the doubling time — the amount of time for a tumor to double in size […]

Purdue University researchers have developed a new design method to create soft robots that may help in caregiving for elderly family members. WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The world’s elderly population is booming. The number of older people — those age 60 years or older — is expected to more than […]

Chronological aging is easy to track – birthdays. Biological aging can be obvious too – graying hair, sagging skin, and other inexorable signs of impending decrepitude. But measuring biological aging isn’t as easy as noting the passage of time. The best-studied measure of biological age is the shrinking of chromosome tips, or telomeres, […]