General

Normal scar tissue forms to heal an internal wound and quietly retreats when the job is done. But in many common diseases — kidney, liver and lung fibrosis — the scar tissue goes rogue and strangles vital organs. These diseases are largely untreatable and ultimately fatal. A new Northwestern Medicine […]

A team of Sydney scientists has made a ground-breaking discovery in telomere biology, with implications for conditions ranging from cancer to ageing and heart disease. The research project was led by Dr Tony Cesare, Head of the Genome Integrity Unit at Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI) at Westmead, in collaboration […]

In cancer cells, genetic errors wreak havoc. Misspelled genes, as well as structural variations—larger-scale rearrangements of DNA that can encompass large chunks of chromosomes—disturb carefully balanced mechanisms that have evolved to regulate cell growth. Genes that are normally silent are massively activated and mutant proteins are formed. These and other […]

Drinking artificially sweetened beverages is associated with a significantly lower risk of colon cancer recurrence and cancer death, a team of investigators led by a Yale Cancer Centerscientist has found. The study was published in PLOS ONE. “Artificially sweetened drinks have a checkered reputation in the public because of purported health risks […]

People who received complementary therapy for curable cancers were more likely to refuse at least one component of their conventional cancer treatment, and were more likely to die as a result, according to researchers from Yale Cancer Center and the Cancer Outcomes, Public Policy and Effectiveness Research Center (COPPER) at Yale School of Medicine. The […]

Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness in the developed world. Scientists are estimating that by 2020 there will be about 200 million people worldwide with the condition. Its numbers are increasing due to the population ageing, but scientists at the University of Birmingham are one step closer […]

There is a highly sophisticated way to treat some breast and ovarian cancers—a class of drugs called PARP inhibitors, designed to exploit the very defects that make tumors with certain mutations especially deadly. Yet this targeted approach to cancer therapy sometimes fails, and scientists have anxiously sought to understand why. […]

UC San Francisco researchers were recently surprised to discover fully formed gut and skin cells in the thymus, a lemon-sized organ that sits in front of the heart and is responsible for training the T cells of the immune system not to attack the body’s own tissues. The finding, based on […]

Omega 3 supplements have little or no effect on the risk of heart disease, stroke or death – according to new research from the University of East Anglia. Increased consumption of omega 3 fats is widely promoted globally because of a common belief that that it will protect against heart […]

Society is becoming older and more vulnerable to chronic diseases that result in a poor quality of life. Life stress, which before being a scientific notion is instinctively clear to most due to its universality, is an important risk factor promoting the vulnerability to disease. So far, there is limited […]

High bitter-taste sensitivity is associated with a significantly increased risk of cancer in older British women, according to researchers who conducted a unique study of 5,500 women whose diet, lifestyle and health has been tracked for about 20 years. The research examined the relationship between the ability to taste the […]

There are many different types of cancer and all of them are terrible. It is quite interesting because they are technically different diseases and are treated using different therapies. But they still have a lot in common and scientists from the University of Adelaide have now designed a new molecule, […]

A magnetic wire used to snag scarce and hard-to-capture tumor cells could prove to be a swift and effective tactic for early cancer detection, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The wire, which is threaded into a vein, attracts special magnetic nanoparticles engineered to […]

The largest coordinated research effort to study biological and non-biological factors associated with aggressive prostate cancer in African-American men has begun. The $26.5 million study is called RESPOND, or Research on Prostate Cancer in Men of African Ancestry: Defining the Roles of Genetics, Tumor Markers, and Social Stress. It will […]

Kids who experience severe stress are more likely to develop a host of physical and mental health problems by the time they reach adulthood, including anxiety, depression and mood disorders. But how does early life stress put children at risk when they grow up? To find out, researchers from the […]

The lungs are made up of some 30 to 40 different types of cells. “When you get sick, these cells can change. New cells can come in and resident cells can change over,” says Naftali Kaminski, MD, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Endowed Professor of Medicine (Pulmonary), and chief of the […]

Two-thirds of the 5.5 million Americans with Alzheimer’s disease are women, and without effective prevention and treatments, that number will triple by 2050. Now, thanks to an innovative partnership, two UCI researchers have been awarded $100,000 to dig into why such a huge gender disparity exists. Sunil Gandhi and Mathew […]

Yale researchers have tested a new method for directly measuring synaptic loss in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. The method, which uses PET imaging technology to scan for a specific protein in the brain linked to synapses, has the potential to accelerate research for new Alzheimer’s treatments, the researchers said. The […]

Researchers have identified a key protein involved in the irregular brain cell activity seen in autism spectrum disorders and epilepsy. The protein, p53, is well-known in cancer biology as a tumor suppressor. The findings, reported in the journal Human Molecular Genetics and Neuropharmacology, will open new avenues for understanding the […]

Our cells tend to lose their shape as we grow older, contributing to many of the effects we experience as aging. This poses particular problems for the heart, where aging can disrupt the protein network within muscle cells that move blood around the body. A new discovery in how heart […]

Studying two rare inherited cancer syndromes, Yale Cancer Center (YCC) scientists have found the cancers are driven by a breakdown in how cells repair their DNA. The discovery, published in Nature Genetics, suggests a promising strategy for treatment with drugs recently approved for other forms of cancer, said the researchers. The two conditions […]

Prostate cancer is the third most common cause of cancer-related deaths in the UK, and researchers from Cardiff University have identified a genetic alteration that is linked to poor prognosis for patients with the disease. Advanced prostate cancer patients initially respond well to hormonal therapies but nearly all will eventually […]

A new molecule designed by University of Adelaide researchers shows great promise for future treatment of many cancers. The new molecule successfully targets a protein that plays a major role in the growth of most cancers. This protein target is called proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), otherwise known as the […]

The sex of a baby controls the level of small molecules known as metabolites in the pregnant mother’s blood, which may explain why risks of some diseases in pregnancy vary depending whether the mother is carrying a boy or a girl, according to new research from the University of Cambridge. […]

A class of molecules formed when the body metabolizes omega-3 fatty acids could inhibit cancer’s growth and spread, University of Illinois researchers report in a new study in mice. The molecules, called endocannabinoids, are made naturally by the body and have similar properties to cannabinoids found in marijuana – but […]

Recent studies show that 40 percent of Americans over the age of 85 have Alzheimer's disease, and that the disease begins 10 to 20 years before people show up at the doctor's office with memory problems. One major problem with understanding Alzheimer’s is not being able to clearly see why […]

What if cancer cells could be re-engineered to turn against their own kind? A new study led by Harvard Medical School researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital leverages the power of gene editing to take a critical step toward using cancer cells to kill cancer. The team reports promising results […]

Follow-up imaging for women with non-metastatic breast cancer varies widely across the country, according to a new study led by researchers at UC San Francisco. Some patients go without the annual mammograms that experts recommend, while others with the same cancer diagnosis receive full-body scans that expose them to significant […]

New research on human papillomavirus (HPV) testing drew the same reaction from Drs. Rachel Winer and Constance Mao: It’s about time. The UW Medicine researchers responded to a decade-long study reported by two Canadian universities. It showed that HPV screening is more accurate at detecting cervical pre-cancers than the long-established Pap smear. Both doctors hope this will […]

In an achievement that has significant implications for research, medicine, and industry, UC San Francisco scientists have genetically reprogrammed the human immune cells known as T cells without using viruses to insert DNA. The researchers said they expect their technique – a rapid, versatile, and economical approach employing CRISPR gene-editing […]