Schizophrenia (SCZ) could be associated with genetic alterations that can appear at the beginning of life. Such somatic variants in the NRXN1 and ABCB11 genes could lead to SCZ, according to researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital.

The editing in human cells and in mice of the survival motor neuron 1 gene (SMN1) restored the levels of SMN protein that the mutation of the SMN2 gene produces in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Scientists from the Broad Institute in Boston and The Ohio State University reversed the mutation using the base editing technique. “This base editing approach to treating SMA should be applicable to all SMA patients, regardless of the specific mutation that caused their SMN1 loss,” the lead author David Liu, a professor and director of the Merkin Institute of Transformative Technologies in Healthcare at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, told BioWorld.

Resistin-like molecule beta (RELMβ) is a gut-derived cytokine involved in both allergic responses and protection from pathogens, and it has been previously found to be dysregulated in mouse models of food allergy (FA). Researchers from Boston Children’s Hospital aimed assess the potential of RELMβ as a novel biomarker in children with FA.

HBM Alpha Therapeutics Inc. has completed seed financing to advance its lead programs, novel antibody therapies to treat congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) and polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS).