Investigators at KU Leuven have discovered that although mTOR signaling was important in primary breast tumors and lung metastases alike, the signals that activated mTOR were different between the two, and mTOR signaling could be inhibited through different mechanisms.

Researchers at Thomas Jefferson University have found that using ultrasound to pop microbubbles already present in a contrast agent nearly doubled liver tumor response to transarterial radioembolization. The procedure raised no safety concerns and increased the likelihood of patients receiving a liver transplant.

PERTH, Australia – Researchers at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Queensland have developed a way of testing whether COVID-19 patients’ immune systems are gearing up to fight the virus that causes the disease.

Scientists at Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina, have developed a small-molecule inhibitor of the cellular stress-protective transcription factor, heat shock factor 1 (HSF1), which showed developmental promise against treatment-resistant prostate cancer and other cancers.

BioWorld looks at translational medicine, including: Studying the role of mtDNA expression.

Using in vivo imaging technology, investigators at the University of Utah and the University of Padua have identified a new signaling mechanism for glutamate that was linked to the onset of spreading depression or spreading depolarization, a neuronal activity pattern that plays a role in multiple neurological disease states. In mouse models of migraine, glutamate, which is the major excitatory neurotransmitter of the brain, was released in what the authors called "plumes" or puffs.

Ketamine's antidepressant actions depend on the drug's ability to affect mRNA translation, researchers reported in the December 17, 2020, issue of Nature.