The checkpoint molecule CD47 has high hopes riding on it in oncology as being the innate immune equivalent of PD-1. Multiple companies are developing blockers against CD47 and/or its ligand, SIRPa, for the treatment of various tumors.

BioWorld looks at translational medicine, including: Potassium channel distancing fights stroke; ASO approach fixes myelin; FMF is Mediterranean’s SCD; Calpain-2 in common, rare neurodegeneration; Antitoxin vaccine fights S. aureus; Noncoding mutations contribute to heart disease; Good vs. evil in the synovial joint; Necrosis has role in post-flu bacterial infections; Macrophage crosstalk inflames fat.

Two separate groups have recently shown that in mouse models, inactivation of a single gene was enough to directly convert other cell types in the brain into neurons.

Chinese scientists at Peking University (PKU) in Beijing have developed a new in vitro patient-derived tumor-like cluster (PTC) model, which predicted the outcomes of neoadjuvant and conventional chemotherapies in colon, gastric and breast cancer patients, with a clinical consistency of >93%.

LONDON – Scientists investigating the impact of SARS-CoV-19 on protein expression in human cells have shown that infected cells develop virus-laden membrane protrusions, or filopodia, which may explain the rapidity of viral spread through the body.