An attempt to dissect asthma subtypes has led to the unexpected conclusion that two such subtypes, though characterized by the involvement of different types of helper T cells, may be interrelated.

Breaking the body’s immune tolerance to tumors has been the biggest advance for cancer treatment in recent years. Now, scientists have reported that the same strategy might be successful against neurodegenerative diseases.

In recent years, technological advances in both biomedical and computer science have contributed to a massive increase in the amount of data available to researchers. What has not quite caught up yet, though, are the statistical methods to analyze such so-called big data.

Ion channels are considered highly druggable targets, and about 20 percent of FDA-approved drugs target ion channels, but their role in cancer remains less explored than in many other indications.

Scientists from the Cleveland Clinic have reported that the enzyme proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin-6 (PCSK6) plays a role in blood pressure. Another member of the PCSK family, PCSK9, is the target of two recently approved cholesterol drugs, Praluent (alirocumab, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc./Sanofi SA) and Repatha (evolocumab, Amgen Inc.).

There is "a mysterious relationship between antioxidants and boosting the immune system," Howard Petrie told BioWorld Today. Antioxidants clearly boost immune function. But the molecular mechanisms of how they do so remain largely unclear.

A consortium has reported results from an international randomized controlled trial of the multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri (natalizumab, Biogen Inc.) for the treatment of stroke.

Scientists have discovered a new checkpoint inhibitor that is downstream of p53, a transcription factor that is mutated in a large fraction of all cancers but has been notoriously hard to target therapeutically.