By blocking a spectrum of fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling pathways, but specifically staying away from others, scientists at Five Prime Therapeutics Inc. have been able to inhibit both tumor and blood vessel growth in animal models of several different cancer types.

Though it is no match for fat-laden modern diets, the body does have ways of getting rid of cholesterol. This reverse cholesterol transport system removes cholesterol from tissues and transports it to the liver and, ultimately, out of the body.

Autoimmune disease, Richard Siegel of the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases told his audience at a recent talk at the National Institutes of Health, is "one of the final frontiers in medicine."

Researchers have developed a new drug that fights the malaria parasite at multiple stages in its life cycle, and in both of its hosts – the human and the mosquito – raising hopes that if the compound makes it through clinical development, it could ultimately hound the parasite out of existence.

Inflammation can be thought of as two separate processes. Acute inflammation is a critical part of survival. But it comes at a price. Unresolved inflammation drives many chronic diseases, from heart disease to autoimmune disorders.

Scientists at Harvard University have gained new insights into how sirtuins – enzymes that appear to have broad anti-aging effects – are affected by their activators. The work contradicts earlier claims that the activation of sirtuins through resveratrol was an artifact of the way those effects were studied when they were first discovered.

Randomized controlled trials are the gold standard of clinical research, and for good reason. They are "at the top of the evidence hierarchy. . . . They give us the most robust evidence," Caroline Sabin of University College London told the audience at a recent workshop on clinical trial design.

Scientists have discovered that nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) can both mobilize blood-forming stem cells to leave the bone marrow and enter general circulation to be harvested for transplantation, and can engraft more easily when they are transplanted.

If you believe in evolution at all, you probably think of it as a good thing for the evolving organism, enabling it to keep up with its environment as that environment changes. I sure do. Of course, we realize that bad mutations can happen to good cells. The idea that most mutations are actually bad for an organism is a basic tenet of evolutionary theory. But then, the theory goes, the bad mutations get weeded out because their owners are now at a disadvantage. By and large, of course, the reason we think of evolution like that is because it’s...