In a paper published in the May 17, 2024, online issue of Cell, investigators from the Duke Human Vaccine Institute reported that a sequence of three immunizations in the HVTN-133 trial was sufficient for the development of heterologous or broadly neutralizing antibodies that protected against several strains of HIV.

In a paper published in the May 17, 2024, online issue of Cell, investigators from the Duke Human Vaccine Institute reported that a sequence of three immunizations in the HVTN-133 trial was sufficient for the development of heterologous or broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) that protected against several strains of HIV. The findings are “a real beachhead,” Barton Haynes told BioWorld. Haynes is the director of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute and the senior author of the paper.

Based on its analysis of a large cohort of individuals homozygous for the ε4 variant of apolipoprotein E (APOE4), a multinational team of researchers is arguing that homozygosity for APOE4 should be considered a genetic form of Alzheimer’s disease. However, not everyone agrees that the findings warrant reclassifying APOE from risk factor to causal gene. Currently, APOE4 is classified as the strongest risk factor for developing AD. Another variant, the APOE2 variant, is protective, while APOE3 is neutral.

Females have a much greater risk of developing an autoimmune disease than males do. Eighty percent of autoimmune disease patients are female, and specific disorders can have an even more lopsided ratio – 90% of systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus) and almost 95% of Sjögren’s disease patients are female.

The existence of two approved therapies, Lumakras (sotorasib, Amgen Inc.) and Karzati (adagrasib, Mirati Therapeutics Inc.), has been a triumphant success against KRAS, a protein that was once considered undruggable.

The existence of two approved therapies, Lumakras (sotorasib, Amgen Inc.) and Karzati (adagrasib, Mirati Therapeutics Inc.), has been a triumphant success against KRAS, a protein that was once considered undruggable. KRAS is the most frequently mutated oncogene in solid tumors. KRAS driver mutations are found in about 30% of non-small-cell lung cancers (NSCLC), about half of colorectal cancers, and more than 90% of pancreatic cancers. Lumakras and Karzati both target the G12C mutation. Inhibitors that target other mutations, like G12D, are now making their way through preclinical and clinical development, while some companies are developing therapies that would target mutated KRAS more broadly, irrespective of the specific mutation that is activating the protein.

Prior to this year’s Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), it had been 14 years since metastasis had been the subject of a plenary session. So, the Tuesday session on “Evolution of the genome, microenvironment, and host through metastasis” had plenty of new insights to share.

Prior to this year’s Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), it had been 14 years since metastasis had been the subject of a plenary session. So, the Tuesday session on “Evolution of the genome, microenvironment, and host through metastasis” had plenty of new insights to share.

“Hot and cold tumors may need different types of immunotherapy,” Jay Berzofsky told the audience as the American Association for Cancer Research’s (AACR) 2024 annual meeting kicked off this weekend.  In an educational session on cancer vaccines, Berzofsky, who is head of the National Cancer Institute’s Molecular Immunogenetics and Vaccine Research section, explained that when immunotherapy fails in hot tumors, it fails despite the existence of an immune response, due to an immunosuppressive microenvironment.