No matter how they come about, functional impairments in the DNA repair protein BRCA1 will hamper cells' ability to repair their genome, and increase the chances that a cell will become cancerous. However, researchers from the Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine reported in the July 6, 2022, issue of Science Translational Medicine that reduced BRCA1 activity that was due to methylation of its promoter differed from BRCA1 mutation in terms of its response to platinum chemotherapy.

SARS-CoV-2 infection caused damage to brain blood vessels via a cascade of immune system reactions that was most likely initiated by antibody-dependent cytotoxicity, researchers from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke reported in the July 5, 2022, online issue of Brain.

Researchers have identified an RNA-binding protein that played a role in colon cancer relapse, offering new insights into how cells persist in the presence of chemotherapy.

Researchers at the Institute for Cancer Research have demonstrated that in pancreatic tumors, the balance between a more aggressive mesenchymal and a less aggressive epithelial state is constantly in flux, depending on an interplay of different regulatory proteins.

Investigators at the Weizmann Institute of Science have identified changes in oligodendrocytes that were shared across multiple dementia types. The team reported its results in the June 27, 2022, online issue of Nature Neuroscience.

Connections, Susan Greenfield told her audience at the 2022 Annual Conference of the European Academy of Neurology, are what the mind is all about. "When you are born, you are born with a fair amount of neurons," she said at the conference's opening plenary on Sunday. But "what characterizes the growth of the brain postnatally is the configurations of connections."

Investigators at Stanford University and Baylor College of Medicine have identified an exercise-induced appetite suppressant that led to weight loss when administered to obese mice. The molecule, Lac-Phe, has led to predictable excitement around the possibility of appetite-suppressing exercise in a pill.

Researchers at Hannover Medical School have gained new insights into the cytokine meteorin-like (METRNL) and its role in promoting heart repair after myocardial infarction.

The eyes may be the window to the heart as well as the soul – particularly, to whether that heart is at risk of an infarct, researchers reported last week at the annual congress of the European Society of Human Genetics.

At the European Hematology Association's annual meeting in Vienna last week, companies reported impressive progress for the treatment of sickle cell disease.