LONDON – New knowledge of the way in which bacteria that cause meningitis stick to human cells and then enter them could also lead to novel therapies to prevent cancer metastasis and slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

LONDON – A detailed understanding of how common cold viruses cause asthma attacks could result in new preventive therapies for asthma, delivered by regular injections, a new study suggests.

LONDON – Blocking signals from immune cells could provide a way to prevent melanoma cells from becoming resistant to the latest highly promising therapies. A new study has shown that the cytokine (chemical messenger) TNF-alpha acts as a growth factor for melanoma cells. Not only that, this cytokine attracts additional immune cells to the tumor, which in turn release more TNF-alpha.

LONDON – An international team of scientists has discovered that stem cells communicate with other cells by delivering tiny vesicles containing proteins and messenger RNA, among other things.

LONDON – The discovery of two genes which, when mutated, cause a type of muscular dystrophy is leading researchers closer to the cause of this condition and, ultimately, to ways in which it might be treated.

LONDON – An experimental treatment in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis has delivered promising results, raising hopes that similar treatments could help patients with that and other autoimmune conditions, such as type 1 diabetes, Graves' disease and systemic lupus erythematosus.

LONDON – The ability to boost the efficiency of bone marrow transplantations – and possibly allow bone marrow and cord-blood transplantation in people who previously would not have been considered suitable candidates – could follow from a new understanding of how to stimulate hematopoietic stem cells.

LONDON – Cells and tissues around a tumor may have as much to do with the process by which cancer cells become resistant to chemotherapy or radiotherapy as the cancer cells themselves, a new study suggests.

LONDON – A multitude of genes contribute to the age at which a girl has her first menstrual bleed, but many of them also are involved in determining levels of body fat and body mass index (BMI), a huge new international study has found.

LONDON – Cachexia, the wasting syndrome that is responsible for many deaths among people with cancer, occurs because – among other changes in the body – white adipose tissue (WAT) switches to become brown adipose tissue (BAT), a new study has found.