BioWorld - Wednesday, December 10, 2025

Articles by Mar de Miguel

B-cell releasing antibodies
Cancer

Engineered plasma cells produce effective bispecific antibodies against leukemia

July 4, 2024
By Mar de Miguel

Scientists at the University of Washington have engineered human plasma B cells modified to express long-lasting bispecific antibodies that could be used to treat leukemia without requiring continuous dosing.

“We are trying to engineer plasma cells to make as a stable source for biologic drugs. One thing that is really unique about plasma cells is that they can live for a really long time … up to 10 years or even 100 years depending on the type of plasma cell that that you make,” Richard James, senior author of the study, principal investigator at Seattle Children’s Research Institute, and associate professor at the University of Washington, told BioWorld.


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Concept art for damaged DNA structure
Neurology/psychiatric

DNA damage and open chromatin are epigenetic twins in Alzheimer’s disease

July 3, 2024
By Mar de Miguel
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative condition in which amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles accumulate in the brain. In addition to genetic factors, DNA damage and epigenetic alterations also play a key role in the pathogenesis and progression of this disease, altering gene expression, the functioning and maintenance of brain cells. DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) and chromatin accessibility are two hallmarks of AD whose study could reveal new ways of approaching this disease.
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Illustration of a senescent cell
Aging

Senescent cells are essential beyond aging

June 27, 2024
By Mar de Miguel
Senescence is a hallmark of aging, and senescent cells have a reputation to match. They are ‘zombie cells,’ sort of dead themselves but alive enough to poison their surroundings through senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). The reality, though, is more complex.
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Bridge recombinase mechanism 3D illustration
Drug design, drug delivery & technologies

New techniques open the way for large-scale programmable genome editing

June 26, 2024
By Mar de Miguel
New single-step genome editing techniques that enable the insertion, inversion or deletion of long DNA sequences at specified genome positions have been demonstrated in bacteria. The advance opens the door to the development of programmable methods for rearranging DNA, using recombinase enzymes guided by RNA. The two different approaches to using insertion sequences (IS) – some of the simplest and most compact mobile genetic elements – are described in two papers published in Nature and Nature Communications.
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Photomicrograph of fine needle aspiration cytology of a pulmonary nodule showing adenocarcinoma, a type of non-small-cell carcinoma.
Immuno-oncology

Triple nanotherapy could benefit more lung cancer patients

June 20, 2024
By Mar de Miguel
A new approach against non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has combined immunotherapy with molecularly targeted therapy to activate the immune response and inhibit oncogenic pathways, which prevented tumor progression and eliminated cancer cells. Brigham and Women’s Hospital scientists have developed nanoparticles loaded with antibody conjugates that could deliver large amounts of treatment to the tumor tissue. This new strategy could improve the results of conventional immunotherapy in these patients and reduce toxicity of existing treatments.
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Illustration of interaction between PD-1 and PD-L1 blocked by therapeutic antibodies
Immuno-oncology

Anti-PD-1 therapy triggers microglia, causing CNS side effects

June 18, 2024
By Mar de Miguel
The adverse effects of PD-1 blockers on the CNS observed in cancer patients could occur through their effects on an enzyme that activates microglia. Pharmacological inhibition of the enzyme in mice reduced microglial activation and cognitive deficit without altering the antitumor capacity of the immunotherapy.
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