A large-scale genetic study found 26 risk loci for epilepsy, a chronic brain disease with multiple forms, not all of them heritable. The work, by more than 300 authors from the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), investigated seven different subtypes of this neurological condition. “There are over 100 genes that we know can harbor mutations that cause epilepsy,” the co-corresponding author Gianpiero Cavalleri told BioWorld. These genes have rare forms that cause that epilepsy. However, “this particular GWAS is focused more on common forms of epilepsy,” he said.
A Spanish study led by scientists from the Cajal Institute and the National Center of Oncological Research (CNIO) combined the power of artificial neural networks and biological neuronal circuits to identify abnormal brain activity produced by secondary metastases in the CNS and classify these tumors. The work, published online on Aug. 30, 2023, in Cancer Cell, showed how damage in the brain did not depend on the tumor size but on the effect it produced on neuronal circuits, interrupting cell communication.
KRAS-mutated tumors were once untreatable. In fact, KRAS was something of a poster child for so-called undruggability. Several laboratories are investigating strategies to address other mutations and uses beyond non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and colorectal cancer. If you can't bind KRAS to block it, use a glue or combine multiple weapons. This is the idea behind two new approaches that target cancers caused by this proto-oncogene.
KRAS-mutated tumors were once untreatable. In fact, KRAS was something of a poster child for so-called undruggability. Several laboratories are investigating strategies to address other mutations and uses beyond non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and colorectal cancer. If you can't bind KRAS to block it, use a glue or combine multiple weapons. This is the idea behind two new approaches that target cancers caused by this proto-oncogene.
The vast variety of tumors makes each cancer a world. For researchers, understanding the commonalities and divergences in their molecular underpinnings could help find successful treatments. Scientists from the Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) have addressed these similarities and differences in 10 different types of cancer with two proteogenomic studies to unravel the genes that lead to cancer and the galaxy of interactions that regulate them.
A study from Weill Cornell Medicine and The Jackson Laboratory has described the epigenetic mark SARS-CoV-2 left on immune system stem cells in the most severe cases of COVID-19 early in the pandemic, before the development of vaccines. In their work published in Cell on Aug. 18, 2023, the researchers presented a new methodology to analyze the epigenetic changes in monocytes and circulating hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) that give rise to monocytes. That allowed corresponding author Steven Josefowicz and his colleagues to see if there were already changes induced by COVID-19 before HSPCs differentiated into monocytes.
The study of six types of mental illnesses in a thousand brain regions has demonstrated the differences between individuals within each disorder. Using magnetic resonance images (MRI), scientists from Monash University in Australia analyzed the brain changes and built individual maps for each psychiatric disorder. Their results revealed differences between people with the same diagnosis, which could help refine assessments.
The vast variety of tumors makes each cancer a world. For researchers, understanding the commonalities and divergences in their molecular underpinnings could help find successful treatments. Scientists from the Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC) have addressed these similarities and differences in 10 different types of cancer with two proteogenomic studies to unravel the genes that lead to cancer and the galaxy of interactions that regulate them.
The study of six types of mental illnesses in a thousand brain regions has demonstrated the differences between individuals within each disorder. Using magnetic resonance images (MRI), scientists from Monash University in Australia analyzed the brain changes and built individual maps for each psychiatric disorder. Their results revealed differences between people with the same diagnosis, which could help refine assessments.
A new drug that inhibits the glutamate carboxypeptidase II (GCPII) enzyme could be used to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), according to a new study in mice and human organoids. After decades of research trying to design GCPII inhibitors against neurological disorders, the new compound could be effective for another use.
