Analyzing RNA from blood platelets detected up to 18 different cancers, at early as well as late stages, with a specificity of 99% in asymptomatic controls. The specificity for symptomatic controls, including those who had inflammatory diseases, cardiovascular disease, or benign tumors, was 78%.
Treatment with injections of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH), indicated to prevent sexual maturation deficits in Down syndrome, also reduced cognitive function impairment associated with Down syndrome, also called trisomy 21. With age, about three-quarters of people with Down syndrome develop Alzheimer's disease. They also lose their sense of smell. Both circumstances could improve with pulse doses of GnRH, according to a study led by the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm) and the University of Lausanne (UNIL) published in the Sept. 1, 2022, issue of Science.
Treatment with injections of gonadotropin-releasing hormone, indicated to prevent sexual maturation deficits in Down syndrome, also reduced cognitive function impairment associated Down syndrome, also called trisomy 21.
In the largest study to date for Crohn's disease, researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard identified rare variants of 10 genes associated with this pathology. The researchers sequenced the exomes of 110,000 people, 30,000 patients with Crohn's and 80,000 without this condition, with the participation of a hundred international scientific institutions.
A metabolite derived from the airway microbiome, indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), could become a potential therapeutic candidate for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Researchers at South China Normal University (SCNU) have shown how IAA prevents lung function decline by reducing inflammation, apoptosis and emphysema through IL-22 in the interaction between macrophages and alveolar epithelial cells.
Scientists have discovered that the enzyme aconitate decarboxylase 1 is not an anti-inflammatory mediator in sepsis. In the presence of bacterial toxins, it is involved in the cytokine storm and inflammatory signaling in monocytes and macrophages, becoming a potential therapeutic target against the infection.
Two large-scale studies provide new data on genes, inherited variations, and de novo mutations associated with autism spectrum disorder. Some of them are also associated with other neurological conditions, like developmental delay, or schizophrenia.
A fusion protein removed beta-amyloid plaque without producing the neurotoxic inflammation associated with other treatments, such as aducanumab immunotherapy. It is based on the alphaA Beta-Gas6 fusion protein developed in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease by a team of researchers at The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in South Korea.
The development of cancer after p53 inactivation is determined by a series of genomic changes that occur in four steps. The loss of heterozygosity of TP53 (the gene encoding p53 in humans, named Trp53 in mice) is followed by an accumulation of deletions, genome doubling, and the emergence of gains and amplifications. In a study published in the August 17, 2022, issue of Nature, researchers have further observed that these four phases of genomic evolution are associated with specific histological stages before and after the malignant condition developed.
A new method has been devised to produce generic chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells at scale by directing induced pluripotent stem cells to differentiate into mature T cells in vitro. The generic T cells can then be engineered to express a range of different chimeric antigen receptors.
