Biomarker News and Research

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A biomarker is a biological molecule found in blood, other body fluids, or tissues that is a sign of a normal or abnormal process, or of a condition or disease. A biomarker may be used to see how well the body responds to a treatment for a disease or condition. Also called molecular marker and signature molecule.

RES-AGE project explores cost-effective ways to strengthen older adults' wellbeing

How can we develop evidence‑based and cost‑effective ways to strengthen older adults' resilience and mental wellbeing? With just over 1 million euros from the Strategic Research Council, Åbo Akademi University will, over an initial period of three years, examine social, health‑related, psychological and biological factors that promote resilience, with a particular focus on loneliness, stress and health.

16 Sep 2026

AI tools help predict immunotherapy outcomes in lung cancer patients

Artificial intelligence (AI) tools can help physicians predict treatment and survival outcomes in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with immunotherapy, according to a new study published in Nature Medicine.

16 Sep 2026

Your voice could add something aging blood tests and scans miss

Researchers found that a standardized 30-second voice recording could predict chronological age with mean absolute errors of 3.95 years in females and 4.41 years in males. The resulting Voice Age measure also captured physiological information partly distinct from molecular, imaging, sleep, and lifestyle-based aging clocks, supporting its potential as a functional aging biomarker.

15 Sep 2026

APOE genotype helps p-tau217 predict who may develop cognitive impairment sooner

A pooled analysis of 8,582 adults from seven prospective cohorts found that higher plasma p-tau217 concentrations were associated with greater cognitive impairment risk and earlier progression, with stronger associations among APOE-ε4 carriers. Each 1-SD increase in p-tau217 was associated with a 24% shorter time to cognitive impairment among carriers compared with 13% among non-carriers, suggesting that genetic background can refine the prognostic meaning of this Alzheimer’s disease blood biomarker.

14 Sep 2026

New treatment approach preserves organs, improves survival in head and neck cancer patients

Patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) whose tumors responded to neoadjuvant immunochemotherapy (ICT) and who underwent less extensive surgery had high disease-free survival and organ preservation rates.

10 Sep 2026

Early B-cell therapy linked to better MS disease control

For people recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), early treatment choices were associated with only slight differences after two years, based on the first treatment they used, according to a study published September 9, 2026, in Neurology Open Access, an official journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

9 Sep 2026

Protein-based MRI agent detects tiny lung cancer metastases

A multi-institutional research team led by Georgia State University Regents' Professor Emerita of Biochemistry and Biophysical Chemistry Jenny J. Yang has developed a new class of protein-based MRI contrast agent that detects invasive lung cancer and metastatic disease at earlier stages than conventional imaging approaches.

9 Sep 2026

Study shows how the microbiome shapes lung cancer immunotherapy outcomes

Despite the revolutionary impact of immune checkpoint inhibitors on cancer therapy, 60% to 80% of patients with NSCLC still show suboptimal responses.

9 Sep 2026

New laser-fabricated plasmonic chip accurately identifies and sorts cancer cells

Novel laser-fabricated plasmonic chip combines 185 nm Raman resolution and deep learning to identify and sort cancer cells with 96.2% accuracy.

9 Sep 2026

Rice, seafood and water may help explain striking differences in metal exposure across US communities

Researchers compared urinary trace-metal profiles across 666 adults from six ethnic groups in three US cohorts, with up to 19 elements measured and paired serum measurements available for the Asian Indian MASALA cohort. Distinct metal patterns emerged across populations, with the findings suggesting that diet, drinking-water sources, regional hydrogeology, urban-rural conditions, smoking, and physiological handling may all contribute to differences in exposure profiles.

8 Sep 2026

New drug forces aggressive leukemia cells to die from stress

Pushing the accelerator and the brake at the same time is rarely a good idea. But researchers at the University of Gothenburg are using this approach to treat leukemia.

8 Sep 2026

AI-designed drug candidate reverses biological age in clinical study

Insilico Medicine ("Insilico"), a clinical-stage company focused on generative AI-driven drug discovery and development, today announced the publication of a new study conducted in collaboration with an international team of scientists from Harvard Medical School, Stanford University, The Broad Institute, RWTH Aachen University, Peking University and Westlake University.

7 Sep 2026

Scientists traced a hidden immune route that may worsen tau-linked brain damage

In a mouse model of tauopathy, conventional type 1 dendritic cells (cDC1s) cross-presented brain-derived antigens in deep cervical lymph nodes, priming CD8+ T cells that accumulated in the brain and promoted neurodegeneration. Disrupting cDC1s or their cross-presentation activity reduced CD8+ T-cell infiltration and protected against neuronal loss, while human primary tauopathy samples also showed increased brain CD8+ T cells, although cDC1 involvement in humans remains unconfirmed.

6 Sep 2026

Tumor environments sculpt diverse natural killer cells for cancer therapies

For decades, natural killer (NK) cells have been classified into two main groups based on surface markers: one specialized for cytokine production and the other for direct killing.

4 Sep 2026

Prednisone may impair bone health in children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy

In a new study published in Scientific Reports, an international and multidisciplinary research team including Binghamton University researchers identified a set of blood proteins that may explain why the corticosteroid prednisone, although beneficial in treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), can interfere with childhood growth and bone health.

4 Sep 2026

The obesity-microbiome story is more complicated than ‘good’ and ‘bad’ bacteria

This review finds that obesity is linked to reciprocal interactions between diet, the gut microbiome, microbial metabolites, and host metabolic pathways that influence appetite, insulin sensitivity, inflammation, and energy balance across the lifespan. It highlights diet as a particularly tractable way to influence this system, while emphasizing that microbiome changes associated with GLP-1 therapies remain difficult to separate from weight loss and that functional multi-omics approaches may help enable more personalized interventions.

3 Sep 2026

Post-surgery immunotherapy may not benefit specific lung cancer patients

A new real-world observational study has found that adding adjuvant immunotherapy after surgery does not significantly improve survival outcomes in patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have already achieved a pathological complete response (pCR) following neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy.

2 Sep 2026