Therapeutics News and Research

RSS

Vimentin could be a major co-factor that aids SARS-CoV-2 infection

A recent study has found that extracellular vimentin can bind to SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in vitro, and antibodies against vimentin can decrease virus infectivity by up to 80%. This suggests vimentin could aid the virus’s binding to host cells and help in infection.

11 Jan 2021

Could Ivermectin be an effective antiviral against SARS-CoV-2?

A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial has recently demonstrated that Ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug, can reduce in-hospital mortality rate of COVID-19 patients.

11 Jan 2021

Tetherin downregulation by SARS-CoV-2 enhances viral spread

A new preprint research paper published on the bioRxiv server describes the role of a host protein called tetherin in the spread of the novel coronavirus.

10 Jan 2021

Synthetic lung organoids provide high-throughput platform to identify new cellular targets of SARS-CoV-2

An interesting new study published on the bioRxiv preprint server describes a new platform that allows a high-throughput workflow to generate matched human lung buds in the tens of thousands. This allows researchers to study SARS-CoV-2 infection and therapeutics in lung tissue that mirrors the key aspects of human lung development.

10 Jan 2021

Researchers pinpoint spike protein regions as targets for passive and active COVID-19 vaccines

Researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine have identified regions of the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that have relatively few mutations and might therefore serve as important targets for prophylactic agents against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

10 Jan 2021

New approach to tame botulinum toxin for drug delivery

While rare, botulism can cause paralysis and is potentially fatal. It is caused by nerve-damaging toxins produced by Clostridium botulinum -- the most potent toxins known.

8 Jan 2021

Cancer cells hibernate to survive harsh environment created by chemotherapy

Tapping into an ancient evolutionary survival mechanism, cancer cells enter into a sluggish, slow-dividing state to survive the harsh environment created by chemotherapy or other targeted agents.

7 Jan 2021

RNA sequencing data reveals three major molecular subtypes of Alzheimer's disease

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have identified three major molecular subtypes of Alzheimer's disease (AD) using data from RNA sequencing.

7 Jan 2021

Novel low molecular weight dextran-sulphate could play a key role in glaucoma treatment

Scientists at the University of Birmingham, UK, have shown that a novel low molecular weight dextran-sulphate, ILB® could play a key role in treating open angle glaucoma (OAG), a neurodegenerative disease that affects over 70 million people worldwide and causes irreversible blindness.

7 Jan 2021

MD Anderson and Xencor to develop novel antibody therapeutics to treat cancer patients

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Xencor, Inc. today announced a strategic research collaboration and commercialization agreement to develop novel CD3 bispecific antibody therapeutics for the potential treatment of patients with cancer.

7 Jan 2021

CytoDel successfully delivers neuronal antibody in animal models of botulism

CytoDel, Inc., a privately-held corporation, today announces the publication of preclinical data on the Company's lead product, Cyto-111, in the peer-reviewed journal, Science Translational Medicine. The complete text of the article titled, "Neuronal Delivery of Antibodies has Therapeutic Effects in Animal Models of Botulism," can be found here.

7 Jan 2021

ACE2 receptor is responsible for the wide host range of SARS-CoV-2

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is thought to have a zoonotic origin, perhaps originating in a bat coronavirus with an unknown intermediate host. It is not only very infectious but has been found to infect a wide range of mammals, including dogs, cats, ferrets, hamsters, and minks, besides non-human primates. This range may be still higher, claims a recent preprint that appeared in January 2021 on the bioRxiv server.

6 Jan 2021

Adaptive immune system against COVID-19 can last for at least eight months

New data suggest that nearly all COVID-19 survivors have the immune cells necessary to fight re-infection.

6 Jan 2021

Non-toxic versions of botulism toxins can deliver therapeutic antibodies to treat botulism

Taking advantage of the chemical properties of botulism toxins, two teams of researchers have fashioned non-toxic versions of these compounds that can deliver therapeutic antibodies to treat botulism, a potentially fatal disease with few approved treatments.

6 Jan 2021

$Loss of critical enzymatic processes can increase bone fracture risk$

Loss of critical enzymatic processes can increase bone fracture risk

A loss of enzymatic processes within the body can increase a person's risk of bone fracture. This new insight was recently published in eLife by an international team of scientists and engineers led by Deepak Vashishth, the director of the Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

5 Jan 2021

SARS-CoV-2 infected alveolar type-II lung cells show senescence

Using monoclonal antibodies against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein and senescent markers, researchers provide evidence that virus-infected lung cells acquire characteristics of cellular senescence, which also leads to expression of proinflammatory cytokines.

5 Jan 2021

Replacing the RNA strand with DNA may enhance efficacy of ASO-based drugs

Antisense oligonucleotides (ASO) hold great promise for pharmacotherapy. Now, researchers at Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) and Ionis Pharmaceuticals, advancing their earlier work on a heteroduplex oligonucleotide (HDO) model, have demonstrated augmentation of ASO-based drugs by replacing the RNA strand with DNA.

5 Jan 2021

Researchers resolve mysteries about the function of key gene-silencing protein

A long-running debate over how an important gene-silencing protein identifies its targets has been resolved by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH).

4 Jan 2021

Researchers develop a gene signature for predicting survival in patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis

Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center who profiled more than 45,000 individual cells from patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC), a specific form of metastatic gastric cancer, defined the extensive cellular heterogeneity and identified two distinct subtypes correlated with patient survival.

4 Jan 2021

New cell therapy can boost immunotherapy against breast cancer

Boosting immune system T cells to effectively attack solid tumors, such as breast cancers, can be done by adding a small molecule to a treatment procedure called chimeric antigen receptor-T (CAR-T) cell therapy, according to a study by researchers at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

4 Jan 2021