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Neural stem cells from T cell-derived iPSCs provide neurological disease model

Researchers in Japan report that neural stem cells derived from readily available T cell-derived iPSCs provide a neurological disease model when cultured in a novel protocol developed by them. The findings are important for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease and are published in Stem Cell Reports, March 2016.

16 Mar 2016

Scientists find surprising link between iPS cell reprogramming, blood cell formation and cancer

The ability to reprogram cells has revolutionized stem cell research with major implications for almost all fields of modern biology. A decade ago Shinya Yamanaka described a procedure that revolutionized stem cell biology. Using a genetic trick that introduces a cocktail of four genes into cultured cells from human biopsies, he was able to generate induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) from mature skin or blood cells

15 Mar 2016

Research uncovers biological differences between male, female breast cancers

Male breast cancer (Male BC) has important biological differences that distinguish it from female breast cancer, but to date these have been little studied and Male BC patients have been excluded from many clinical trials in breast cancer.

11 Mar 2016

Low bone mass higher in HIV-infected males than in females

Accumulating evidence suggests that rates of low bone mass are greater in HIV-infected males than in females. Researchers led by Grace Aldrovandi, MD, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, studied 11 biomarkers associated with inflammation, bone loss and/or bone formation in about 450 individuals - assessed by sex and HIV status - to try to determine causes of this differential bone loss.

11 Mar 2016

Vanderbilt investigators isolate human antibodies against H7 bird flu

Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have isolated human antibodies against a type of bird flu that has killed more than 200 people in China since 2012 and which may pose a worldwide pandemic threat.

10 Mar 2016

RUVICA (ibrutinib) capsules approved for treatment-naïve CLL patients

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved IMBRUVICA (ibrutinib) capsules for treatment-naïve patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

4 Mar 2016

Researchers find way to boost the body's natural cancer-killing cells

The immune cells, called natural killer cells, hunt and destroy foreign cells in the body, including cancer cells that spread and form tumours.

27 Feb 2016

EMA grants Orphan Drug Designation to venetoclax for treatment of acute myeloid leukemia

AbbVie, a global biopharmaceutical company, today announced the European Medicines Agency has granted Orphan Drug Designation to venetoclax, an investigational, oral B-cell lymphoma-2 (BCL-2) inhibitor, for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

26 Feb 2016

Specialised white blood cell in birds can destroy fatal fungal infection

Scientists have discovered that a specialised white blood cell found in birds can destroy a potentially fatal fungal infection which affects more than one million people every year.

18 Feb 2016

Simple physics may play key role in helping the body to fight infection

Simple physics may play a larger role than previously thought in helping control key bodily processes - such as how the body fights infection.

11 Feb 2016

New technique could help detect harmful PAMP molecules in certain processed foods

Our favourite foods could be made healthier thanks to a new technique developed by the University of Leicester which has identified harmful bacterial molecules in certain processed foods such as burgers and ready meals.

11 Feb 2016

2D-NMR could be a powerful complementary technique for assessing biosimilarity of protein drugs

A first-ever interlaboratory study of four versions of a therapeutic protein drug—all manufactured from living cells—reports that an established analytical tool akin to magnetic resonance imaging reliably assessed the atomic structures of the biologically similar products, yielding the equivalent of a fingerprint for each.

10 Feb 2016

New discovery takes medical professionals a leap forward to effectively diagnose Alzheimer's disease

Medical professionals have to conduct a long series of tests to assess a patient's memory impairment and cognitive skills, functional abilities, and behavioral changes to accurately diagnose Alzheimer's disease. They also have to execute costly brain imagining scans and even, sometimes, invasive cerebral spinal fluid tests to rule out other diseases. The process is laborious at best -- and subjective at worst.

9 Feb 2016

Halaven (eribulin mesylate) approved for treatment of liposarcoma

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved Halaven (eribulin mesylate), a type of chemotherapy, for the treatment of liposarcoma (a specific type of soft tissue sarcoma) that cannot be removed by surgery (unresectable) or is advanced (metastatic). This treatment is approved for patients who received prior chemotherapy that contained an anthracycline drug.

28 Jan 2016

Scientists find new way to re-engineer body’s immune system to target cancer

Scientists have demonstrated a new way of re-engineering the body’s immune system to target cancer, paving the way for a new generation of drugs, unprecedented in safety and effectiveness.

18 Jan 2016

Researchers identify origins of aggressive childhood lymphoma

The origins of a type of aggressive childhood lymphoma have been found, giving hope that new drugs could be designed to prevent the disease coming back after treatment.

18 Jan 2016

New oral breast cancer drug has potential to combat other types of cancer

Palbociclib, a new oral drug whose efficacy in combating breast cancer has been demonstrated alone and in combination with endocrine therapy, also has potential to combat other types of cancer, according to a literature review and additional original research conducted by experts at the Abramson Cancer Center in the University of Pennsylvania published this month in JAMA Oncology.

30 Dec 2015

Shells of plant virus trigger immune system to wipe out tumors, provide protection against metastases

The shells of a common plant virus, inhaled into a lung tumor or injected into ovarian, colon or breast tumors, not only triggered the immune system in mice to wipe out the tumors, but provided systemic protection against metastases, researchers from Case Western Reserve University and Dartmouth University report.

23 Dec 2015

Novel drug candidate prevents nerve cell damage in mouse model of Parkinson's disease

A team of scientists at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and Longevity Biotech, Inc., has demonstrated that neuroprotection could be attained in preclinical models by a novel drug candidate that changes immune responses.

18 Dec 2015

Candidiasis needs to be treated early, aggressively to help vulnerable hospitalized patients

One of the most common causes of healthcare-associated infections, candidiasis is a serious, life-threatening fungal infection that needs to be treated early, aggressively and appropriately, note updated guidelines released by the Infectious Diseases Society of America and published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases.

17 Dec 2015