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Inflammation plays causal role in neurologic changes associated with Lyme disease

About 15% of patients with Lyme disease develop peripheral and central nervous system involvement, often accompanied by debilitating and painful symptoms. New research indicates that inflammation plays a causal role in the array of neurologic changes associated with Lyme disease, according to a study published in The American Journal of Pathology.

17 Apr 2015

Newly approved drug for rare blood cancer shows sustained benefit for 2 years

The most recent results from a clinical trial show that ibrutinib, a newly approved drug for Waldenstrom's Macroglobulinemia, continued to control the rare blood cancer, with 95 percent of patients surviving for two years, report investigators from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

10 Apr 2015

People with high-risk tumors containing BRAF or NRAS gene mutations have lower survival rates

Researchers from the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center analyzed hundreds of melanoma samples to find out if two genetic mutations more commonly found in melanoma tumors were associated with lower survival rates in patients.

9 Apr 2015

Vanderbilt researchers join multi-center effort to accelerate development of potential Ebola therapy

Vanderbilt University researchers have joined a multi-center effort led by Pennsylvania-based Inovio Pharmaceuticals Inc. to accelerate development of potential antibody therapies against the often-lethal Ebola virus.

9 Apr 2015

Study: APOSEC protein concentrate reduces severity of damage after spinal cord injuries

In tests conducted on animals, the APOSEC protein concentrate extracted from white blood cells has reduced the severity of damage after an accident involving spinal cord injuries when the agent was injected in the abdominal cavity 40 minutes after the acute lesion. As a result, severe consequential paralyses can be prevented.

2 Apr 2015

Novel molecule inhibits cancer-causing transcription factors

A novel molecule designed by scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and the University of Virginia inhibits progression of a hard-to-treat form of recurring acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in patient tissue.

2 Apr 2015

Low doses of imatinib drug can push immune system to combat bacterial infections

Low doses of the anti-cancer drug imatinib can spur the bone marrow to produce more innate immune cells to fight against bacterial infections, Emory researchers have found.

1 Apr 2015

New faculty members join UNC Lineberger to help launch immunotherapy clinical trials

Two new faculty members have joined the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center to help launch groundbreaking immunotherapy clinical trials testing an experimental treatment in which patients' own immune cells are genetically engineered to fight their cancer.

30 Mar 2015

Researchers identify bio-markers that could help detect early stage colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer is the third most common form of cancer globally and the second most common cause of cancer deaths. The chance of a cure is high if the cancer is detected early enough, but early detection is not a given. Researchers from VIB and KU Leuven - together with various European oncology centers, including UZ Leuven - have identified bio-markers that can be incorporated in a new diagnostic test.

30 Mar 2015

TSRI scientists identify enzyme that maintains healthy periods of inactivity in HSCs to prevent anemia

Stem cells can generate any type of cell in the body, but they are inactive most of the time—and for good reason. When stem cells become too active and divide too often, they risk acquiring cell damage and mutations. In the case of blood stem cells (also called hematopoietic stem cells or HSCs), this can lead to blood cancers, a loss of blood cells and an impaired ability to fight disease.

26 Mar 2015

Study: Blood test can help identify bowel cancer patients who may benefit from chemotherapy

Manchester researchers have provided early evidence to suggest that a blood test could be used to identify bowel cancer patients that may benefit from more intensive chemotherapy.

25 Mar 2015

New approach to treating B-ALL tumour disease

B cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, or B-ALL, is the most common tumour disease in children and also occurs in adults. It develops when signalling pathways in immature B cells, or pre-B cells, are dysregulated. Prof. Dr. Markus Müschen from the University of California in San Francisco, USA, and his team worked together with the BIOSS researchers Prof. Dr. Hassan Jumaa and Prof. Dr. Michael Reth to find a new approach for treating the B-ALL tumour disease.

25 Mar 2015

ItpkB enzyme regulates stem cells function to prevent cancer, anemia

Stem cells can generate any type of cell in the body, but they are inactive most of the time--and for good reason. When stem cells become too active and divide too often, they risk acquiring cell damage and mutations.

24 Mar 2015

Co-infection reduces severity of East Coast fever, can help curb human malaria

When calves are infected by two parasite species at the same time, one parasite renders the other far less deadly, according to a new study published in the current journal of Science Advances.

24 Mar 2015

Discovery may lead to new potential treatment for drug-resistant melanoma

In the last several years, targeted therapies - drugs that directly impact specific genes and proteins involved in the progression of cancer - have been approved for a wide variety of cancers, including melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. Now, researchers at The Wistar Institute have discovered one way in which melanoma becomes resistant to a particular form of targeted therapy, and understanding this phenomenon may lead to a new melanoma target or prompt new designs of these treatments.

23 Mar 2015

MRD-directed therapy helps boost survival of young leukemia patients

Measuring the concentration of leukemia cells in patient bone marrow during the first 46 days of chemotherapy should help boost survival of young leukemia patients by better matching patients with the right intensity of chemotherapy. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators led the research, which appears in the March 20 edition of the journal Lancet Oncology.

22 Mar 2015

Experts call for global review of sepsis guidelines

Experts are calling for a global review of guidelines used to diagnose sepsis, after a study found one in eight patients with infections severe enough to need admission to an Intensive Care Unit in Australia and New Zealand, did not meet current criteria.

22 Mar 2015

Vitamin D plays major role in preventing diabetes and atherosclerosis

In recent years, a deficiency of vitamin D has been linked to type 2 diabetes and heart disease, two illnesses that commonly occur together and are the most common cause of illness and death in Western countries. Both disorders are rooted in chronic inflammation, which leads to insulin resistance and the buildup of artery-clogging plaque.

19 Mar 2015

Islet autoantibody levels predict progression to diabetes

Levels of insulin autoantibodies and insulinoma-associated protein 2 autoantibodies predict the onset of diabetes in young children with islet autoimmunity, show findings from the TEDDY study.

13 Mar 2015

Oxis Biotech executes licensing agreement with MCIT for development of antibody-drug conjugates

Oxis Biotech, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Oxis International, Inc., announced today the execution of a definitive licensing and development agreement with MultiCell Immunotherapeutics, Inc. concerning the development of certain antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs).

12 Mar 2015