T Cell News and Research

Latest T Cell News and Research

Roundup: Mass. lawmakers struggle to reach agreement on cost controls; $100M grant for Calif. stem cell research; N.C. to move mentally ill from elderly homes

The House and Senate are under the gun to reach an agreement on how to lower health care costs while improving care. A conference committee aims to have a bill out on Sunday. Their deadline is Monday evening. In the meantime, several major issues are still unresolved, including what to do about hospitals that use their market clout to demand high prices that are not based on higher quality. Attorney General Martha Coakley, the state's top insurers and several consumer groups argue that price is a critical issue.

28 Jul 2012

Sirolimus has anti-skin cancer effect in kidney transplant patients

Switching from calcineurin inhibitors to a sirolimus-containing immunosuppression regimen may help reduce the incidence of secondary skin cancer after kidney transplantation, suggests research published in TheNew England Journal of Medicine.

27 Jul 2012

Potential biomarker to predict lung cancer patients' response to chemotherapy

Patients with the most common type of lung cancer are notoriously insensitive to chemotherapy drugs, including cisplatin. New findings related to the cellular pathways that regulate responses to cisplatin have now been published by Cell Press on July 26th in the journal Cell Reports.

27 Jul 2012

PedBrain Tumor network publishes evaluation of first 125 genome analyses of medulloblastomas

Brain tumors are the primary cause of cancer mortality in children. Even if a cure is possible, young patients often suffer from the stressful treatment which can be harmful to the developing brain. The most common childhood brain tumors are medulloblastoma and pylocytic astrocytoma.

27 Jul 2012

Study investigates molecular markers in drug-resistant ovarian cancer

A new study by TCD researchers investigates drug-resistant ovarian cancer cells. The findings which have been recently published in the international publication, PLoS One will increase understanding of molecular markers in drug-resistant ovarian cancer with a view to improving clinical treatment.

27 Jul 2012

New computational method to help organize scientific data

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have developed a new computational method that will help organize scientific data, making it easier for scientists to identify and prioritize genes, drug targets, and connections between drugs. By mining large datasets more simply and efficiently, researchers will be able to better understand gene-gene, protein-protein, and drug/side-effect interactions.

27 Jul 2012

Study validates importin beta1 protein's crucial role in nerve repair

Several years ago, Prof. Michael Fainzilber and his group in the Biological Chemistry Department made a surprising discovery: Proteins thought to exist only near the cell nucleus could also be found in the far-off regions of the body's longest cells - peripheral nerve cells that extend processes called axons, reaching up to a meter in length in adult humans.

27 Jul 2012

Vaccine complex delivered safely by piggybacking onto 3D DNA nanostructures

In a quest to make safer and more effective vaccines, scientists at the Biodesign Institute- at Arizona State University have turned to a promising field called DNA nanotechnology to make an entirely new class of synthetic vaccines.

27 Jul 2012

Researchers decode deadly 2011 E. coli outbreak in Germany

The secret to the deadly 2011 E. coli outbreak in Germany has been decoded, thanks to research conducted at Michigan State University.

27 Jul 2012

HIV drug resistance: an interview with Dr. Silvia Bertagnolio

Sexual intercourse is the major mode of HIV transmission. HIV may also be transmitted through sharing of needles or contaminated blood products (although this is rare).

27 Jul 2012

A2bAR receptor plays a significant role in regulation of type 2 diabetes and obesity

A recent study led by Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) demonstrates that the A2b-type adenosine receptor, A2bAR, plays a significant role in the regulation of high fat, high cholesterol diet-induced symptoms of type 2 diabetes.

27 Jul 2012

Bone marrow transplant eradicates traces of HIV in men

Two men with longstanding HIV infections no longer have detectable HIV in their blood cells following bone marrow transplants. The virus was easily detected in blood lymphocytes of both men prior to their transplants but became undetectable by eight months post-transplant. The men, who were treated at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), have remained on anti-retroviral therapy.

27 Jul 2012

Skin microbiota may help protect the body from infection

A research team at the National Institutes of Health has found that bacteria that normally live in the skin may help protect the body from infection. As the largest organ of the body, the skin represents a major site of interaction with microbes in the environment.

27 Jul 2012

Navidea announces results from Lymphoseek Phase 3 trial on head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

Navidea Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on precision diagnostic radiopharmaceuticals, noted today that individual site, investigator-initiated results of an ongoing Phase 3 clinical trial of 99m-Tc-Tilmanocept (Lymphoseek) were presented at the American Head and Neck Society's 8th International Conference on Head and Neck Cancer (ICHNC), held in Toronto, July 21-25, 2012.

27 Jul 2012

Fusion of FGFR and TACC gene leads to glioblastoma

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) have discovered that some cases of glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of primary brain cancer, are caused by the fusion of two adjacent genes.

26 Jul 2012

Surgical distractions could have disastrous consequences

In a simulated study, the rate of major errors committed while novice surgeons were exposed to typical interruptions and distractions was almost 50%, indicating that such exposure could seriously risk patient safety.

26 Jul 2012

New association found between basal cell carcinoma and eczema

In the powerful sunlight of July, newly published results from a large study of people at high risk for basal cell carcinoma support the emerging view of the nation's most common cancer as a chronic ailment that often repeatedly afflicts older people but for which the seeds may be planted in youth. The research also found a new association with eczema.

26 Jul 2012

Novel technique allows scientists to assay tumor invasion attributable to interstitial fluid

There are many factors that affect tumor invasion, the process where a tumor grows beyond the tissue where it first developed. While factors like genetics, tissue type and environmental exposure affect tumor metastasis and invasion, physical forces like fluid flow remain a poorly understood component of tumor invasion. A new video article in JoVE, the Journal of Visualized Experiments, describes a novel procedure that allows researchers to study and test the microenvironment of a growing tumor.

26 Jul 2012

Study confirms link between sickle cell trait and deaths in young black competitive athletes

While some published research has hinted at the connection between the sickle cell trait and sudden cardiac death among young, athletic African-American males, which was initially observed in black military recruits 25 years ago, a new study with the first sizeable patient series definitively confirms this risk for these individuals during competitive sports.

26 Jul 2012

Researchers decipher function of β-catenin in generating blood tissue stem cells

Researchers from IMIM (Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute) have deciphered the function executed by a protein called β-catenin in generating blood tissue stem cells.

26 Jul 2012