Scientists Develop Molecular “Fishing” to Find Individual Molecules in Blood
Biophysical SocietyLike finding a needle in a haystack, Liviu Movileanu can find a single molecule in blood.
Like finding a needle in a haystack, Liviu Movileanu can find a single molecule in blood.
Yvonne Chen engineers immune cells to target their most evasive enemy: cancer. New cancer immunotherapies generate immune cells that are effective killers of blood cancers, but they have a hard time with solid tumors.
Consumption of cocoa may improve walking performance for patients with peripheral artery disease, according to the results of a small, preliminary, phase II research trial published today in the American Heart Association's journal Circulation Research.
A novel research study by UC San Diego researchers will determine whether testing stored blood drops, recorded at birth, for 1,000 different molecules and chemicals can help predict autism risk years before symptoms would likely appear.
Researchers have discovered that endothelial cells have unique genetic signatures based on their location in the body.
The CDI team’s findings could ultimately improve cancer treatments for people of advanced age, like that of adult acute myeloid leukemia (AML)
It can be the bain of brain drug developers: The interface between the human brain and the bloodstream, the blood-brain-barrier, is so meticulous that animal models often fail to represent it. This improved chip represents important features more accurately.
Scientists have identified a key molecule involved in the development of cerebral malaria, a deadly form of the tropical disease. Further, they defined a potential drug target and way forward in alleviating this condition for which few targeted treatments are available.
In research published today in the journal Nature Communications, Utah-based scientists describe a novel way to treat cancers using chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy. Laboratory tests using mouse models and tumor cells from patients displayed promising results for this novel cellular immunotherapy for multiple myeloma and other types of blood cancer.
An anti-cancer compound developed at the University of Michigan has shown “profound” activity in mouse models against two subtypes of leukemia — representing up to 40% of patients — a U-M research team reports in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
In the future, robots could take blood samples, benefiting patients and healthcare workers alike. A Rutgers-led team has created a blood-sampling robot that performed as well or better than people, according to the first human clinical trial of an automated blood drawing and testing device.
According to results from a Phase I/IIa trial at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, treatment with cord blood-derived chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) natural killer (NK)-cell therapy targeting CD19 resulted in clinical responses in a majority of patients with relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), with no major toxicities observed.
Researchers at Michigan State University’s Precision Health Program have helped develop a fascinating new method called magnetic levitation for detecting the density of proteins in the blood that could vastly improve the rate at which diseases are detected and diagnosed.
Surgeons at UT Southwestern have developed a process to determine the best approach for single breast reconstruction.
A UCLA-led study has found that levels of six proteins in the blood can be used to gauge a person’s risk for cerebral small vessel disease, or CSVD, a brain disease that affects an estimated 11 million older adults in the U.S.
NYU Langone hematologist-oncologist Dr. Rami K. Daya is leading renowned cancer experts at Perlmutter Cancer Center’s new Sunset Park location.
Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (GCSF) is currently used to treat neutropenia due to chemotherapy and has been successfully used for patients who require bone marrow transplants. The study is the first to report on the neuroprotective effect of GCSF in vivo and showed that it improved neurological deficits that occur in the first few days following cerebral ischemia. GCSF improved long-term behavioral outcomes while also stimulating a neural progenitor recovery response in a mouse model.
UCLA researchers are part of an international team that reported the use of a stem cell gene therapy to treat nine people with the rare, inherited blood disease known as X-linked chronic granulomatous disease, or X-CGD. Six of those patients are now in remission and have stopped other treatments. Before now, people with X-CGD – which causes recurrent infections, prolonged hospitalizations for treatment, and a shortened lifespan – had to rely on bone marrow donations for a chance at remission.
In the human body, cells shield themselves from disease-causing microbes by scrambling their lipids into liquids, according to new research.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Baltimore, working with colleagues in the Netherlands, developed a blood test that can predict recurrence of gastric cancer in patients after surgery. A description of their test, which is still experimental, was published online Jan. 27 in the journal Nature Communications.
Evaluating the effectiveness of therapies for neurodegenerative diseases is often difficult because each patient’s progression is different. A new study shows artificial intelligence (AI) analysis of blood samples can predict and explain disease progression, which could one day help doctors choose more appropriate and effective treatments for patients.
Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have found that orthostatic hypotension was not associated with higher risk of cardiovascular events, falls, or fainting among participants in The Systolic Blood Pressure Intervention Trial. In a study published in the journal Hypertension, the scientists showed that hypertension treatment had no impact on the link between OH and cardiovascular outcomes or other adverse events.
A new study led by physician-researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) reports that the antihypertensive drug amlodipine lowered long-term gout risk compared to two other drugs commonly prescribed to lower blood pressure. The findings are published in the Journal of Hypertension.
The DNA molecule inside the nucleus of any human cell is more than six feet long. To fit into such a small space, it must fold into precise loops that also govern how genes are turned on or off. New research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis indicates that "jumping genes" play a surprising role in stabilizing the 3D folding patterns of the DNA molecule inside the cell’s nucleus.
Overcoming HIV latency – activating HIV in CD4+ T cells that lay dormant – is a needed step toward a cure. Scientists at UNC-Chapel Hill, Emory University, and Qura Therapeutics – a partnership between UNC and ViiV Healthcare – showed it’s possible to drive HIV out of latency in two animal models.
Blood tests could replace menstrual periods as a gauge for when a women is nearing menopause, according to new research published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
Treating septic shock in children with a combination of intravenous vitamin C, vitamin B1 and hydrocortisone (a commonly used steroid) is associated with lower mortality, according to a study from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. This is the first pediatric study of the safe and relatively inexpensive treatment for septic shock, and the preliminary data supports the promising outcomes seen in adults. Findings were published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
In diseases like cancer, atherosclerosis, and sickle cell anemia, cathepsins promote their propagation. Drug trials to inhibit these enzymes have failed due to baffling side effects. Now a new study examines cathepsins in systems to remove some of the bafflement.
McMaster University researchers surveyed the data of patients of Hamilton’s two hospital systems over nine years and found 52 with low Vitamin C levels. This included 13 patients who could be diagnosed as having scurvy, and an additional 39 who tested positive for scurvy but did not have documented symptoms. Among those with scurvy, some were related to alcohol use disorder or to bariatric surgery but the majority were related to other causes of malnutrition such as persistent vomiting, purposeful dietary restrictions, mental illness, social isolation and dependence on others for food.
The Jan. 17 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) features an important study about sepsis with an accompanying editorial by a University of Nebraska Medical Center expert. The study and editorial sets the record straight on an unproven therapy some physicians use to treat sepsis, a deadly infectious disease. The editorial, written by Andre Kalil, M.D., M.P.H., professor of infectious diseases in the UNMC Department of Internal Medicine, writes in support of the new and rigorous international study based on a randomized clinical trial in Australia, published in the same issue. The editorial appears in the Jan. 17 online issue and also will appear in the Feb. 4 print edition.
University of Colorado Cancer Center study shows healthy form of the leukemia-causing gene MLL may push pluripotent stem cells (which have proven difficult to use in human patients) to become durable hematopoietic stem cells (which are usable in patients, but have until now been impossible to make).
Researchers from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Chinese Children’s Cancer Group led the first randomized, Phase III clinical trial comparing targeted therapies for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) driven by the Philadelphia chromosome. Results showed that the drug dasatinib provides more benefit than the standard of care, which led to changes in the way this leukemia is treated. The findings were reported today in JAMA Oncology.
A team of physicists from McMaster University has developed a process to modify red blood cells so they can be used to distribute drugs throughout the body, which could specifically target infections or treat catastrophic diseases such as cancer or Alzheimer’s.
A nanoparticle carrier system that could eliminate the need for bone marrow transplants, which are both expensive and difficult for patients to undergo. The University of Delaware's Emily Day, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering, is developing a platform that could treat stem cells directly without the need to remove them from the body.
A new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that extremely rare, harmful genetic mutations present in healthy donors’ stem cells — though not causing health problems in the donors — may be passed on to cancer patients receiving stem cell transplants, potentially creating health problems for the recipients. Among the concerns are heart damage, graft-versus-host disease and possible new leukemias.
Responders who worked at the World Trade Center site after the attacks on September 11, 2001, have an increased overall cancer incidence compared to the general population, particularly in thyroid cancer, prostate cancer, and, for the first time ever reported, leukemia, according to a Mount Sinai study published in JNCI Cancer Spectrum in January.
Investigators at John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey were part of the CANDOR global phase III clinical trial for patients with refractory (persistent) multiple myeloma. The study was selected as the prestigious plenary presentation at the 61st American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting, the world's leading conference for hematologic cancers and blood disorders, held in Orlando in December.
Akshay Sharma, MBBS, of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, is the recipient of a 2020 Scholar Award from the American Society of Hematology (ASH). One of ASH’s most prestigious research award programs, the ASH Scholar Award provides financial support to an early career hematology researcher.
Below are summaries of recent Fred Hutch research findings with links for additional background and media contacts.
Arteries transport nourishing oxygen and nutrient-rich blood throughout tissues while veins carry the deoxygenated, waste-filled blood back to the heart, where the process begins anew. Dr. Chelsea Dorsey, a University of Chicago Medicine vascular surgeon, explains what to know about these critically important vessels and how to support their longevity.
– New technology employing single cell genome sequencing of the parasite that causes malaria has yielded some surprising results and helps pave the way for possible new intervention strategies for this deadly infectious disease, according to Texas Biomedical Research Institute Assistant Professor Ian Cheeseman, Ph.D.
Genomic Testing Cooperative, LCA announced that the Medicare Administrative Contractor Palmetto GBA (MolDx®) has established coverage for its solid tumor molecular profile.
Progesterone signaling is key to a healthy pregnancy. An Austrian team’s research suggests a link between recurrent miscarriage and disrupted progesterone synthesis.
Proof-of-concept research points to wearable temperature monitors’ potential to offer low-cost, non-invasive way to detect GVHD, a dangerous bone-marrow transplant complication.
Early clinical treatment may significantly reduce recovery time following a concussion, according to new research led by the University of Pittsburgh Sports Medicine Concussion Program.
Novel research shows that a blood test can differentiate elderly concussion patients with brain tissue damage from those without it. This finding, published in the special brain health collection of AACC’s The Journal of Applied Laboratory Medicine, could help ensure that elderly patients with severe concussions receive crucial treatment for their injuries.
Moll was the only non-NASA physician NASA consulted when it was discovered that an astronaut aboard the ISS had a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) – or blood clot – in the jugular vein of their neck.
Researchers found a way to create lasers smaller than red blood cells.
The VISION study looked at whether levels of a cardiac blood test, NT-proBNP, measured before surgery can predict cardiac and vascular complications. Higher levels of NT-proBNP, which can be caused by various anomalies in the cardiac muscle, such as stress, inflammation or overstretch, can help identify which patients are at greatest risk of cardiac complications after surgery. The study included 10,402 patients aged 45 years or older having non-cardiac surgery with overnight stay from 16 hospitals in nine countries.
Des chercheurs de Mayo Clinic ont présenté des découvertes à l'occasion du Meeting annuel de l'American Society of Hematology qui s'est tenu du 7 au 10 décembre à Orlando.