Latest News

• share
• favorite_border

Transcription factors, the tiny proteins that switch genes on or off in the nucleus of cells, are considered unreachable molecular targets for drugs attempting to treat medical conditions. Overcoming this challenge, researchers discovered a small molecular compound that successfully blocks a transcription factor and its pro-inflammatory and hyper-mucous activity in asthma. In a study published online April 18 by Science Signaling, scientists test a new compound they call RCM-1.

• share
• favorite_border

Children may carry significant levels of nicotine on their hands just by coming into contact with items or surfaces contaminated with tobacco smoke residues, even when no one is actively smoking around them at the time. A study in Tobacco Control also reports the presence of significant nicotine on the hands of children was associated with equally significant levels of the harmful tobacco metabolite cotinine in saliva.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists partially re-insulated ravaged nerves in mouse models of multiple sclerosis (MS) and restored limb mobility by treating the animals with a small non-coding RNA called a microRNA. In a study published online March 27 in Developmental Cell, researchers report that treatment with a microRNA called miR-219 restarted production of a substance called myelin that is critical to normal function of the central nervous system.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists identify two signaling proteins in cancer cells that make them resistant to chemotherapy, and show that blocking the proteins along with chemotherapy eliminate human leukemia in mouse models. Reporting results March 20 in Nature Medicine, researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center suggest that blocking the signaling proteins c-Fos and Dusp1 as part of combination therapy might cure several types of kinase-driven, treatment-resistant leukemia and solid tumor cancers.

• share
• favorite_border

The Cincinnati Drug and Poison Information Center (DPIC) at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center is a 24-hour emergency and information telephone service for anyone with concerns about poisons or drugs. In 2016, DPIC received more than 85,000 calls for assistance.

• share
• favorite_border

Intestinal stem cells rejuvenate daily so bowels will stay healthy and function normally, but a new study in Cell Reports suggests they also age along with people and lose their regenerative capacity. Reporting their data online March 14, researchers suggest that reactivating the signaling of a key molecule lost in aging intestinal stem cells could restore healthy intestinal function in older people.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists identified a molecular driver of inflammation that may finally answer a key question about what causes mild systemic prenatal infections to trigger preterm birth. The finding is an important step to developing a treatment or clinical test for early detection of an entrenched global health problem, according to researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, who report their data March 9 in The Journal of Clinical Investigation Insight (JCI Insight).

• share
• favorite_border

As people get older so do the hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) that form their blood, creating an increased risk for compromised immunity and certain blood cancers. Now researchers are reporting in the scientific journal EMBO that the bone marrow niche where HSC’s form also ages, contributing to the problem. In a study published March 2, scientists in Germany and the United States propose rejuvenating the bone marrow niche where HSCs are created.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists propose in Nature blocking a molecule that drives inflammation and organ damage in Gaucher and maybe other lysosomal storage diseases as a possible treatment with fewer risks and lower costs than current therapies. Reporting their data Feb. 22, the international research team conducted the study in mouse models of lysosomal storage disease and in cells from blood samples donated by people with Gaucher disease.

• share
• favorite_border

Genomic testing of biopsies from patients with deadly, treatment-resistant cancerous blood syndromes called histiocytoses allowed doctors to identify genes fueling the ailments and use targeted molecular drugs to successfully treat them. Researchers report their data in Journal of Clinical Investigation Insight (JCI Insight). They recommend the regular use of comprehensive genomic profiling at diagnosis to positively impact clinical care,

• share
• favorite_border

Doctors have long understood that antibiotics that protect infants from infection also can disrupt the normal growth of their gut bacteria. However, a new study reveals that the consequences of routine antibiotic use may be deeper and longer lasting than expected. The study, published Feb. 8 in Science Translational Medicine, shows that short-term disruption of gut bacteria makes infant mice more likely to develop pneumonia. It also makes them more likely to die from it.

• share
• favorite_border

Gastric bypass surgery helps severely obese teenagers lose weight and keep it off, according to the first long-term follow-up studies of teenagers who had undergone the procedure 5-12 years earlier. However, the two studies, published in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, show some patients will likely need further surgery to deal with the complications of rapid weight loss or may develop vitamin deficiencies later in life.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists report in Nature using pluripotent stem cells to generate human stomach tissues in a petri dish that produce acid and digestive enzymes. Publishing their findings online Jan. 4, researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center grew tissues from the stomach’s corpus/fundus region. The study comes two years after the same team generated the stomach’s hormone-producing region (the antrum). The discovery means investigators now can grow both parts of the human stomach to study disease.

• share
• favorite_border

Cincinnati Children’s researchers report in Nature Immunology a new mechanism that controls blood cell function and several possible molecular targets for treating myelodysplasia syndromes (MDS) – a group of pre-malignant disorders in which bone marrow does not produce enough healthy blood cells. MDS can lead to acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a fast-spreading blood cancer that can be deadly if not treated promptly.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers cracked the complete genetic code of individual cells in healthy and diseased human lung tissues to find potential new molecular targets for diagnosing and treating the lethal lung disease Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). Scientists from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, in collaboration with investigators at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, publish their findings Dec. 8 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation Insights (JCI Insight).

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists report in Nature Medicine using human pluripotent stem cells to grow human intestinal tissues that have functioning nerves in a laboratory, and then using these to recreate and study a severe intestinal nerve disorder called Hirschsprung’s disease.

• share
• favorite_border

In some good news for families of children recovering from complex pneumonia, doctors recommend in a study published by Pediatrics it’s better to send kids home from the hospital with oral instead of intravenous antibiotics. Appearing in the journal’s Nov. 17 eFirst edition, the retrospective study of 2,123 children at 36 hospitals found oral antibiotics are as effective as intravenous in managing residual disease.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers studying reproductive science identified a network of proteins often linked to cancer as also important to male fertility and the birth of healthy offspring, according to a study in the Oct. 18 online issue of Cell Reports.

• share
• favorite_border

Mitch Stone was 11 years old when he was diagnosed with brain cancer. The University of Cincinnati football team "adopted" Mitch and helped support his recovery. Now 18, Mitch is a UC student rooting on the Bearcats from the sidelines.

• share
• favorite_border

Developing blood cells are caught in tugs of war between competing gene regulatory networks before finally deciding what type of cell to become, according to a study published Aug. 31 in Nature. Researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center report that as developing blood cells are triggered by a multitude of genetic signals firing on and off, they are pulled back and forth in fluctuating multi-lineage states before finally becoming specific cell types.