Science and Health News

Certain regulatory RNAs are involved in cancer cell movement and metastases. On the right, cancer cells are on the move with long, stiff actin filaments (in green) acting like fingers to help it move. Paxillin (red) collects in patches on the cell’s edge, sticking it to a surface. On the left, cells lacking one such regulatory RNA, MaTAR25, are flat. Actin filaments and paxillin are disrupted (speckles instead of filaments or patches), so cells are unable to move efficiently, reducing their ability to escape a tumor and metastasize. Images: Kung-Chi Chang/Spector lab

A study published in Nature Neuroscience shows how spike protein crosses the blood-brain barrier.

Wistar Institute scientists have discovered a new class of compounds that uniquely combine direct antibiotic killing of pan drug-resistant bacterial pathogens with a simultaneous rapid immune response for combatting antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Researchers find that the phenomenon of chromothripsis results in rearranged genomes and extra-chromosomal DNA that helps mutated cells not only evade treatment, but become more aggressive

LMU researchers have developed a novel type of nanoparticle that efficiently and selectively kills cancer cells, thus opening up new therapeutic options for the treatment of tumors.

A potential preventive treatment for Crohn’s disease, a form of inflammatory bowel disease, has been demonstrated in a mouse model and using immune-reactive T cells from patients with Crohn’s disease.

By inhibiting a particular family of enzymes, it may be possible to develop new therapies for treating neurodegenerative diseases from glaucoma to Alzheimer’s

Cancer immunotherapy using “designer” immune cells has revolutionized cancer treatment in recent years. In this type of therapy, T cells, a type of white blood cell, are collected from a patient’s blood and subjected to genetic engineering to produce T cells carrying a synthetic molecule termed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) that is designed to enable T cells to recognize and destroy cancer cells. Then these genetically modified CAR T cells are expanded to large quantity and infused back to the patient.