News

Immune checkpoint inhibitors are revolutionizing the treatment of cancer, but new research challenges the central dogma of how these drugs work. This research shows for the first time that often-overlooked immune cells called Natural Killer (NK) cells play a crucial role in responding to checkpoint inhibitors.

A new review in SLAS Discovery explores how improved safety screening strategies and methods are improving the pharmaceutical discovery and development process.

A recently published pilot study by a team of researchers shows that significant amounts of cancer-causing chemicals such as formaldehyde are absorbed by the respiratory tract during a typical vaping session, underscoring the potential health risks posed by vaping.

A new 4D computational model which integrates CRISPR, confocal microscopy, and machine learning allows researchers to study the dynamics of specific proteins which drive mitosis. The model is a framework which can be adapted to study other cellular functions.

Restoring function of regulatory T-lymphocyte cells may be a promising therapeutic approach in some types of heart disease.

Probably the single most important cause of Parkinson's disease is the aggregation of the natively unfolded protein a-synuclein (αSN). The new screening strategy enabled the team to screen 746,000 compounds for their ability to inhibit αSN aggregation.

Researchers have discovered how a mutation in a gene regulator called the TERT promoter - the third most common mutation among all human cancers and the most common mutation in the deadly brain cancer glioblastoma - confers "immortality" on tumor cells, enabling the unchecked cell division that powers their aggressive growth.

Individualised therapies that target the specific genetic features of tumors have the potential to transform cancer diagnosis, treatment and care. However, several challenges still need to be overcome before these approaches can be widely used in the clinic. Two DNA testing programmes have been implemented in institutes in Spain and the UK, to match patient tumor profiles with targets of early clinical trials, and to embed whole genome sequencing (WGS) in routine oncology practice, respectively.

Study connecting RNA stress granules with autophagy provides insights on treatment approaches for degenerative ataxia.

A natural plant compound exploits a newly identified Achilles’ heel in a cancer of the eye, uveal melanoma. In human cancer cells growing in the lab, the compound shuts down the overactive signaling that drives uveal melanoma cell growth, according to researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.