Messy tangles of a protein called tau can be found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease and some other neurodegenerative diseases. In Alzheimer’s, the tangles coalesce just before tissue damage becomes visible in brain scans and people start to become forgetful and confused. Now, a new study has found that brain immune cells […]
Five scientists honored for cancer therapy, immune system work
Five scientists have won prestigious medical awards for creating an innovative breast cancer treatment and discovering key players of the disease-fighting immune system. They will share two $250,000 awards from the Lasker Foundation, to be presented later this month in New York, the foundation announced Tuesday. One prize honors the invention of Herceptin, a breast […]
Intensive blood pressure therapy not beneficial in nursing home residents
Long-term nursing home residents with hypertension do not experience significant benefits from more intensive antihypertensive treatment, according to a study published online July 22 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Kenneth S. Boockvar, M.D., from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, and colleagues examined the number of […]
Can a combination immune therapy reduce genital herpes outbreaks?
Yale investigators have shown that the combination of a vaccine and a medicated cream is a promising strategy to dramatically reduce the recurrence of genital herpes. Their study, co-led by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, was published in the journal npj Vaccines. Herpes simplex virus (HSV) […]
Pioneering hair transplant therapy gets Government green light
Government gives green light for firm to BANK people’s frozen hair follicles for pioneering transplant therapy to combat baldness A company has been given permission by the Human Tissue Authority Cells within the follicles can be multiplied in the lab and stored for future use The cells are injected back into the scalp to produce […]
Immune therapy takes a ‘BiTE’ out of brain cancer
Building on their research showing that an exciting new form of immunotherapy for cancer has activity in patients with glioblastoma, the most common and most deadly form of brain cancer, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators have created a new method that could make immune therapy more effective again brain tumors and expand its use against […]
Men taking testosterone therapy ‘21% more likely to have heat attack’
Men taking testosterone therapy to stay virile in middle age ‘are 21% more likely to have a heart attack or stroke’ Researchers analysed more than 15,400 men in the UK using TRT TRT boosts energy, sex drive and mood in men with low testosterone But it could lead to a higher risk of a cardiovascular […]
Are we using biologic therapy properly?
The introduction of infliximab (Remicade), the first biologic therapy approved for the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), did not result in lower rates of hospitalizations or intestinal surgeries among patients living with IBD in Ontario, according to a study published by authors from several Canadian hospitals and ICES in the journal Gut. The authors […]
Gene therapy for gamma-sarcoglycanopathy moves toward a clinical trial
Isabelle Richard’s team, a CNRS researcher in an Inserm unit at Genethon, the AFM-Telethon laboratory, has demonstrated the efficacy of gene therapy and determined the effective dose for treating a rare muscle disease, gamma-sarcoglycanopathy, in mouse models of the disease. Based on these encouraging results, published in Molecular Therapy: Methods and Clinical Development, the researchers […]
Ultrasound used to trigger insulin release in mice shows promise for diabetes therapy
The World Health Organization ranks Type 2 diabetes among the most common causes of death in the world. Current treatments can help the body use insulin at various stages of the disease, but they can also be expensive and subject patients to lifelong medication regimens and side effects. Thanks to new therapeutic ultrasound technology, one […]