Scientists at the Montreal Clinical Research Institute (IRCM), led by Université de Montréal medical professor Javier Di Noia, have shed light on a fundamental mystery in immunology: How do immune cells manage to concentrate a powerful mutagenic enzyme at precisely defined regions of DNA while largely sparing the rest of the genome from potentially dangerous damage?
About 25% of lung adenocarcinomas have mutations of the gene KRAS, which drives uncontrolled cell growth. In recent years, the FDA has approved two KRAS inhibitors to treat patients with KRAS mutations. While these drugs can work well initially, tumors almost always develop resistance to them.
Genetic markers in the blood that can signal lung cancer risk up to 10 years before a person is diagnosed have been discovered by University of Hawaiʻi researchers. The set of 31 tiny markers, called small noncoding RNAs, could eventually help identify people at higher risk while cancer remains clinically undetected.
Immunotherapy, which uses a patient’s immune system to treat disease, has increased survival for some adults and children with cancer. However, it has had limited success against many pediatric solid tumors, in part because T cells can become functionally impaired or “exhausted.” St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital scientists published results in Nature showing that the gene ZMYND8 is a major regulator of CD8+ T-cell exhaustion.
Ovarian cancer is often diagnosed after it has already spread to other parts of the body, at which point the five-year survival rate is under 30%.
Chronic hepatitis B is a long-lasting condition caused by the hepatitis B virus (HBV) that affects about 240 million people worldwide. Current antiviral treatments are designed to keep the virus under control, but they are not a cure, and medications are usually taken indefinitely.
Targeting KDM2B or downstream protein complexes it recruits may exploit a vulnerability in high-risk medulloblastoma subgroups that currently lack targeted therapies, according to a study led by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ).
Chemotherapy faces a fundamental problem: The same drugs powerful enough to kill cancer cells can also damage healthy tissue.
Patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma often run out of effective treatment options after multiple rounds of therapy.
Mount Sinai researchers have identified how APOE4, the strongest genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, damages the brain’s blood vessels and promotes the buildup of abnormal proteins linked to neurodegenerative disease.