Biomaterial particles educate immune system to accept transplanted islets

By instructing key immune system cells to accept transplanted insulin-producing islets, researchers have opened a potentially new pathway for treating type 1 diabetes. If the approach is ultimately successful in humans, it could allow type 1 diabetes to be treated without the long-term complications of immune system suppression. The technique, reported June 4 in the journal Nature Materials, uses synthetic […]

Continue reading »

Everyday activities could yield subtle dementia warning signs

Subtle changes in driving habits, computer use and medication routines could provide early clues to the development of Alzheimer’s disease. A researcher at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Medical Center is studying all three by using sensors to monitor volunteers for changes in their daily activities. While Alzheimer’s is an incurable brain disorder, early detection could allow people to receive support […]

Continue reading »

Common diabetes drug found safe for most diabetics with kidney disease

Results of a large-scale study suggest that the oral diabetes drug metformin is safe for most diabetics who also have chronic kidney disease (CKD). The study of more than 150,000 adults by Johns Hopkins Medicine investigators found that metformin’s association with the development of a life-threatening condition called lactic acidosis was seen only among patients with severely decreased kidney function. […]

Continue reading »

Researchers discover how colon cancer mutates to escape the immune system

A UCLA-led study has found how colon cancer alters its genes during development in order to avoid detection by the immune system, creating a specific genetic imprint in the process. This ability of cancer to change its genes—a process called immunoediting—had never been described in colon cancer before, and the new understanding could help researchers develop new immunotherapies that target […]

Continue reading »

Newly identified genetic markers classify previously undetermined glioblastoma tumors

Most glioblastoma tumors are marked by one or two broad mutation patterns, but about 20 percent of the lethal brain tumors have biomarkers that cannot be identified.  Now scientists at Duke Cancer Institute have identified mutations for the vast majority of the remaining 20 percent of uncharacterized tumors, which tend to be especially lethal. The findings indicate that these mutations […]

Continue reading »

Extended chemo extends life for children with rare cancer

(HealthDay)—Children suffering from rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare cancer of the muscle tissue, may have better chances for a cure if they have extended chemotherapy, a new study finds. In a phase 3 clinical trial, adding six months of low-dose maintenance chemotherapy after initial treatment extended the five-year survival rate from 74 percent to 87 percent, researchers found. Children with rhabdomyosarcoma who’ve […]

Continue reading »

Study finds rare gain for tough-to-treat pancreatic cancer

Patients with pancreatic cancer that hadn’t spread lived substantially longer on a four-drug combo than on a single standard cancer drug, a rare advance for a tough-to-treat disease, researchers reported Monday. The results indicate the powerful chemotherapy treatment known as folfirinox will likely become standard of care for the minority of patients whose pancreatic cancer is diagnosed early enough to […]

Continue reading »
1 151 152 153 154 155 202