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 […]

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Scientists discover a new way to control blood pressure

New, improved ways to fight hypertension and low blood pressure may be in the offing, thanks to a discovery of how blood pressure is controlled. National University of Singapore researchers have found a new means of controlling blood pressure that involves the protein galectin-1, present in blood vessels and various other tissues. The researchers showed that galectin-1 reduces the activity […]

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Neuroscientists discover roles of gene linked to Alzheimer’s

People with a gene variant called APOE4 have a higher risk of developing late-onset Alzheimer’s disease: APOE4 is three times more common among Alzheimer’s patients than it is among the general population. However, little is known about why this version of the APOE gene, which is normally involved in metabolism and transport of fatty molecules such as cholesterol, confers higher […]

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Scientists discover a new way to battle multiple sclerosis

Ridiculous. That’s how Andrew Caprariello says his colleagues described his theory about multiple sclerosis (MS) back when he was doing his PhD in Ohio. Caprariello’s passion to explore controversial new theories about MS propelled him to seek out a postdoctoral fellowship with a like-minded thinker, whom he found in University of Calgary’s Dr. Peter Stys, a member of the Hotchkiss […]

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Scientists discover sweet spot of activity in immune system key to fighting cancer

Scientists at the University of Southampton have shown how stimulating a specific location on the surface of immune cells can be targeted with antibodies to help in their fight against cancer. The new work concerns a receptor called CD40 found of the surface of certain immune cells which regulates their activity. The CD40 receptors are normally dispersed over the surface […]

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