New cancer treatment not as toxic as others

A QIMR Berghofer study has identified how a newly approved blood cancer drug works and found the treatment is better than other drugs at targeting cancer stem cells while causing minimal damage to healthy cells. The long-acting form of the drug Interferon alpha was approved for use in Australia in mid-2018 to treat patients with a type of blood cancer, […]

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Physical exercise improves the elimination of toxic proteins from muscles

A study published in Scientific Reports by researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil, in partnership with colleagues in the United States and Norway, shows that the lack of muscle stimulus results in a buildup of inadequately processed proteins in muscle cells and consequently leads to muscle weakness or wasting. This is a typical muscle dysfunction condition […]

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‘Slow but sure’ progress toward less toxic tools to fight cancer

John Ryan is just one of the miracles to emerge from the Johns Hopkins cancer unit in Baltimore. An immunotherapy treatment—highly effective in a minority of patients—saved his life after a lung cancer diagnosis. The retired military nuclear reactor specialist will celebrate his 74th birthday in July, and his battle with cancer illustrates the promises and failures of immunotherapy, a […]

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How a small molecule halts the spread of a toxic protein associated with Alzheimer’s progression

Alzheimer’s disease destroys brain cells in part by promoting the formation of insoluble clumps that contain a protein called tau. Not only are these “tau aggregates” toxic for the cells that harbor them, but they also invade and destroy neighboring brain cells, or neurons, which speeds the cognitive decline associated with the Alzheimer’s. For those reasons, Alzheimer’s researchers have been […]

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