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Fecal microbiota transplant helps cancer patients respond to immunotherapy

For patients with cancers that do not respond to immunotherapy drugs, adjusting the composition of microorganisms in the intestines--known as the gut microbiome--through the use of a stool, or fecal, transplants may help some of these individuals respond to the immunotherapy drugs, a new study suggests.

From National Cancer Institute (NCI) 5 Feb 2021

Breast cancer-on-a-chip for rapid screening of immunotherapeutic drugs

There are many mechanisms by which the body responds to foreign invaders. One of these involves the T-cells of the immune system, which have a number of different proteins on their surface called "checkpoint proteins."

3 Feb 2021

Severe genetic immunodeficiency reversed by a rare DNA change

Researchers have revealed how a rare DNA change rebalanced the immune system of patients with a life-threatening genetic immunodeficiency.

2 Feb 2021

Investigational antisense medicine lowers disease burden, reduces myeloma cell abundance in mice

Many patients with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, eventually develop resistance to one treatment after another. That's in part because cancer stem cells drive the disease -- cells that continually self-renew. If a therapy can't completely destroy these malignant stem cells, the cancer is likely to keep coming back.

From UC San Diego 21 Jan 2021

New model could optimize strategies to cure HIV

According to a study, researchers have established the optimal conditions after a stem cell transplant that could regulate HIV without having to use a daily pill.

13 Jan 2021

Researchers discover new way to control natural killer cells in immune system

UC San Francisco scientists have discovered a new way to control the immune system's "natural killer" (NK) cells, a finding with implications for novel cell therapies and tissue implants that can evade immune rejection.

11 Jan 2021

New tantalum-laced composite hydrogel controls excessive bleeding in the body

There are many different events that may lead to excessive and uncontrolled bleeding within the body. This can occur as a result of inflammation and ulcerations, abnormalities in the blood vessels or trauma-related injuries.

23 Dec 2020

Researchers investigate microbiome-mediated therapies for aging and health span

Texas Biomedical Research Institute Associate Professor Corinna Ross, PhD, is a principal investigator on a $3.38 million National Institutes of Health multi-investigator grant to study "microbiome-mediated therapies for aging and healthspan" in marmosets, which are small monkeys native to South America and are becoming increasingly more important in aging and infectious disease research.

18 Dec 2020

Tumor DNA in DLBCL patient's stem cells or blood can predict risk of relapse after transplant

Many patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) can be cured by a transplant using their own blood-forming stem cells, but as many as half eventually relapse. New research led by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists suggests that patients whose blood or stem cell samples harbor tumor DNA are likely to relapse.

8 Dec 2020

Scientists reveal health benefits of clonal hematopoiesis in allogeneic transplants

Clonal hematopoiesis (CH) is a recently identified condition in which mutations associated with blood cancers are detected in the blood of some healthy, usually older, individuals who don't have cancer. People with CH, while asymptomatic, have an elevated risk of developing blood cancers and other negative health outcomes, including heart attacks and strokes.

7 Dec 2020

Study: Gut microbiota directly shapes the makeup of human immune system

In recent years, the microbiota -- the community of bacteria and other microorganisms that live on and in the human body -- has captured the attention of scientists and the public, in part because it's become easier to study. It has been linked to many aspects of human health.

1 Dec 2020

Study may lead to new strategies that minimize inflammatory reactions after cell transplants

The term leukaemia is used to describe a group of malignant diseases of the haematopoietic system, in which precursors of the white blood cells (leucocytes) proliferate uncontrollably.

20 Nov 2020

Somatic mutation acts as natural gene therapy in patients with GATA2 deficiency

Researchers affiliated with the Center for Cell-Based Therapy (CTC) in Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, have identified for the first time a non-hereditary mutation in blood cells from a patient with GATA2 deficiency, a rare autosomal disease caused by inherited mutations in the gene that encodes GATA-binding protein 2 (GATA2).

18 Nov 2020

Bacterial microbes in the human gut could help diagnose and treat autism spectrum disorder

Every year, 1 out of 54 children in the United States is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, and the count has been increasing, reports the Centers for Disease Research.

16 Nov 2020

Researchers identify a new solution for treating ligament injuries

Ligament injuries that affect scores of regular citizens and athletes are sidelined every year. Added to this, recovery is painful and takes a long time and, at times, a return to normal function is never achieved because of the formation of scars—an aspect that makes ligament injuries inclined to more damage.

4 Nov 2020

Gut microbes mitigate radiation exposure, repair GI tract

A new study by scientists at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and colleagues published Oct. 30, 2020, in Science, showed that mice exposed to potentially lethal levels of total body radiation were protected from radiation damage if they had specific types of bacteria in their gut.

2 Nov 2020

Sodium bicarbonate can reprogram T cells in leukemia patients

Scientists have discovered that sodium bicarbonate - also known as baking soda or bicarbonate of soda - can reprogram T cells in leukemia patients to resist the immune-suppressing effects of cancer cells, which can drive leukemia relapse after stem cell transplants.

29 Oct 2020