Despite smoking's well-known role in causing lung cancer, a significant number of patients who develop lung tumors have never smoked. While scientists are still working to understand what spurs cancer in so-called "never-smokers," a study led by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis demonstrates new possibilities for treating these baffling tumors. […]
A study of microbial populations under a prolonged period of starvation by Indiana University professor Jay T. Lennon and his laboratory could help researchers answer questions pertaining to chronic infections, the functioning of bacteria in the environment and the persistence of life itself. In a paper published online Aug. 12 by the Proceedings of the […]
In the first analysis of its kind, researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and several other institutions have linked distinct patterns of genetic mutations with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in humans. The work, published online June 28 in Nature Neuroscience, confirms the validity of targeting specific genes to develop new OCD treatments […]
A new class of drugs that inhibits a ‘master switch’ involved in the vast majority of cases of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), a fatal subtype of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, has been discovered by researchers at Mount Sinai. In a study in Clinical Cancer Research published in June, the team reported that the drugs, known as small-molecule […]
Cancer cells can develop resistance to therapy through both genetic and non-genetic mechanisms. But it is unclear how and why one of these routes to resistance prevails. Understanding this 'choice' by the cancer cells may help us devise better therapeutic strategies. Now, the team of Prof. Jean-Christophe Marine (VIB-KU Leuven Center for Cancer Biology) shows […]
In a multi-institutional study, researchers in the Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics Research Network (DBPNet), led by Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), have conducted the first and largest analysis to date comparing the effectiveness and side effects of stimulants like methylphenidate (Ritalin) and alpha-adrenergic agonists like guanfacine (Tenex) in preschool-age children. The researchers found that both classes of […]
Around the world, 71 million people have been infected with the hepatitis C virus. The primary route of infection is through direct contact with another person’s blood. This means the virus can be transmitted in a number of ways, including intravenous drug use, tattooing, contaminated blood or blood products and surgical procedures. Infection with this […]
Unless you've studied chemistry in college, it's unlikely you've come across the name aziridine. An organic compound with the molecular formula, C2H4NH, aziridines are well-known among medicinal chemists, who make use of the compound to prepare pharmaceutical drugs such as Mitomycin C, a chemotherapeutic agent known for its anti-tumor activity. Specifically, aziridines are what chemists […]
A new study, released on the bioRxiv* preprint server, shows that rapamycin, an immunosuppressive drug used in some cancers, and its analogs, may have an undesirable effect on viral entry into the host cells. This finding could inform their use to treat symptomatic coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). There is a serious lack of effective antivirals […]
The lack of new or repurposed drugs to treat patients with severe or critical coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been one of the biggest hurdles to reducing mortality rates in the ongoing pandemic caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). A new study, published online in the journal Drug Development Research, describes […]
