Research led by the Steno Diabetes Center Odense shows that high levels of interleukin (IL)-6 predicted increased risk for obesity-related cancer in newly diagnosed people with type 2 diabetes. Notably, other markers of inflammation, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), did not significantly predict cancer risk…

A research team at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine has made a significant discovery that could enhance the effectiveness of stem-cell transplants, a critical treatment for patients with cancer, blood disorders, or autoimmune diseases. Published in Science, the study reveals a novel mechanism that may improve the mobilization of…

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a cancer of the bone marrow and the blood that progresses rapidly without treatment. Now, scientists at Purdue University’s College of Science and collaborators have developed a patent-pending compound called HSN748 to treat drug-resistant AML. Their findings are published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation in…

Two separate Phase III clinical trials have shown that the diabetes and obesity drug tirzepatide led to significant decreases in the in the number of breathing interruptions during sleep of patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), setting it up as potentially the first medication to treat the disorder. The results…

According to new research presented at the 2024 Annual European Hematology Association (EHA) Congress, Vertex and Editas continue to provide positive results for patients with transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia (TDT) or severe sickle cell disease (SCD). Vertex announced encouraging long-term results for CASGEVY, the only FDA-approved CRISPR-based gene-editing treatment (exagamglogene autotemcel…

Many patients who receive hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) for blood cancer suffer from stress related to their treatments. Now, a new phone-based positive psychology program called Positive Affect for the Transplantation of Hematopoietic stem cells intervention (PATH), has shown that it can alleviate the stress these patients experience as…

Insights into fibrotic liver disease and a candidate drug to interfere with this process were uncovered in recent work by a team from the University of California San Diego. Their research describes a pathway that leads to fatty liver, they also designed a drug candidate to affect this pathway. This…

More than 275 million previously unreported genetic variants have been identified by the National Institutes of Health’s All of Us Research Program, which has enrolled more than 750,000 people since it was launched in 2018. Notably, half of the genomic data in this study are from participants of non-European genetic…

Researchers have used a gene editing technique to treat a rare immune disorder that could help overcome concerns over the use of gene therapy in these patients. The treatment targets deficiencies in recombination activating genes (RAGs), which can affect the production of lymphocytes and cause severe immune disorders. Specifically, it…

Immusoft has dosed the first patient with an engineered B cell therapy—ISP-001 for MPS I (Mucopolysaccharidosis type I). This approach has several potential advantages over current gene and cell therapies. It does not require preconditioning (myeloablative chemotherapy) or immunosuppression, is administered as an IV on an outpatient basis, and it…

In a landmark moment for sickle cell disease treatment and CRISPR, two gene therapies were approved for the condition by the U.S. FDA. One of them,Vertex and CRISPR Therapeutics’ Casgevy (exagamglogene autotemcel [exa-cel]), is the first ever FDA approved CRISPR/Cas9 genome-edited cell therapy. Simultaneously, Bluebird Bio received the FDA OK…

New research led by investigators at Uppsala University in Sweden shows emerging evidence that autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (aHSCT) may be a suitable treatment for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS). Relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) is characterized by distinct inflammatory episodes that result in varying degrees of disability. The symptoms will resolve…

Just after 8:30 ET on Tuesday night a Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station (ISS) launched carrying 20 payloads of a diverse set of research projects to determine the benefits of working in microgravity. One of the projects, designed by Mayo Clinic and ClinImmune scientists in collaboration…

An RNA-based gene editing tool that alters red blood cells inside the body could provide a simpler and less toxic route to treating conditions such as sickle cell anemia and beta thalassemia, researchers report. The discovery, outlined in Science, offers an alternative to current gene therapy for these blood disorders,…

A new standard for graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prevention after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) may have been set, according to results from a phase III study published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine. The new regimen led to almost 53% survival compared to about 35% on the current treatment used.…