Epigenetic factors likely explain why not all individuals with type 1 diabetes genetic risk variants go on to develop the condition, according to researchers based at Huazhong University of Science and Technology. Type 1 diabetes is a heterogenous condition and is thought to have different causes in different people. Genetic…

Studies in laboratory cell lines and in mouse tumor models show an antibiotic developed in the 1950s called novabiocin effectively targets and kills cancer cells with abnormal BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, which normally help to repair damaged DNA. The research team, based at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, showed the drug…

In the 1990s, Elissa Levin proposed a master’s thesis on using the Internet to extend the reach of genetic counselors. Quickly, her committee shut down that idea. In those “old days”—just a few decades ago—many genetic counselors believed that only face-to-face assessments could be useful. In the midst of the…

Investigators at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg (DKFZ) and the Mannheim Medical Faculty of the University of Heidelberg have released data on an antibody they created that blocks a receptor that stimulates the formation of new blood vessels in tumors and metastasis. Findings from the new stud—published recently…

Thyroid dysfunction following cancer treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors is more common than previously thought, according to research accepted for presentation at the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting (which was cancelled), and soon to be published in a special supplemental section of the Journal of the Endocrine Society. Cancer immunotherapy, particularly treatment…

Nucleic acid developer and manufacturer Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT) announced this week it was expanding it global partnership with genomic and radiomic analysis company SOPHiA Genetics to bundle IDT’s kits and reagents with the SOPHiA analytic platform. “Our strong relationship with IDT has enabled us to further accelerate the democratization…

As immune checkpoint inhibitor drugs have shown spectacular results in some patients, while other patients show little or no response, the race is on to develop biomarkers of immune activity that can help identify responders from non-responders. Now, a team of investigators at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute…

A research team led by Hongzhe Sun from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), in collaboration with researchers including Junwen Wang from Mayo Clinic, Arizona, have used a deep learning approach to predict disease-associated mutations of the metal-binding sites in a protein. Understanding such mutations could…

The blood-based cell-free DNA (cfDNA) HELIXAFE test can detect solid tumors even before they develop, according to a study published in the journal Cell Death & Disease by an international group of experts coordinated by Bioscience Genomics, a research entity formed by the collaboration between the University of Rome Tor Vergata and Bioscience…

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center have partnered with investigators at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Foundation Medicine to develop what Moffitt said was the largest descriptive genomic analysis to date of patients with Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC). MCC is a rare aggressive skin tumor that is diagnosed in approximately 2,000…

Biodesix said it will partner with Thermo Fisher Scientific to develop a next-generation sequencing (NGS) assay for use as a blood-based diagnostic solution for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Biodesix plans to obtain FDA premarket approval for the diagnostic by using Thermo Fisher’s Ion Torrent Oncomine Pan-Cancer Cell-Free Assay…

Researchers have uncovered three ways FOXA1 (Forkhead box A1) gene mutations override normal biology to drive an estimated one-third of prostate cancers. Dubbed FAST, FURIOUS and LOUD, the three mechanisms are described in a paper by researchers at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center. Their findings were published in Nature,…

A new compound has been discovered that disables a key DNA repair pathway involved In cancer drug resistance. The potential drug, found by researchers at MIT and Duke University, enhances the effects of cisplatin, a popular cancer chemotherapy. The paper appears in the June 6 issue of Cell. Cisplatin is a…

Multidimensional, computationally rich approaches represent the next wave of innovation, taking personalized medicine to the next level, while demanding more of practitioners, who in turn demand convenient, informative updates on the ever-changing state of clinical omics,” Clinical OMICs noted in introducing itself to readers with its first issue, dated April…

Scientists at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope, report the development of LumosVar, a computer program that can help identify cancer-causing mutations from patient tumor samples. The study (“Leveraging Spatial Variation in Tumor Purity for Improved Somatic Variant Calling of Archival Tumor Only Samples”) appears in Frontiers in Oncology.…