In a paper published today in the journal Science Translational Medicine, researchers at the Schroeder Arthritis Institute, part of University Health Network (UHN) in Toronto, have made a discovery that could lead to new treatments for axial spondyloarthritis (SpA), a painful and debilitating form of arthritis which affects 1-2% of Canadians and causes inflammation in […]
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Bone-loss discovery points to potential treatment for osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis
A new discovery about osteoporosis suggests a potential treatment target for that brittle-bone disease and for bone loss from rheumatoid arthritis. The findings from University of Virginia School of Medicine researchers and their collaborators help explain why specialized bone cells, called “osteoclasts,” begin to break down more bone than the body replaces. With more research, […]
153 years after discovery of the immune system’s dendritic cells, scientists uncover a new subset
When pathogens invade or tumor cells emerge, the immune system is alerted by danger signals that summon a key battalion of first responders, the unsung heroes of the immune system—a population of starfish-shaped sentinels called dendritic cells. Without them, coordination of the immune response would be slower and less-well organized. Yet even in the face […]
Discovery of potential new combination therapy for leukemia
WEHI researchers have discovered why some leukemia cells are resistant to new “SMAC-mimetic’ anti-cancer agents, a finding which could improve the use of these drugs in the clinic. The team discovered that the ‘drug pump’ protein MDR1 makes acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells resistant to SMAC-mimetics, by rapidly pumping out the drug of the cells […]
New discovery could lead to therapies for patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy
A new study, led by the University of California, Irvine (UCI), reveals how chronic inflammation promotes muscle fibrosis, which could inform the development of new therapies for patients suffering from Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a fatal muscle disease. Titled, “A Stromal Progenitor and ILC2 Niche Promotes Muscle Eosinophilia and Fibrosis-Associated Gene Expression,” the study was […]
Discovery shows how to treat heart attacks—new drug development underway
Vanderbilt researchers have identified the protein receptor in specialized heart cells that, when removed, preserves cardiac function after a heart attack. This discovery has significant implications for survival after a heart attack, with a promising therapeutic development now underway at the Warren Center for Neuroscience Drug Discovery. The article, “Targeting 5-HT2B Receptor Signaling Prevents Border […]
Insights into the role of DNA repair and Huntington’s disease gene mutation open new avenues for drug discovery
Recent genetic data from patients with Huntington’s disease (HD) show that DNA repair is an important factor that determines how early or late the disease occurs in individuals who carry the expanded CAG repeat in the HTT gene that causes HD. The processes of DNA repair further expand the CAG repeats in HTT in the […]
Breast cancer discovery could help stop disease’s deadly spread
University of Virginia Cancer Center researchers have identified a gene responsible for the spread of triple-negative breast cancer to other parts of the body—a process called metastasis—and developed a potential way to stop it. Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive form of breast cancer that accounts for 40,000 deaths in the United States […]
Discovery of ‘thought worms’ opens window to the mind
Queen’s University researchers uncover brain-based marker of new thoughts and discover we have more than 6,000 thoughts each day. Researchers at Queen’s University have established a method that, for the first time, can detect indirectly when one thought ends and another begins. Dr. Jordan Poppenk (Psychology) and his master’s student, Julie Tseng, devised a way […]
Discovery could help slow down progression of Parkinson’s disease
A collaboration between scientists at Rutgers University and Scripps Research led to the discovery of a small molecule that may slow down or stop the progression of Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s, which affects 1 million people in the United States and over 10 million worldwide according to the Parkinson’s Foundation, is a neurodegenerative disorder with no […]