Cancer Research UK has announced its international partnership with France’s Institut National Du Cancer (INCa), investing £8.6m to drive world-class global cancer research. As part of the global Cancer Grand Challenges initiative, the partnership will help fund world-class researchers to take on cancer’s toughest challenges. Claiming almost ten million lives every year, cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide. The INCa is currently the first to pledge funds to support several teams in a single round of the Cancer Grand Challenges initiative, as well as the initiative’s original founding partners, Cancer Research UK and the US National Cancer Institute (NCI). Since its founding in 2020, more than £210m has been invested in the initiative, which aims to build a scientifically elite, interdisciplinary community to fill knowledge gaps in cancer and drive progress. The initiative comprises diverse international organisations, collaborators and research leaders, including the Scientific Foundation of the ...
Scientists from the UK’s Dementia Research Institute at University College London (UCL) and VIB-KU Leuven have discovered the cause of the death of neurons in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), opening up potential avenues to develop new treatments for the condition. The researchers found that a programmed form of cell death, known as necroptosis, is initiated when neurons are exposed to amyloid plaques and tau tangles. The researchers created a new model to replicate and connect AD hallmark features – amyloid plaques, tau tangles, and death of neurons – by implanting both healthy human and mouse neurons into the brains of AD mouse models. They discovered that only human neurons displayed Alzheimer’s features, including tau tangles and neuronal cell loss. These findings suggest that humans have specific factors that play in Alzheimer’s that standard mouse models cannot replicate, as their neurons are more resilient to amyloid pathology. Upon further research, the team ...
Researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research’s (ICR) Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery have developed a new test, RKD2, which makes the early stages of drug discovery for cancer more efficient. Funded by Cancer Research UK, the researchers created an investigative procedure that can help scientists identify new biologically active compounds to be used to develop effective medications. Fragment-based drug discovery uses various techniques to screen libraries of compounds, or fragments, with a low molecular weight. During the initial stage, scientists introduce a potential anti-cancer target and see which fragments interact with it. Previously, researchers could only determine that ‘yes, an interaction occurred’ or ‘no, there was no interaction’. However, it was difficult to apply this to weak interactions, and the team could not rule out nonspecific interactions. The new RKD2 test allows researchers to quantify interactions by determining their strength, identifying those that are truly active and worth following ...
In response to the persistent health challenges of herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) and HSV-2, today the National Institutes of Health released the Strategic Plan for Herpes Simplex Virus Research. An NIH-wide HSV Working Group developed the plan, informed by feedback from more than 100 representatives of the research and advocacy communities and interested public stakeholders. The plan outlines an HSV research framework with four strategic priorities: improving fundamental knowledge of HSV biology, pathogenesis, and epidemiology; accelerating research to improve HSV diagnosis; improving strategies to treat HSV while seeking a curative therapeutic; and, advancing research to prevent HSV infection. HSV-1 and HSV-2 are among the most common viral infections in the United States. HSV can cause recurring blisters or sores. In severe cases HSV may lead to life-threatening or long-term complications, typically in the central nervous system. There are no licensed preventive HSV vaccines, and there is no cure. Up ...
Three Kessler Foundation research scientists, Timothy Rich, PhD, OTR/L, and Co-Principal Investigators Helen Genova, PhD, and Heba Elsayed, MD, have been awarded $777,325 in federal grants by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to expand research in the fields of neglect dyslexia and autism. These studies may provide major steps towards finding innovative solutions for individuals affected by these conditions. Dr. Rich, research scientist in the Center for Stroke Rehabilitation Research, was awarded $626,889 to conduct research on “Gaze, Head Rotation, and Neuroanatomic Correlates of Reading Errors in Neglect Dyslexia.” Neglect dyslexia, a reading impairment associated with post-stroke spatial neglect, presents a significant obstacle to achieving functional independence in daily activities. Dr. Timothy Rich (research scientist, Center for Stroke Rehabilitation Research) said, “We aim to delve deeper into understanding the mediating role of gaze in neglect dyslexic errors. By collecting biometric, behavioral, and neuroimaging data, this research will provide valuable ...
Novo Nordisk and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have announced a new research alliance to address ‘critical unmet clinical needs’ in diabetes and cardiometabolic diseases. The collaboration aims to identify disease-modifying interventions to improve the standards of care for people living with type 2 diabetes and cardiac fibrosis. The Novo side of the collaboration is secured through the Novo Nordisk Bio Innovation Hub, a research and development unit designed for life sciences innovation and focused on cardiometabolic, rare blood and rare endocrine disorders. Utilising state-of-the-art genetics and genomics methods, the collaboration aims to interrogate subtypes of diabetes. Along with the Broad’s Center for the Development of Therapeutics, using large-scale cell screens, the research will focus on the relationships between genes and pathways that could be therapeutic targets. Type 2 diabetes affects more than 37 million people in the US. Scarring of the heart, or cardiac fibrosis, is common ...
A multidisciplinary team of investigators from the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center was awarded a $2.5 million Translational Team Science Award from the Department of Defense to develop a tailored treatment for glioblastoma, a deadly brain tumor with limited treatment options. The team -; including David Nathanson, associate professor of molecular and medical pharmacology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Benjamin Ellingson, director of the UCLA Brain Tumor Imaging Laboratory and professor of radiological sciences, and Dr. Timothy Cloughesy, professor of neuro-oncology -; plan to target the epidermal growth factor receptor, a protein that is mutated in about 60% of people diagnosed with glioblastoma. Previous attempts have had limited success improving patient outcomes due to drugs’ inability to cross the blood-brain barrier and target genetic alterations in the protein that are unique to glioblastoma. To overcome these obstacles, the researchers have developed ERAS-801, a brain-penetrant inhibitor that ...
Researchers at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center published two studies this week on a new approach that could improve treatment for patients with pancreatic cancer — a disease that an estimated 64,050 U.S. adults will be diagnosed with in 2023. The preclinical studies showed that combining immunotherapy with a KRAS inhibitor can lead to long-lasting tumor elimination in pancreatic cancer. The research explored the functional role of KRAS mutations in pancreatic cancer. KRAS belongs to a family of genes that encode proteins that participate in cell signaling, activating or deactivating to regulate the growth of cells. When KRAS are mutated, they cause the uncontrolled cell growth that occurs in cancer. The oncology community has known “for a while now” that KRAS mutations drive pancreatic cancer, but it has had a hard time figuring out a way to effectively drug these mutated genes, explained Dr. Raghu Kalluri, an ...
An academic group has published preclinical results with a new antibody that has greater activity and fewer side effects than existing biological therapies for inflammatory conditions. This could translate into a clinical benefit for patients living with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), psoriasis, or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Researchers from the University of Birmingham in the UK and the University of Naples Federico II in Italy revealed promising results after designing an antibody that targets a 20-long amino acid sequence in interleukin-17 (IL-17) – a protein important in inflammatory pathways. According to the team, they demonstrated for the first time that this sequence activates the release of cyto-chemokines. The antibody, which has been called Ab-IPL-IL-17, targets this sequence in both IL-17A and IL-17F. In cell studies, it demonstrated an ability to reduce the production of cyto-chemokines and white blood cell migration to inflammation-primed tissue. When the researchers compared it to existing therapies ...
The Scleroderma Research Foundation (SRF) has announced the launch of a new clinical trial platform aimed at advancing treatments for the rare autoimmune disease of the skin and organs. Using a model created over a decade ago to accelerate oncology drug development but not previously used for autoimmune disorders, the CONQUEST platform is designed to identify agents that are ready to progress from phase 2b to phase 3 clinical trials. The initiative, conceived and led by the SRF, will initially focus on interstitial lung disease secondary to scleroderma but will be expanded in the future to address other manifestations of the disease. The first iteration, which is expected to begin in the fourth quarter of this year, will include approximately 400 patients and will test two drugs, including one from Sanofi. The trial will measure forced vital capacity, the total volume of air that can be exhaled during a maximal ...
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