Study shows efficacy of radionuclide therapy–immunotherapy combination in prostate cancer model
A combination of radionuclide therapy and immunotherapy has proven successful in slowing the progression of prostate cancer and increasing survival time, according to new research published in the February issue of The
Journal of Nuclear Medicine. The results of the murine study indicate that radionuclide therapy promotes prostate cancer immunogenicity, provoking a cellular response that makes the tumors more receptive to immunotherapy.
Prostate cancer is generally viewed as an immunological cold cancer in which immunotherapies only have moderate success. Increasing prostate cancer immunogenicity with prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) radionuclide therapy, however, might render immunotherapies more successful. In our research we sought to exploit this effect by combining radionuclide therapy with immunotherapy in a mouse model of prostate cancer.
Discovery of ‘Achilles heel’ in gut bacteria may lead to targeted therapies for Crohn’s disease
The discovery of an Achilles heel in a type of gut bacteria that causes intestinal inflammation in patients with Crohn s disease may lead to more targeted therapies for the difficult to treat disease, according to Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian investigators.
In a study published Feb. 3 in
Cell Host and Microbe, the investigators showed that patients with Crohn s disease have an overabundance of a type of gut bacteria called adherent-invasive Escherichia coli (AIEC), which promotes inflammation in the intestine. Their experiments revealed that a metabolite produced by the bacteria interacts with immune system cells in the lining of the intestine, triggering inflammation. Interfering with this process, by either reducing the bacteria s food supply or eliminating a key enzyme in the process relieved gut inflammation in a mouse model of Crohn s disease.
Muscle wasting, or the loss of muscle tissue, is a common problem for people with cancer, but the precise mechanisms have long eluded doctors and scientists. Now, a new study led by Penn State researchers gives new clues to how muscle wasting happens on a cellular level.
Remyelinating drug shows potential to improve vision in patients with MS
A team led by a biomedical scientist at the University of California, Riverside, reports a drug an estrogen receptor ligand called indazole chloride (IndCl) has the potential to improve vision in patients with multiple sclerosis, or MS.
The study, performed on mice induced with a model of MS and the first to investigate IndCl s effect on the pathology and function of the complete afferent visual pathway, is published in
Brain Pathology. The afferent visual pathway includes the eyes, optic nerve, and all brain structures responsible for receiving, transmitting, and processing visual information.
Researchers identify new strategy to protect offspring from prenatal stress
New research from the University of Iowa and University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center demonstrates that offspring can be protected from the effects of prenatal stress by administering a neuroprotective compound during pregnancy.
Working in a mouse model, Rachel Schroeder, a student in the UI Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience, drew a connection between the work of her two mentors, Hanna Stevens, MD, PhD, UI associate professor of psychiatry and Ida P. Haller Chair of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Andrew A. Pieper, MD, PhD, a former UI faculty member, now Morley-Mather Chair of Neuropsychiatry at Case Western Reserve University and Investigator and Director of the Neurotherapeutics Center at the Harrington Discovery Institute, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center.