Jacques and colleagues present a cross-tissue meta-analysis of DNA methylation aging, revealing conserved aging signatures and modifiable gene clusters.
Category: biotech/medical
Light switch wakes sleeping cancer cells and makes them vulnerable again
Some cancer cells can enter a dormant, sleep-like state that helps them survive treatment. Instead of continuing to grow and divide, these cells become largely inactive, allowing them to avoid the effects of many cancer drugs.
In certain forms of cancer, including some types of lung cancer, stress hormones can trigger this response. Specialized proteins called glucocorticoid receptors detect those hormones inside tumor cells. Once activated, the receptors can push the cells into a dormant state where cell division slows dramatically. As a result, many therapies become far less effective.
Common mucus-clearing treatments don’t help ICU patients breathe easier and may cause harm, clinical trial finds
For patients struggling to breathe because of acute respiratory failure, clearing mucus from the airways is a routine part of treatment. Mucoactive agents are widely used for this purpose. But after years of clinical use, one question remains: Do mucoactive agents actually help?
To figure this out, researchers designed a large study called the MARCH (Mucoactives in Acute Respiratory Failure: Carbocisteine and Hypertonic Saline) randomized trial, which included nearly 2,000 adults across 71 hospitals in the United Kingdom who were on ventilators and having trouble clearing mucus. The focus of the study was to determine the effectiveness of two widely used mucoactive agents: carbocisteine and hypertonic saline (HTS).
The drugs did not deliver the hoped-for benefits. Those who were on carbocisteine spent about the same amount of time on the ventilator as those who didn’t get any treatment, and the same was true for HTS. Instead, the medications appeared to do more harm than good. Patients treated with these mucoactive agents had side effects like bleeding in the stomach, tightened airways and a drop in blood oxygen levels.
Human red blood cells form without central ‘hub’ seen in mouse models, upending understanding of our physiology
Northwestern Medicine scientists have discovered that one of the body’s most fundamental biological processes—how red blood cells are made—works differently in humans than previously thought, according to a new study published in Nature Genetics. The findings overturn decades of assumptions based largely on animal research, said study senior author Peng Ji, MD, Ph.D., the Marie A. Fleming Research Professor of Pathology.
In the study, Ji and his collaborators used advanced spatial mapping tools to directly observe microscopic environments, known as erythroblastic islands (EBIs), inside intact tissues. EBIs have long been understood to act as “nurseries” where red blood cells mature. But until now, scientists lacked a clear picture of what these structures look like in humans.
“For decades, our understanding of these structures has come almost entirely from mouse studies,” said Ji, who is also vice chair for research in the Department of Pathology. “Most experiments relied on isolating cells and studying them in flat, two-dimensional systems, which disrupt their native organization.”
Two prostate cancer mutations reveal opposite responses to ferroptosis therapy
A new study by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has identified genetic factors that determine whether prostate cancers are susceptible to a type of cell death known as ferroptosis. These findings, published in Nature Communications, could help guide treatment strategies for patients whose tumors do not respond to current treatment options.
The study was led by Di Zhao, Ph.D., associate professor, and Boyi Gan, Ph.D., professor, both of Experimental Radiation Oncology.
“Prostate cancer is such a genetically diverse cancer that there are many possible treatment options, so getting patients on the right treatment as quickly as possible is crucially important,” Zhao said. “The two genetic findings in this study could help identify some patients who are more likely to respond, as well as some patients who are significantly less likely.”
From $2 Million Gene Therapy to a Pill That Costs Cents
Today’s age-reversal therapies can cost up to $2 million per patient.
Researchers are now using AI to search for a small-molecule alternative that could one day turn that treatment into a pill costing just a few cents but the biggest scientific challenges are still ahead.
Brainwide blood volume reflects opposing neural populations
An interesting new approach to more accurately predicting blood flow in the mouse brain based on the activity of neurons correlated positively or negatively with arousal (as measured by whisking). Neuropixels and functional ultrasound imaging were used to simultaneously record from neurons and map blood flow, allowing the authors to derive their model.
Combined functional ultrasound imaging and Neuropixels recording of mouse brains identify two neuronal populations with opposing arousal-related activity and distinct haemodynamic response functions, that occur throughout the brain.