Lifeboat Foundation

Immunotherapy, which uses the body’s own immune system to fight cancer, is an effective treatment option, yet many patients do not respond to it. Thus, cancer researchers are seeking new ways to optimize immunotherapy so that it is more effective for more people.

Now, Salk Institute scientists have found that manipulating an early step in energy production in mitochondria—the cell’s powerhouses—reduces melanoma tumor growth and enhances the immune response in mice.

The study, published in Science on September 21, 2023, revealed that when electrons take one of two initial routes through mitochondria, genes and proteins become activated that are needed for immune cells to recognize and kill tumor cells.

What does it take to bring life-changing medical robotic devices to reality? This is a question Dr. Gregory Fischer, founder and CEO of AiM Medical Robotics, explored in his keynote “From Concept to Commercialization: It’s not Brain Surgery, or is it?” at BIOMEDevice Boston, MA. As a researcher, professor, and lead investigator supported by federal government grants, director of a state-funded medtech accelerator, and founder of multiple medical device companies, Fischer has a unique perspective on conceptualizing, refining, and commercializing medical devices, as well as the challenges that come with each step.

Focusing on neurosurgery, he highlighted specific challenges clinicians face during procedures including an inability to leverage real-time intraoperative MR imaging for precision — surgeons must transfer a patient mid-surgery to an MRI in a separate room and sometimes even a separate building within the hospital complex — resulting in inefficient workflow and interruptions in sterility and anesthesia during transfers. Additionally, he mentioned limited compatibility with various MRI scanners, and an increased risk of human errors because of complex manual processes.

Integrating robotic assistance, he said, enhances the reachable target area and improves dexterity and precision of motion during such difficult procedures such as neurosurgery, adds enhanced feedback and virtual fixtures, reduces procedure time, and avoids ergonomic issues. An increase in intervention accuracy through inherent integration with image guidance tools, and improved diagnostic and therapeutic outcomes are also advantages of robotic assistance, according to Fischer.

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. The most common type of childhood cancer is acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), a blood and bone marrow cancer that creates immature white blood cells that can’t perform their typical functions. Because of this, the disease worsens quickly.

Most likely to occur in early childhood, ALL is more common in boys than girls, according to the American Cancer Society. Children younger than five are at highest risk for developing ALL.

Asmaa Ferdjallah, M.D., a Mayo Clinic pediatric hematologist and oncologist, treats children of all ages with ALL. Here’s what she wants families to know about this disease:

Inflammation is generally a good response that occurs in the body when infected with a foreign pathogen. The infected area gets hot and swollen from immune cell infiltration to kill the pathogen. As soon as the pathogen is killed, the body sends signals to reduce inflammation and bring the body back to baseline or homeostasis. This acute inflammation is necessary, but when inflammation is prolonged or chronic, it can have devastating effects.

Cytokines are small proteins released by cells that help direct function and communicate between one another. During inflammation many different cytokines are released to signal immune cells to come and kill the pathogen. Additionally, once the immune cells get there, they also release cytokines to get more immune cells to the sight of infection. There becomes a positive feedback loop until the pathogen is killed, in which the cells then send anti-inflammatory cytokines to regulate the immune system. In chronic inflammation the release of inflammatory cytokines is sustained and leads to a “cytokine storm”. A “cytokine storm” is a phrase used to describe millions of different cytokines in an area with inflammatory functions. A “cytokine storm” usually leads to cytokine release syndrome (CRS), which makes a person sick. CRS can result in many different symptoms including, but not limited to, fever, fatigue, headache, and rash. In extreme cases, it can result in infection and even death.

This November, researchers, clinicians, and investors will descend on Miami, Florida for the annual Wonderland conference. This year, the world’s leading psychedelics conference is expanding its focus to include longevity for the first time, welcoming top speakers from across the field, from Bryan Johnson to Aubrey de Grey.

Through a series of keynotes, round table and panel discussions, and town hall open mic sessions, the event aims to explore the increasingly linked topics of psychedelic medicine, mental health, and longevity medicine.

Longevity. Technology: Every month it seems, more and more research is highlighting the connection between mental health and longevity – from accelerated biological aging to reduced life expectancy. With psychedelics simultaneously demonstrating compelling results in the treatment of mental conditions, from depression to PTSD, the synergies between longevity and psychedelic medicine are clear. We caught up with leading longevity physician Dr Halland Chen to tap into his views on recent developments in longevity medicine and its links with the psychedelic world.

Tumor metabolism is mandatory for the proper adaptation of malignant cells to the microenvironment and the acquisition of crucial cellular skills supporting the systemic spread of cancer. Throughout this journey, the contribution of the gut microbiota to the bioavailability of nutrients supporting the bioenergetic and biosynthetic requirements of malignant cells is an issue. This review will focus on the role of cysteine as a coin that mediates the metabolic crosstalk between microbiota and cancer. The key points enclose the way cysteine can be made available by the microbiota, by degradation of more complex compounds or by de novo synthesis, in order to contribute to the enrichment of the colonic microenvironment as well to the increase of cysteine systemic bioavailability. In addition, the main metabolic pathways in cancer that rely on cysteine as a source of energy and biomass will be pointed out and how the interspecific relationship with the microbiota and its dynamics related to aging may be relevant points to explore, contributing to a better understanding of cancer biology.

In the human organism, several interspecific relationships are constantly in operation, which are established between the different species that make up the microbiota and the human cells of the various organs where it resides. These interspecific relationships are mainly symbiotic in which both partners benefit. This is the case in health, but in disease, there are still some doubts about the role of the microbiota in the pathophysiology, namely, in the context of cancer, at both the organ and systemic levels. Currently, new clues have been proposed, and several studies have been developed to determine the influence of microbiota in cancer initiation, progression, and therapy, as it is extensively reviewed (1– 7).

Metabolic adaptation in cancer is undoubtedly an essential requirement for the establishment, growth, and spread of a malignant neoplasm. Cellular plasticity is crucial for the adaptation of the tumor cell to the microenvironment of the organ where carcinogenesis occurs and to the emergence of stress conditions, such as drug exposure. Recent studies prove that cysteine metabolic circuits are a relevant component of the metabolic network, sustaining biosynthesis and bioenergetics and allowing chemoresistance (as reviewed in 8 – 10). This review intends to confront some of the most recent findings in the field of cysteine metabolism in cancer and the role of the intestinal microbiota in the dynamic balance of the control of cysteine bioavailability and its putative impact on the progression of oncological disease.

A tiny device implanted during brain surgery could help provide personalized information about a tumor’s potential responses to cancer-fighting drugs.

A team of scientists led by researchers from the University of Leicester has determined that genes responsible for learning, memory, aggression, and other complex behaviors emerged approximately 650 million years ago.

The research spearheaded by Dr. Roberto Feuda, of the Neurogenetic group within the Department of Genetics and Genome Biology, in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Leicester and the University of Fribourg (Switzerland), has recently been published in the journal Nature Communications.

<em>Nature Communications</em> is a peer-reviewed, open-access, multidisciplinary, scientific journal published by Nature Portfolio. It covers the natural sciences, including physics, biology, chemistry, medicine, and earth sciences. It began publishing in 2010 and has editorial offices in London, Berlin, New York City, and Shanghai.

Natural killer (NK) cells represent an important class of immune cells involved in anti-tumor immunity. Once identifying a tumor cell, NK cells use small particles to kill the cancer cell.

Our understanding of the role of NK cells in anti-tumor immunity has led to the development of techniques that transfer NK cells from a healthy individual into a cancer patient. Such approaches, known as allogeneic NK cell adoptive transfer, have effectively treated certain types of leukemia and lymphoma. While such strategies can induce remission, clinical challenges about the survival and function of the transferred NK cells exist. Thus, research focused on enhancing the ability of transferred NK cells to survive and maintain their ability to function has become highly valuable in an effort to provide new, efficacious therapeutic options.

A new report published in Science Translational Medicine finds that a vitamin supplement could effectively improve the efficacy of NK cell adoptive transfer treatment. Supported by pre-clinical studies, the investigators conducted a phase 1 clinical trial to test a new method for processing NK cells before transferring them to a patient.