Immune checkpoints are a normal part of the immune system. Their function is to prevent an immune response from being so powerful that it destroys healthy cells in the body. Immunotherapy drugs called immune checkpoint inhibitors, such as Keytruda and Opdivo, work by unleashing the immune system’s T cells to attack tumor cells. Their introduction a decade ago marked a major advance in cancer therapy. However, only 10% to 30% of treated patients experience long-term improvement.

Now, scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine describe findings that could bolster the effectiveness of immune-checkpoint therapy in a study published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation (JCI) on November 15.

Rather than rally T cells against cancer, the Einstein research team used different human immune cells known as natural killer (NK) cells. Their dramatic results were dramatic. “We believe the novel immunotherapy we’ve developed has great potential to move into clinical trials involving various types of cancer,” said study leader Xingxing Zang, M.Med., Ph.D. He is the Louis Goldstein Swan Chair in Cancer Research and professor of microbiology & immunology, of oncology, of urology, and of medicine at Einstein and a member of the Cancer Therapeutics Program of the Montefiore Einstein Cancer Center.

According to Johns Hopkins Medicine scientists, a recent study with obese mice adds to evidence that specialized channel proteins are potential therapeutic targets for sleep apnea and other unusually slow breathing disorders in obese individuals.

The protein, a cation channel known as TRPM7, is located in carotid bodies, minute sensory organs in the neck that sense changes in oxygen and carbon dioxide levels, as well as certain hormones such as leptin, in the bloodstream. TRPM7 proteins aid in the transport and regulation of positively charged molecules into and out of the cells of the carotid bodies.

Lenise Kim, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins Medicine and the leader of the current study, expands on earlier results from the lab that indicated TRPM7 had a role in the development of high blood pressure in mice.

The discovery was made through a fatal bacteria named Group A Streptococcus.

Australian researchers have recently discovered a previously unknown mechanism used by bacteria to resist antibiotic treatment. According to a press release published by Telethon Kids Institute, it’s predicted that this antimicrobial resistance (AMR) will kill ten million people annually by 2050.

Manjurul/iStock.

To prevent this, Dr. Timothy Barnett — head of the Strep A Pathogenesis and Diagnostics team at the Wesfarmers Centre of Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, based at Telethon Kids Institute in Perth — and his team launched a brand-new mechanism through which bacteria can absorb nutrients from their human hosts while evading antibiotic therapy.

Two weeks ago, COVID-19 conspiracy theorist Stew Peters released an antivax pseudodocumentary, Died Suddenly, whose main claim is that COVID-19 vaccines cause clots that have caused a massive wave of people to “die suddenly.” Key to its narrative are embalmers claiming that they are seeing more clots in the bodies they are embalming than ever before. SBM has recruited Benjamin Schmidt, an experienced embalmer, to dissect their claims.

Here’s why the flu and RSV are surging right now—and how COVID itself may have affected our immune systems.