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Category: biotech/medical – Page 78

Stable DNA building blocks enable faster oligonucleotide synthesis without oxidation

The chemical synthesis of oligonucleotides (ONs) is central to modern molecular biology, diagnostics and nucleic acid therapeutics. While demand for high-quality ONs is increasing, the conventional synthetic method has long-standing efficiency challenges. Widely adopted P(III)-phosphoramidite-based ON synthesis requires an oxidation step after every nucleotide coupling cycle and uses moisture-sensitive building blocks, adding complexity to the workflow and slowing the process.

Early studies of ON synthesis showed that pentavalent phosphorus [P(V)] chemistry could form linkages between nucleotides. However, practical limitations, including unstable intermediates, slow coupling, harsh deprotection or poor performance during chain elongation, prevented these methods from replacing P(III)-based phosphoramidite chemistry.

A recent study led by Associate Professor Noriko Saito-Tarashima of the Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Tokushima University in Japan, along with Nana Mihara, a doctoral student from the same institution, investigated whether nucleoside 3′-phosphorofluoridates [P(V)–F] could be used as stable building blocks for ON synthesis without requiring a separate oxidation step.

Misfolded insulin may be quietly driving diabetes

As prediabetes advances toward diabetes, this delicate process can begin to break down. Misfolded and defective proteins accumulate inside cells, creating stress that can damage the pancreatic cells responsible for producing insulin.

Researchers from Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and the University of Michigan reported new details about this process on June 1, 2026, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Their findings reveal how insulin-producing cells coordinate protein folding and what happens when that system falls out of balance. The work suggests that strengthening the cellular machinery responsible for folding proteins could help protect these cells from damage.

UCLA researchers may have discovered how to heal damaged kidneys

A drug previously developed at UCLA to help heart tissue repair itself after a heart attack might also help kidney tissue repair and regenerate, researchers have found.

The drug, called AD-NP1, which was recently approved by the FDA for a Phase 1 clinical trial in humans, works in heart tissue by blocking a protein that disrupts healing and prevents internal organs from fully recovering. Researchers have now found that blocking this protein in kidney tissue speeds repair after kidney injury in mice.

The new finding, published in Cell Stem Cell, builds upon many years of research in the laboratory of UCLA cardiovascular scientist Arjun Deb.

Bloodstream-delivered cell therapy slows muscle decline in young people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, trial finds

A cell therapy called deramiocel could slow muscle weakening in boys and young men with advanced Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and may also slow heart damage in those who already have heart muscle disease, a Phase III clinical trial published in The Lancet has found.

It is the first Phase III trial of a cell therapy made from donor cells and administered through the bloodstream to treat a genetic disease, and the first such trial in boys and young men whose DMD is already advanced. The therapy is grown from heart cells that were donated for transplant but could not be used.

There is no cure for DMD, a serious genetic condition that causes the muscles, including the heart, to gradually weaken and waste away. It almost exclusively affects boys and young men because the gene involved sits on the X chromosome. As the disease progresses, most patients lose the ability to walk and come to depend on their arms and hands for everyday tasks and independence.

Hesperidin and Hesperetin: EpigeneticStemness Crosstalk, Antitumor Mechanisms, Preclinical Data and Translation Barriers

Hesperidin is a natural flavonoid derived from citrus plants, which can be hydrolyzed into hesperetin in vivo. Both compounds have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and antitumor activities. At present, there is a lack of reviews focusing on the epigenetic regulation of cancer stem cells (CSCs) mediated by hesperidin and hesperetin. This review summarizes the molecular crosstalk between hesperidin/hesperetin and CSCs mediated via three major epigenetic pathways, including direct regulatory effects, indirect modulatory actions, and mechanistic relationships proposed based on scientific hypotheses. We elaborate their effects on inhibiting the self-renewal, invasion and metastasis of CSCs as well as reversing chemoresistance, and analyze the crosstalk between epigenetic networks and classical signaling pathways of CSCs.

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