The drug lorlatinib (Lorbrena) is superior to crizotinib (Xalkori) as an initial treatment for people with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that has changes in the ALK gene, according to new results from a global clinical trial.

The findings are the latest from the CROWN study. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either lorlatinib or crizotinib as a treatment for advanced lung tumors with ALK gene mutations, a disease called ALK-positive lung cancer.

Several years ago, study investigators reported that participants who received lorlatinib went longer without the disease worsening, known as progression-free survival, than those who received crizotinib.

There are many processes and proteins that help the body fight a flu infection. One of them is known as IFITM3. Researchers have now shown that this protein can help prevent viruses from mutating after they have infected a new host. But some people are deficient in IFITM3, which can raise their risk of a severe flu infection. That deficiency is not unusual in some groups. For example, around twenty percent of Chinese people and four percent of people with European ancestry carry variants in IFITM3 that can interfere with the protein’s expression. This study has shown that these genetic variants can allow flu viruses to establish infections even when the virus is present at very low levels that would not usually cause infection. The findings have been reported in Nature Communications.

The IFITM3 (interferon-induced transmembrane protein 3) protein is part of the innate immune system, and is generated at high levels after the detection of a flu infection. It can sequester viral particles so that they are not able to replicate, which reduces the severity of flu infections. Mouse models that are IFITM3 deficient are extremely vulnerable to the flu.

Researchers at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences (VMBS) are helping uncover new information about the Y chromosome in horses, which will help owners identify optimal lineages for breeding and help conservationists preserve breed diversity.

“Because of its complex structure, the Y chromosome is much harder to sequence, making our knowledge of it far from complete,” said Dr. Gus Cothran, a professor emeritus in the VMBS’ Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences (VIBS). “In fact, scientists used to believe that the Y chromosome lacked genetic variety, which we believed meant that it didn’t contribute much to species diversity.”

However, Cothran’s new research collaboration, led by the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna, has uncovered that the Y chromosome does have meaningful variation and is important for species diversity.