The promising drug is known as F8-TNF. When injected into the bloodstream, it lures killer cells from the body's immune system towards sarcomas. The killer cells then destroy the tumours. Researchers from ETH Zurich, led by Professor Dario Neri at the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, developed F8-TNF four years ago. Since then, they have been able to show that it can completely cure sarcomas in mice when combined with a chemotherapeutic agent.

Researchers at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability in Denmark have developed a method of producing P450 enzymes - used by plants to defend against predators and microbes - in bacterial cell factories. The process could facilitate the production of large quantities of the enzymes, which are also involved in the biosynthesis of active ingredients of cancer drugs.

Scientists and clinicians from Swansea and Milan have found that some people who use the internet a lot experience significant physiological changes such as increased heart rate and blood pressure when they finish using the internet. The study involved 144 participants, aged 18 to 33 years, having their heart rate and blood pressure measured before and after a brief internet session.

By adding an experimental drug to a standard chemotherapy regimen, a subset of patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer had a significantly longer period before the cancer progressed as compared with those who received the standard treatment, according to a Phase 2 clinical trial led by an investigator at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

New research challenges established medical practice that all heart attack patients should be on beta blockers. The study - by a research team at the University of Leeds - looked at patients who had a heart attack but did not suffer heart failure - a complication of a heart attack where the heart muscle is damaged and ceases to function properly. It found that heart attack patients who did not have heart failure did not live any longer after being given beta blockers - yet around 95% of patients who fall into this category end up on the medication.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have managed to synthesise lung surfactant, a drug used in the care of preterm babies, by mimicking the production of spider silk. Animal studies reveal it to be just as effective as the biological drugs currently in clinical use. The study is published in Nature Communications.

A genetic variant that protects the heart against cardiovascular disease has been discovered by researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and their collaborators. Reported today in Nature Communications, the cardioprotective variant was found in an isolated Greek population, who are known to live long and healthy lives despite having a diet rich in animal fat.