Scientists from the University of Liverpool have shown that phage therapy could offer a safe and effective alternative to antibiotics in the treatment of Cystic Fibrosis lung infections. Chronic lung infections caused by the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa are becoming increasingly difficult to treat due to antimicrobial resistance (AMR). With limited alternative therapeutic options available this has led to a renewed interest in (bacterio)phage therapy.

In 2001 the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted priority review for imatinib mesylate, sold under the name Gleevec®*, as an oral therapy for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia, or CML. The New England Journal of Medicine has published results from a nearly 11-year follow-up study, that showed an estimated overall survival rate of 83.3 percent.

Houston Methodist researchers have identified an immune pathway that promotes the formation of a cell that can develop into new tissues and organs. In a new study published in the journal Stem Cells, a team led by John P. Cooke, M.D., Ph.D., chair of Cardiovascular Sciences, Houston Methodist Research Institute, described how activation of innate immunity enhances nuclear reprogramming, one of the first steps in tissue regeneration, or the formation of new tissues and organs from a single cell in the body.

Scientists on the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have designed two new drug candidates to target prostate and triple negative breast cancers. The new research, published recently as two separate studies in ACS Central Science and the Journal of the American Chemical Society, demonstrates that a new class of drugs called small molecule RNA inhibitors can successfully target and kill specific types of cancer.

An epidemiological study published in Frontiers in Oncology suggests that a diet high in carotenoids and vitamin C may protect against lung cancer. The study authors found that vitamin C appears to reduce the risk of lung cancer in heavy smokers while beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, and lycopene play the same role in male heavy smokers.

Sulforaphane, a phytochemical contained in broccoli sprouts at relatively high concentrations, has been known to exert effects of cancer prevention by activating a transcription factor, Nrf2 (nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2), which regulates the balance of oxidation - reduction in the cell, and by enhancing anti-oxidation ability of the body and detoxication of chemical compounds taken into the body.

University of Alberta scientists have pulled into the lead in a race to use nanomachines for improved disease detection and drug delivery in patients. In a study published in Nature Communications, the researchers describe the creation of synthetic DNA motors in living cells. The process - previously only successful in test tubes - demonstrates how DNA motors can be used to accomplish specific and focused biological functions in live cells.