Changes in the gut microbiome have been implicated in a range of diseases including type 2 diabetes, obesity, and inflammatory bowel disease. Now, a team of researchers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard along with Massachusetts General Hospital has found that microbes in the gut may affect cardiovascular disease as well. In a study published in Cell, the team has identified specific species of bacteria that consume cholesterol in the gut and may help lower cholesterol and heart disease risk in people.

Mayo Clinic scientists have developed an immunotherapy strategy that potentially lays the groundwork for treating a spectrum of autoimmune diseases.

The new technique, detailed in a preclinical study published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, involves combining chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) with mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC), resulting in engineered stem cells known as CAR-MSCs.

A transformative study published in Health Data Science, a Science Partner Journal, introduces a groundbreaking end-to-end deep learning framework, known as Knowledge-Empowered Drug Discovery (KEDD), aimed at revolutionizing the field of drug discovery. This innovative framework adeptly integrates structured and unstructured knowledge, enhancing the AI-driven exploration of molecular dynamics and interactions.

Implementing a single shared digital prescribing record across the NHS in England could avoid nearly 1 million drug errors every year, stopping up to 16,000 fewer patients from being harmed, and saving up to 22 lives every year, suggests a modelling study, published online in BMJ Quality & Safety.

The figures, which are based on the assumption that such a system could reduce medication errors by at least 10%, and by as much as 50%, could also save £millions for the NHS, say the researchers.

A ground-breaking study - the largest of its kind globally - has found children with multiple sclerosis (MS) have better outcomes if treated early and with the same high-efficacy therapies as adults.

There are a limited number of therapies approved for children with MS, with only one considered to be of high-efficacy - meaning highly effective.

Some anti-cancer treatments not only target tumour cells but also healthy cells. If their effects on the latter are too strong, their use can become limiting. A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), in collaboration with Basel-based FoRx Therapeutics, has identified the mechanism of action of PARP inhibitors, used in particular for breast and ovarian cancer in patients carrying the BRCA gene mutation.

An investigational gene therapy for a rare neurodegenerative disease that begins in early childhood, known as giant axonal neuropathy (GAN), was well tolerated and showed signs of therapeutic benefit in a clinical trial led by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Currently, there is no treatment for GAN and the disease is usually fatal by 30 years of age. Fourteen children with GAN, ages 6 to 14 years, were treated with gene transfer therapy at the NIH Clinical Center and then followed for about six years to assess safety.