A team of researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has developed a new method for using extracellular vesicles to enhance responses to immunotherapy in glioblastoma, potentially opening the door for wider use of engineered messenger RNA (mRNA) for cancer therapy. The study was published in Nature Communications.

An American born in 2019 will spend a larger share of their lifetime taking prescription drugs than being married or receiving an education, according to new research by Jessica Ho, associate professor of sociology and demography at Penn State. She found that American males will spend approximately 48% of their lives taking prescription drugs. The number jumped to 60% for females.

A new study carried out in mice, led by Queen Mary University of London, has identified cells that drive the spread of pancreatic cancer and discovered a weakness in these cells that could be targeted using existing drugs. This offers a promising new approach for treating pancreatic cancer.

The research, published in Science Advances and funded by Barts Charity and Cancer Research UK, found that many patients' pancreatic cancer contains cells called amoeboid cells.

A technique developed by University of Texas at Dallas and UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers to deliver medication through the blood-brain barrier has shown promise in a preclinical study for treating glioblastoma, the most common human brain cancer.

The researchers demonstrated the method in mice in a study published online Aug. 15 in Nature Communications.

The genome of the SARS-CoV-2 virus encodes 29 proteins, one of which is an ion channel called E. This channel, which transports protons and calcium ions, induces infected cells to launch an inflammatory response that damages tissues and contributes to the symptoms of COVID-19.

MIT chemists have now discovered the structure of the “open” state of this channel, which allows ions to flow through.

A University of Massachusetts Amherst team has demonstrated in theory that a protein antigen from a childhood vaccine can be delivered into the cells of a malignant tumor to refocus the body’s immune system against the cancer, effectively halting it and preventing its recurrence.

The bacteria-based intracellular delivering (ID) system uses a non-toxic form of Salmonella that releases a drug, in this case a vaccine antigen, after it's inside a solid-tumor cancer cell.

Every year, over 15,500 Australians are diagnosed with bowel cancer, and it is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the country. Over 1,700 (one in ten) of those diagnosed are young Australians aged under 50, and this incidence is increasing.

There is an urgent need to discover more effective treatments and improve bowel cancer screening, particularly for early-onset bowel cancer (those aged 25-49 years).