A new gene therapy can reverse the effects of heart failure and restore heart function in a large animal model. The therapy increases the amount of blood the heart can pump and dramatically improves survival, in what a paper describing the results calls "an unprecedented recovery of cardiac function."

Currently, heart failure is irreversible. In the absence of a heart transplant, most medical treatments aim to reduce the stress on the heart and slow the progression of the often-deadly disease.

A group of scientists at VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center has revealed a new genetic code that acts like a cancer ringleader, recruiting and deploying a gang of tumor cells to incite a biological turf war by invading healthy organs and overpowering the normal cells. This discovery - published today, Dec. 9, in Nature Biotechnology - could unveil an entirely different understanding of the origins of cancer within the body, as well as offer groundbreaking insight into new treatment strategies that could target the growth of tumors in their earliest stages.

The Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons (HWE) reaction is a fundamental reaction in organic chemistry, widely used to create conjugated carbonyl compounds. Conjugated carbonyl compounds are used in many industries for synthesizing perfumes, plastics, and pharmaceuticals and are also involved in biological processes. Consequently, methods for improving HWE reactions are an active area of research.

One potential application of HWE reactions is to develop (E)-isomers of conjugated carbonyl compounds that are useful for synthesizing chemicals called hynapene analogues with promising anti-cancer properties.

A new study led by Lund University in Sweden has solved a years-old mystery: which patients with aggressive breast cancer are helped by a targeted cancer treatment that had been under development but was shelved. The study is important since it brings hope that the development of the drug can continue and that it will make it all the way to these patients.

Despite the efforts of the North American researchers, many years of research and development and millions of dollars spent, a medicine named ganitumab that had shown promising results against breast cancer in animal trials was shelved.

Treatment for more advanced and difficult-to-treat head and neck cancers can be improved with the addition of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), the same ingredient used in children's glue. Researchers found that combining PVA with a boron-containing compound, D-BPA, improved the effects of a type of radiation therapy for cancer, compared to currently clinically used drugs. The PVA made the drug more selective of tumor cells and prolonged drug retention, helping to spare healthy cells from unnecessary radiation damage.

A common heart drug may slow the progression of Huntington's disease (HD), according to a new study by University of Iowa Health Care researchers.

Using clinical information from a large, observational database of over 21,000 people with HD, the UI team found that the use of beta-blocker drugs - commonly used to treat heart and blood pressure issues - was associated with both a significantly later onset of HD symptoms for people in the pre-symptomatic stages, and a slower rate of symptom worsening for those with symptoms.

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm to help speed up the process of matching potential volunteers to relevant clinical research trials listed on ClinicalTrials.gov. A study published in Nature Communications found that the AI algorithm, called TrialGPT, could successfully identify relevant clinical trials for which a person is eligible and provide a summary that clearly explains how that person meets the criteria for study enrollment.