Category Biology/Biotechnology

Antidepressants Inhibit Cancer Growth in Mice

SSRIs and other serotonin blockers cause immune cells to recognize tumor cells again and eliminate them efficiently. (Bild: istock.com/Design Cells)

Classic antidepressants could help improve modern cancer treatments. They slowed the growth of pancreatic and colon cancers in mice, and when combined with immunotherapy, they even stopped the cancer growth long-term. In some cases the tumors disappeared completely, researchers at UZH and USZ have found. Their findings will now be tested in human clinical trials.

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that is also known as the happiness hormone because of its beneficial effects on mood. In depressed people, the concentration of serotonin in the brain is reduced. The hormone also influences many other functions throughout the body...

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A 3D-printed Vaccine Patch offers vaccination without a shot

While microneedle patches have been studied for decades, the work by Carolina and Stanford overcomes some past challenges: through 3D printing, the microneedles can be easily customized to develop various vaccine patches for flu, measles, hepatitis or COVID-19 vaccines.

Researchers develop microneedle vaccine patch that outperforms needle jab to boost immunity. Scientists at Stanford University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have created a 3D-printed vaccine patch that provides greater protection than a typical vaccine shot.

The trick is applying the vaccine patch directly to the skin, which is full of immune cells that vaccines target.

The resulting immune response from the vaccine patch was 10X greater than vaccine delivered into an arm muscle with a needle...

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An Estrogen Receptor that Promotes Cancer also Causes Drug-Binding Protein.

Three-dimensional culture of human breast cancer cells, with DNA stained blue and a protein in the cell surface membrane stained green. Image by NIH

Cancer cells proliferate despite a myriad of stresses — from oxygen deprivation to chemotherapy — that would kill any ordinary cell. Now, researchers at UC San Francisco have gained insight into how they may be doing this through the downstream activity of a powerful estrogen receptor. The discovery offers clues to overcoming resistance to therapies like tamoxifen that are used in many types of breast cancer.

Estrogen receptor α (ERα) drives more than 70 percent of breast cancers. The new research published Sept...

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Intermittent Fasting can help Manage Metabolic Disease

Popular diet trend could reduce the risk of diabetes and heart disease. Eating your daily calories within a consistent window of 8-10 hours is a powerful strategy to prevent and manage chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, according to a new manuscript published in the Endocrine Society’s journal, Endocrine Reviews.

Time-restricted eating is a type of intermittent fasting that limits your food intake to a certain number of hours each day. Intermittent fasting is one of the most popular diet trends, and people are using it to lose weight, improve their health and simplify their lifestyles.

“People who are trying to lose weight and live a healthier lifestyle should pay more attention to when they eat as well as what they eat...

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