Category Health/Medical

Actin pulls upon and stabilizes soluble cytoplasmic polyadenylation element binding proteins into longer, insoluble prion-like fibers, a process believed to be key to stabilizing long-term memories. Rice University researchers simulated the force (F) applied by actin through computer models that predict how proteins are likely to find their least-energetic (and most stable) states. Credit: Mingchen Chen/Rice University

Thank the little “muscles” in your neurons for allowing you to remember where you live, what your friends and family look like and a lot more. New research at Rice University suggests actin filaments that control the shape of neuron cells may also be the key to the molecular machinery that forms and stores long-term memories...

A 5yr study shows Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) to treat prostate cancer offers a higher cure rate than more traditional approaches. The study found a 98.6% cure rate with SBRT, a noninvasive form of radiation treatment that involves high-dose radiation beams entering the body through various angles and intersecting at the desired target. It is a state-of-the-art technology that allows for a concentrated dose to reach the tumor while limiting radiation dose to healthy tissue.

“The high cure rate is striking when compared to the reported 5yr cure rates from other approaches like surgery or conventional radiation, which range between 80 – 90%, while the side effects of this treatment are comparable to other types of treatment,” said Dr. Raquibul Hannan...

Oxidized DNA (green) accumulates in the mitochondria (red) of neutrophils isolated from SLE patients.

Baylor Institute for Immunology Research has discovered the neutrophils of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients release oxidized DNA from their mitochondria that can stimulate an unwanted immune response. The study suggests that targeting the pathways that lead to the accumulation of this DNA and/or facilitate its removal could be new ways to treat this chronic autoimmune disease.

Though the initial trigger for SLE remains unknown, it is characterized by the generation of autoantibodies that recognize the patient’s own DNA or RNA-protein complexes and the excessive production of type I interferons, signaling proteins that activate the body’s immune response...

Engineering T cells to treat pancreatic cancer Researchers hope to have a human version of the T cell in clinical trials this year

Hingorani, a pancreatic cancer specialist, teamed up with Fred Hutch immunotherapy experts Drs. Phil Greenberg and Ingunn Stromnes in successful efforts to breach the cancer’s physical and immunological walls using immunotherapy, a type of treatment that harnesses or refines the body’s own immune system with T-cells engineered to recognize and destroy cancer cells.

Specifically, Hingorani’s team created T cells with a high ffinity to a “relatively” tumor-specific antigen. Why relatively? Notoriously difficult pancreatic tumor cells don’t produce many unique proteins that allow for completely tumor-specific T cells...