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423 news posts in Health

Health

12 Sep 2019

Researchers identify cancer killing capability of lesser-known immune cells

Linked with obesity, esophageal cancer is one of the fastest growing cancers in the Western world. Image: Shutterstock. Finding new ways to reverse the inhibition of ‘MAIT’ immune cells could transform the prognosis of esophageal cancer — by Trinity College Dublin Researchers at Trinity College Dublin have identified, for the first time in esophageal cancer, the cancer killing capability of a lesser-known type of immune cell, presenting a new potential therapeutic target. Their research is published in Frontiers in Immunology. Esophageal cancer is a very aggressive type of cancer with poor prognosis, and the 5-year survival rate is typically less than 15%. Linked with obesity, esophageal cancer is one of the fastest growing cancers in the Western world and incidence is due to double in Ireland within the next few decades. Current treatment strategies work well but only for a minority (approx. 25%) of patients so new treatment options are urgently needed. New treatment strategies targeting the immune system have had revolutionary effects in other cancer types, but the latest clinical trials show that, disappointingly, immunotherapy offers no real benefit for the majority of patients with oesophageal cancer. Mucosal-Associated Invariant T Cells Display Diminished Effector Capacity in Oesophageal Adenocarcinoma► Read original […]

Health

23 Jul 2019

Are the ‘viral’ agents of MS, ALS and schizophrenia buried in our genome?

An estimated 8% of our DNA comes from viruses. Image: Shutterstock. Viruses hid themselves in your ancestors’ DNA. Now they’re waking up. — by Matthew Prior, Frontiers science writer What if the missing ‘environmental’ factor in some of our deadliest neurological diseases were really written in our genome? Writing in Frontiers in Genetics, researchers from the University of Düsseldorf explain how viruses ended up in our DNA – and what puts them in the frame in unsolved diseases like multiple sclerosis. Neural Cell Responses Upon Exposure to Human Endogenous Retroviruses► Read original article► Download original article (pdf) The enemy within? A whopping 8% of our DNA comes from viruses. Specifically, ones called retroviruses – not because they’re old, but because they reverse the normal process of reading DNA to write themselves into their host’s genome. Retroviruses are old though: they began merging with our ancestors millions of years ago. Over the millennia, most of their remnants in our DNA – known as human endogenous retroviruses or HERVs – have been silenced by mutations. Others, which had evolved to fend off rival viruses, formed the prototypical immune system and to this day protect us from infection. However, HERVs might also be the missing […]