Research News

Researchers have analysed the effects of seven different hormone treatments for menopausal symptoms, and the risk of blood clots, stroke and heart attack. The risks differ depending on the active substance and how the medicine is taken. The study involves around one million women aged 50-58 and is the largest and most comprehensive study of currently prescribed hormonal substances in the world. 

Effective immunity hinges on the ability to sense infection and cellular transformation. In humans, there is a specialised molecule on the surface of cells termed MR1. MR1 allows sensing of certain small molecule metabolites derived from cellular and microbial sources; however, the breadth of metabolite sensing is unclear.

The findings, published today in Nature Medicine, show that these genetic factors also lead to quicker development of health complications, earlier need for insulin treatment, and a weaker response to some medications. The results of this research, funded by Barts Charity and Wellcome, reinforce the need to understand how genetic variation across different population groups can influence the onset of diseases, treatment responses, and disease progression. 

Laboratory experiments with cancer cells reveal two ways in which tumors evade drugs designed to starve and kill them, a new study shows.

Cervical cancer deaths have plunged dramatically among women under age 25, and researchers at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center believe this is likely due to HPV vaccination. Their study, published in JAMA, is the first to suggest the impact of HPV vaccination on cervical cancer deaths.

Immunotherapy is a promising treatment that recruits the immune system to help fight cancer, but it has had limited success in gastrointestinal cancers. Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have engineered a probiotic that delivers immunotherapy directly to the gut to shrink tumors in mice, offering a potentially promising oral drug for hard-to-reach cancers.

Malaria, particularly in its severe forms, remains a global health and economic burden. It causes the deaths of more than 600,000 people every year – most of them African children under five. In a new study, published in the journal Nature, researchers from EMBL Barcelona, the University of Texas, the University of Copenhagen, and The Scripps Research Institute have discovered human antibodies that can recognise and target some of the proteins that cause severe malaria. This breakthrough could pave the way for future vaccines or anti-malaria treatments.

While toxic in high concentrations, copper is essential to life as a trace element. Many tumors require significantly more copper than healthy cells for growth a possible new point of attack for cancer treatment. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a research team from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research has now introduced a novel method by which copper is effectively removed from tumor cells, killing them.