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Researchers discover that Group A streptococcal infections alter immunoglobulin G (IgG) homeostasis to evade the immune system, affecting the transition from local to systemic infections. The study also raises concerns about the effectiveness of antibody-based therapies, as the bacteria’s virulence factors can degrade therapeutic antibodies.

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine have identified a small molecule named 5D4 that can suppress the growth of breast and ovarian cancers in animal models. 5D4 works by binding to TopBP1 protein in cancer cells, disrupting its interactions with several pathways that promote cancer growth. Combining 5D4 with another cancer inhibitor, talazoparib, enhances the effectiveness of the anti-cancer activity.

The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, strongly supports continuing the investigation toward further developing this strategy for clinical use.

“Cancer development involves many steps of genetic alterations and signaling pathway deregulation. About 10 years ago, our team discovered that protein TopBP1 is at a convergent point of multiple cellular pathways involved in cancer growth and progression, making it a potential candidate for targeted cancer therapy,” said corresponding author Dr. Weei-Chin Lin, professor of medicine-hematology and oncology and of molecular and cellular biology at Baylor. He also is a member of Baylor’s Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center. “Our idea was to identify molecules that would bind to TopBP1 and interfere with its interactions with molecular pathways that promote cancer growth.”

The liver is one of the largest organs in the body. The main types of liver cancer in adults are hepatocellular carcinoma and bile duct cancer, or cholangiocarcinoma. Read our expert-reviewed summary of these diseases.

Primary liver cancer is a disease in which cancer forms in the liver. The most common type is hepatocellular carcinoma. Learn more about liver cancer, signs, and symptoms from the National Cancer Institute.

A new study shows that cerebrospinal fluid reduces current treatment efficacy in brain cancer and identifies new therapeutic opportunities.

Cerebrospinal fluid, the clear colorless liquid that protects the brain, also may be a factor that makes brain cancers resistant to treatment, Australian researchers led by Associate Professor Cedric Bardy at the South Austraila Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) and Flinders University reveal in the journal Science Advances.

Reporting how this occurs, the study, titled “Human cerebrospinal fluid affects chemoradiotherapy sensitivities in tumor cells from patients with glioblastoma,” in Science Advances shows that a decades-old anti-anxiety drug can improve the effectiveness of chemo-radiotherapy towards glioblastoma, or GBM, the most common and lethal brain cancer.

How have advanced surgical techniques improved breast cancer diagnosis and treatment? Jessica Salmans LaCross discusses the latest technologies.

Now anyone can visit NIH anytime, from anywhere, through a Virtual Tour newly launched by NIH’s Office of Communications and Public Liaison (OCPL). The idea came about during the pandemic, when NIH suspended in-person campus tours to protect the safety of staff and patients.

While in-person visits and tours have resumed, the mobile-friendly tour opens NIH to people from around the world—to patients who want to participate in clinical trials; investigators, trainees and other staff; educators and students; policymakers and anyone else interested in NIH’s work and mission.

Modern physics can explain everything from the spin of the tiniest particle to the behaviour of entire galaxy clusters. But it can’t explain life. There’s simply no formula to explain the difference between a living lump of matter and a dead one. Life seems to just mysteriously “emerge” from non-living parts, such as elementary particles.

Assembly theory is a bold new approach to explaining life on a fundamental scale, with its framework recently published in Nature. It assumes that complexity and information (such as DNA) are at the heart of it. The theory provides a a way to understand how these concepts emerge in chemical systems.

Emergence is a word physicists use to explain something that is bigger than the sum of its parts – such as how water can feel wet when individual water molecules don’t. Wetness is an emergent property.

Ultra-processed foods can have a negative effect on mental health, and this is especially true for younger people, who consume more of these foods than older people.

Over time, there has been increasing evidence that those whose diet includes large quantities of ultra-processed foods are more likely to develop physical health issues.

These issues can include obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and even more rapid aging. This is supported by wide research, including a paper by the IRCCS Neuromed Mediterranean Neurological Institute in Italy, involving about 23,000 citizens from the Molise region.

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Emerging generalist models could overcome some limitations of first-generation machine-learning tools for clinical use.