Personalized bile duct cancer treatment improves prognosis University College London (UCL) researchers and others involved in an international multicenter trial found that a new personalized cancer treatment can significantly improve prognoses for certain bile duct cancer patients. The results of the Phase II open label clinical trial, published January 19 in the New England Journal of Medicine, found that patients otherwise facing end-of-life care survived for up to two years when treated with the drug futibatinib.Read More
New clues to causes of macular degeneration Tel Aviv University researchers have discovered new clues to the causes of adult-onset macular degeneration (AMD). By combining a map of gene regulatory sites with disease-associated loci, they uncovered new genetic AMD risk factors. The study, published January 17 in the journal PLOS Biology, may advance the understanding of AMD, a leading cause of blindness in adults.Read More
T-cell therapy fights viral infections following stem cell transplants Baylor College of Medicine and Washington University School of Medicine researchers studied posoleucel, an investigational off-the-shelf T-cell therapy that simultaneously targets six different viruses. The results, published January 11 in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, showed promising antiviral efficacy and safety in a phase II clinical trial of patients who had undergone stem cell transplantation to treat blood diseases including cancer.Read More
Biomarkers reveal Alzheimer’s years before symptoms show Karolinska Institutet researchers and their colleagues found that a protein called GFAP is a possible biomarker for very early stages of an inherited form of Alzheimer’s disease. The study, published January 11 in the journal Brain, could potentially lead to earlier detection of this serious disease.Read More
Foundation Medicine and Natera launch tumor DNA monitoring assay Foundation Medicine and Natera this week announced the launch of an early access program for the investigational and clinical use of FoundationOne Tracker, a personalized circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) monitoring assay.Read More
Protein makes melanoma more aggressive Queen Mary University of London, King’s College London, and Francis Crick Institute Research scientists have identified a protein that makes melanoma more aggressive. The study, published January 9 in the journal Nature Cell Biology, contributes to the understanding of melanoma progression, and may facilitate new ways to target melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer.Read More