BUFFALO, NY — July 2, 2025 — A new research perspective was published in Aging (Aging-US) Volume 17, Issue 6, on May 29, 2025, titled “Peto’s paradox’s relevance is off the scale.”

A highly multi-disciplinary research team at the Wyss Institute has made a significant breakthrough to help patients with Rett syndrombe by leveraging an AI-driven drug discovery process in combination with innovative disease modeling. Their study identified a drug known as vorinostat as a promising treatment for Rett syndrome, demonstrating disease-modifying abilities across multiple neuronal and non-neuronal tissues in preclinical models. The Wyss-enabled startup Unravel will be initiating a clinical trial to assess the drug in female patients with Rett syndrome later this year.  

By creating artificial ageing in mice, researchers at Lund University in Sweden have been able to track the formation of aneurysms in the walls of blood vessels. One finding of the study, now published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, surprised the researchers: the mice were simultaneously protected against hypertension by activating a different signalling pathway in the cells of the vessel wall – compensating for the strain exerted on the ageing vessels. The findings create potential for future complementary blood pressure medicines.

After flu infection, memory T cells in the lung migrate to nearby lymph nodes via CCR5, forming a long-lasting immune reservoir. This discovery reveals a backup strategy for lung immunity and may inform future vaccine design.

Oocyte quality is the key limiting factor of female fertility. However, compared with other species, the research and understanding of human oocyte quality and human reproductive health is limited. This review will highlight the current understanding of the physiological and pathological factors on human oocyte quality and discuss the potential treatments. In physiology, researchers discuss the regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis, granulosa cells, key subcellular structures, maternal mRNA homeostasis, the extracellular matrix, maternal microenvironment, and multi-omics resources related to human oocyte quality. In pathology, they reviewed the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal defects, ovarian dysfunction including premature ovarian insufficiency and polycystic ovary syndrome, human oocyte development defects, and aging. Furthermore, they outline the emerging scientific prospects and challenges for future mechanisms exploration and clinical treatment. This review seeks to deepen our understanding of the mechanisms regulating human oocyte quality and to provide novel insights into clinical female infertility characterized by defects in oocyte quality and oocyte development.

Pathogenic bacteria like Staphylococcus aureus pose serious threats to public health. Addressing the growing concern of antimicrobial resistance, researchers at Pusan National University, Korea, have developed a novel drug delivery platform using engineered extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from Lacticaseibacillus paracasei. By displaying endolysins—enzymes that break down bacterial cell walls—on the EV surface, the team offers a promising new strategy to selectively eliminate harmful bacteria.  

During therapy, some cancer cells evolve to escape elimination. Newer anticancer drugs that can overcome this resistance are necessary. Now, researchers from Japan demonstrate that aromatic benzaldehyde inhibits the growth of therapy-resistant pancreatic cancer. By preventing various signaling proteins and histone modifiers like Ser²⁸-phosphorylated histone H3 (H3S28ph) from binding to 14-3-3ζ protein, benzaldehyde overcomes therapy resistance and blocks plasticity to prevent the spread of cancer. These findings highlight its potential in cancer treatment.