European consortium for Solving the Unsolved Rare Diseases demonstrates the significance of international collaboration to address the unmet medical needs on rare diseases’ diagnosis 

  

More than 500 European patients with unknown conditions have received a diagnosis through new genetic research. This includes patients with rare neurological disorders, severe intellectual disabilities, muscle diseases, and hereditary gastrointestinal cancer. These diagnoses were achieved through extensive European collaboration, led by researchers from the University of Tübingen, Radboud university medical center, and the National Center for Genomic Analysis in Barcelona. 

Scientists from A*STAR Genome Institute of Singapore (A*STAR GIS) have uncovered that a key enzyme – P4HA1 prolyl hydroxylase, is strongly induced in CD8+ T cells in solid cancer, the primary immune cells involved in combating cancer. P4HA1 causes disruptions in energy production within the cells, which leads to weaker immune cells that are less able to fight cancer and form long-lasting anti-cancer immunity, highlighting P4HA1 as a promising target for treating solid tumours.

https://healthsciences.arizona.edu/news/releases/u-cancer-center-clinical-trial-advances-research-treatment-biliary-tract-cancers

Male adolescents and young adults with cancer have a slightly elevated risk of having preterm birth and children with low birth weight, but no increased risk of birth defects in their offspring, according to research by UTHealth Houston. The population-based study was recently published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

This paper to be published in Science reveals a surprising new role for immune cells in regulating blood sugar.

Key Findings: Immune cells migrate from the intestine to the pancreas during periods of low energy, like intermittent fasting or exercise.

This migration triggers glucagon release, helping to stabilise blood sugar levels.

These results uncover a remarkable, previously unknown “three-way conversation” between the nervous, immune, and hormonal systems.

Why it matters:

Shows that the immune system not only fights infections but also actively maintains metabolic balance, enabling the body to handle fasting and intense exercise more efficiently.

Opens doors to new therapies targeting diabetes, obesity, and even cancer, since some cancers hijack metabolic pathways—including glucagon—to fuel their growth.

A University of Massachusetts Amherst-Ernest Pharmaceuticals team of scientists has made “exciting,” patient-friendly advances in developing a non-toxic bacterial therapy, BacID, to deliver cancer-fighting drugs directly into tumors. This emerging technology holds promise for very safe and more effective treatment of cancers with high mortality rates, including liver, ovarian and metastatic breast cancer.

Because of You: The Campaign for University Hospitals has received more than $1.5 billion in community support towards its ambitious $2 billion goal. Because of You aims to make a significant and enduring impact in five key areas: caring for children, transforming cancer care, leading discovery and innovation, investing in our community, and embracing emerging priorities. 

Nebraska scientists have taken a significant step toward bringing to market a new way to target therapeutic drugs to specific locations in the body. The strategy, which uses universal milk exosomes to transport cargo to human cells, would overcome one of the major flaws of current drug delivery approaches, where therapeutics reach beyond diseased cells to healthy parts of the body. Chemotherapy patients, for example, often suffer compromised immune function, hair loss and gastrointestinal upset because their therapeutics reach beyond targeted cells. Minovacca, a startup company recently incorporated by Janos Zempleni and Jiantao Guo of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, would commercialize use of universal milk exosomes, natural nanoparticles found in milk to deliver therapeutics, gene editing tools plasmids and more to targeted locations in the human body. The technique also offers new avenues to develop treatments for rare diseases. 

The quantitative effects of alcohol consumption on cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection are unknown. This study aimed to establish a dose-dependent model of alcohol consumption on the risks of cirrhosis and HCC.