Inspired by advances in cancer therapy, a team at the Buck Institute has engineered immune cells equipped with specialized targeting devices called chimeric antigen receptors (CARs) that can distinguish and respond to tau tangles and various forms of toxic amyloid plaques, both of which are implicated in Alzheimer’s disease pathology. The proof-of-concept study, now online at the Journal of Translational Medicine, holds the promise of being able to precisely deliver therapeutic drugs directly to affected areas of the  brain with fewer side effects.

When it comes to advanced cancer or Alzheimer’s disease, over half of doctors would consider assisted dying for themselves, but preferences seem to vary according to their jurisdiction’s legislation on euthanasia, reveal the results of an international survey, published online in the Journal of Medical Ethics. And most say they would prefer symptom relief rather than life sustaining treatment for their own end of life care, indicate the responses. 

There’s an urgent need to quantify the role of fungal toxins (aflatoxins), found on agricultural crops, such as maize and peanuts (groundnuts), in the escalating rates of liver cancer in Ghana, as well as elsewhere in Africa and Asia, concludes a commentary published in the open access journal BMJ Global Health. Maize and peanuts are dietary staples in many Asian and African countries. And with one of the highest rates of liver cancer in Africa, at 16/100,000 of the population. Ghana represents a critical case study in furthering international understanding of the link between aflatoxins and the rising global toll taken by liver cancer, say the authors.