Some cancer cells evade medicines by switching to a sleep-like state with the help of stress hormone receptors. Researchers have developed a method that allows them to degrade these receptors and therefore bypass the cells’ protective mechanism. To this end, they built a switch that can be turned on and off with light in the vicinity of the tumour and that tags the receptors for disposal. This system is effective against lung cancer in the lab and could also have future applications in breast and prostate cancer. 

People with depression who find that it affects their memory or attention span could benefit from an existing licensed drug currently used to treat chronic constipation, according to a new study published in Psychological Medicine by academics from the University of Birmingham and University of Oxford.

A major analysis of 25 studies across Africa and Asia finds that insecticide-treated nets cut malaria cases by up to 68% — but highlights challenges that threaten to undermine their long-term impact.

The creation of ‘mini-brains’ from the stem cells of patients with childhood parkinsonism have enabled researchers to find not just the mechanism of the disease, but also that a cheap, widely available form of vitamin B can slow its progression.

A cancer patient’s genetic ancestry can have a significant effect on how their disease progresses and on their survival. New research shows dozens of mutations that are significantly more or less common depending on the patient’s ancestry, about half of which can be targeted by existing treatments. A scoring system was able to predict patient survival, particularly so in breast cancer and glioma. When ancestry information was added, the survival prediction became even more accurate, particularly in cancer of the pancreas.