CAR T-cell immunotherapy rids woman of tough-to-treat lupus

(HealthDay)—In a first, researchers have used genetically tweaked immune system cells to send a woman’s severe lupus into remission. The treatment—called CAR T-cell therapy—is already approved in the United States for fighting certain cases of blood cancer. It involves removing a patient’s own immune system T-cells, genetically altering them to target the cancer, then infusing

Cytotoxic drugs can increase cancer cell resistance

Cancer cells sometimes develop resistance to the cytotoxic drugs used in chemotherapy. Figuring out why the treatment isn’t working and why it may even defeat its own purpose is therefore important to understand. “We haven’t understood very much about how this resistance to chemotherapy develops and even less about how the microenvironment in cancer can

Common weight-loss drug successfully targets fat that can endanger heart health

Researchers at UT Southwestern announced successful results of a clinical trial for a commonly prescribed weight-loss drug called liraglutide. In adults who are overweight or have obesity combined with high cardiovascular risk, once-daily liraglutide combined with lifestyle interventions significantly lowered two types of fat that have been associated with risk to heart health: visceral fat

Chinese cities enter lockdown as delta variant spreads

Amid China’s worst COVID-19 outbreak since the early days of the pandemic, officials have locked down several cities, ordering residents to stay in their homes until they can be tested or vaccinated, according to news reports. After subduing the initial coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan last year, China maintained strict border controls, as well as quarantining

Unvaxxedd Americans blame foreigners, Biden and media for COVID surge

Unvaccinated Americans blame foreigners, Biden and the ‘mainstream media’ for the recent surge of COVID-19 cases linked to the Indian ‘Delta’ variant, poll finds Unvaccinated Americans blame foreigners (36.9%), Joe Biden (21.4) and the mainstream media (27.1%) for recent COVID surges Vaccinated Americans largely blame the unvaccinated (78.6%), while Donald Trump (35.7%) also gets pointed

Researchers develop nanofibrous filters that can capture and kill airborne coronaviruses under visible light irradiation

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have recognized airborne transmission of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). SARS-CoV-2 is a highly infectious ribonucleic acid (RNA) virus that was first reported in Wuhan, China in December 2019. Owing to the rapid outbreak of SARS-CoV-2

Macrophages play key role in lung damage during COVID-19

A KAIST immunology research team found that a specific subtype of macrophages that originated from blood monocytes plays a key role in the hyper-inflammatory response in SARS-CoV-2 infected lungs, by performing single-cell RNA sequencing of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid cells. This study provides new insights for understanding dynamic changes in immune responses to COVID-19. In the