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Pancreatic cancer is the deadliest of all cancers. Only 12% of men diagnosed with pancreatic cancer are alive five years after diagnosis; 14% of women. In pancreatic cancer, symptoms are usually not obvious and usually appear later in its progression. Once this cancer spreads, it is difficult to treat because it cannot be completely removed by surgery.
A small but promising clinical study led by Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center suggests that adding a personalized mRNA vaccine to standard treatment may bring new hope to pancreatic cancer patients. The study followed 16 pancreatic cancer patients. Specifically, in addition to standard treatments such as surgery and chemotherapy, these patients received a customized mRNA vaccine designed using their own tumors. Unlike vaccines that are originally designed to prevent disease, this vaccine is designed to help the patient's own immune system fight cancer.
The blood-brain barrier (BBB) refers to the barrier between plasma and brain cells formed by the walls of brain capillaries and glial cells, and the barrier between plasma and cerebrospinal fluid formed by the choroid plexus, which only allows specific types of molecules to enter brain neurons and other surrounding cells from the bloodstream. The existence of the blood-brain barrier is of great significance in preventing harmful substances from entering the brain from the blood. However, it also prevents the transfer of most small and large molecule drugs (such as peptides, proteins and nucleic acids), severely limiting the treatment of central nervous system diseases (such as neurodegenerative diseases, brain tumors, brain infections and strokes). Although some progress has been made in this field in recent years, we still urgently need technologies that can cross the blood-brain barrier and improve the delivery of biomacromolecule-based therapies to the central nervous system (CNS) through systemic administration.
As an RNA therapy tool, circular mRNA has higher stability and durability than linear mRNA. However, its translation efficiency is low and it mainly relies on the internal ribosome entry site (IRES) to initiate translation. But the IRES-mediated translation efficiency is generally low, which severely limits the application of circular mRNA in therapy.
The CRISPR-Cas system is an adaptive immune system of bacteria and archaea that can resist the invasion of viruses and mobile genetic elements. Although the DNA targeting mechanisms of CRISPR-Cas9 and CRISPR-Cas12 systems have been widely studied, the evolutionary origin of the RNA-targeted CRISPR-Cas13 system is still unclear.
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy is a promising cancer treatment, but how to enhance its efficacy has always been a mystery. Recently, in a research report titled "Cullin-5 deficiency promotes chimeric antigen receptor T cell effector functions potentially via the modulation of JAK/STAT signaling pathway" published in the international journal Nature Communications, researchers from Nagoya University and other institutions in Japan have discovered a way to improve the effectiveness of this potential cancer therapy. By modifying a specific gene, the ability of immune cells to fight cancer can be enhanced for a long time, which may reduce the chance of cancer recurrence.
In a new study, Associate Professor Leszek Liowski and his team at the University of Sydney have identified a new method for producing a therapeutic product, chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, which has the potential to improve the treatment of cancer. The relevant research results were recently published in the journal Molecular Therapy, with the title of the paper "Tailoring capsid-directed evolution technology for improved AAV-mediated CAR-T generation".
In the field of cancer treatment, proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) are gradually emerging as a new generation of drugs. This type of drug can accurately target and degrade proteins closely related to cancer growth, bringing hope for conquering those "undruggable" targets that are difficult to deal with with traditional drugs, and also opening up new treatment pathways for many diseases that have no effective treatment options. However, the intracellular transport mechanism of PROTACs, especially what factors affect its therapeutic effect in cancer cells, has always been a mystery that researchers are eager to solve.
In the field of medical research, ACE2 has attracted much attention as a receptor for SARS-CoV-2. It is also of great significance during pregnancy. The circulating level of ACE2 in pregnant women is higher than that in non-pregnant women, and the expression and genetic variation of ACE2 are closely related to various pregnancy diseases such as preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction. Recently, a research article titled "Genetically edited human placental organoids cast new light on the role of ACE2" published in Cell Death Dis constructed a placental organoid model through gene editing technology, and deeply explored the mechanism of action of ACE2 in placental development.
In the field of cancer research, the unique metabolic mode of tumor cells has always been the focus of scientists. In order to meet the needs of their own rapid proliferation, tumor cells will try their best to absorb and metabolize a large amount of nutrients. They can reprogram metabolic pathways and prefer to obtain energy through aerobic glycolysis even when there is sufficient oxygen. This phenomenon is called the "Warburg effect". At the same time, in an oxygen-deficient environment, tumor cells will increase the use of lipids.
