Researchers have discovered a 'genomic tug of war' in animal studies that could influence how well certain patients -- or certain cancers -- respond to decitabine, a drug used to treat myelodysplastic syndromes that is plagued by drug resistance issues. For the first time, researchers show that decitabine causes coding and non-coding regions of DNA to engage in a tug of war for a gene activator, called H2A.Z. Typically, deticabine draws this gene activator away from coding DNA, causing gene expression to grind to a halt and cells to die. However, many types of cancer have very high levels of H2A.Z, which may help them overcome this decitabine-induced tug of war, allowing the cancer to grow.
Read more …Genomic tug of war could boost cancer therapy
Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses in the world, but current anti-depressants have yet to meet the needs of many patients. Neuroscientists recently discovered a small molecule that can effectively alleviate stress-induced depressive symptoms in mice by preventing aversive memory formation with a lower dosage, offering a new direction for developing anti-depressants in the future.
Read more …A small molecule blocks aversive memory formation, providing a potential treatment target for...
For 40 years, chemotherapy has been the standard treatment for bladder cancer patients who can tolerate this medicine. However, the results were limited, and lasting results were rare. In recent years, two groundbreaking phase-3 clinical studies have focused on a new form of treatment to improve this. They investigated the effects of combining immunotherapy and chemotherapy.
Read more …Breakthrough in bladder cancer research