SUMMARY There have been significant research efforts to develop effective vaccines that elicit a strong and durable T cell response against intracellular pathogens and cancer. A popular strategy has been to enhance vaccination efficacy by targeting dendritic cells (DCs). For DCs, functional heterogeneity is critical in the complex process of… Read More
SUMMARY Radiotherapy and immunotherapy are used to treat many cancer types, yet only 50% and 20% of patients respond, respectively. Resistance to therapy presents a large problem. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) modification is commonly found in on RNA in eukaryotic cells. By binding to m6A sites, YTHDF2 (YTH N6-Methyladenosine RNA Binding Protein… Read More
SUMMARY Inventors devised a nanomedicine termed “Nanotraps” that can completely capture and eliminate SARS-CoV-2 by triggering macrophages to engulf and clear the virus without becoming infected. Ex vivo lung perfusion system. Zero toxicity was found in mice as evidenced by histological analysis of heart, liver, spleen, lung, and kidney, as… Read More
SUMMARY Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists are considered promising alternatives for the estimated 50 – 75% of all cancer patients who are non-responsive to checkpoint inhibitors, and immune activation is enhanced upon stimulation of two distinct TLRs. However, the use of multiple TLR agonists as an effective therapeutic strategy is presently… Read More
SUMMARY Regulatory T cells (Tregs) modulate immune function by preventing autoreactive T cell responses, including those that would normally target cancer cells. Treg activity can significantly limit the efficacy of immunotherapies designed to stimulate CD8+ T cells, and therefore a strategy for reducing Treg activity as an aspect of immunotherapy… Read More
SUMMARY Electric stimulation of organs with implantable devices has demonstrated clinical utility for the treatment of a variety of diseases such as cardiac arrythmia. However, use of these technologies remains high risk, requiring either surgical implantation or permanent gene editing. The inventors synthesized silicon nanowires that are doped with gold… Read More
SUMMARY The development of cancer immunotherapies is limited by a lack of targetable tumor antigens. Most currently targeted antigens have basal expression in healthy tissue, which results in potentially life threatening off-target effects. Moreover, targeting a single antigen alone can lead to the development of therapeutic resistance. A COSMC loss-of-function… Read More
SUMMARY Current immunotherapy approaches often focus on targeting a single immune checkpoint or suppressive pathway, which can be insufficient given the redundancy and adaptability of tumor-mediated immune evasion. Tumors can compensate for the blockade of one pathway by upregulating alternative suppressive mechanisms, leading to limited efficacy and the persistence of… Read More