While organoids aim to mimic human organs, the liver's repertoire of complex functions - and thus the energy it needs to operate - have made it challenging for researchers to grow organoids that proliferate and fully function, says Sato. When prioritizing growth and survival in laboratory settings, hepatocytes, the liver's main cells, eventually transformed into cells resembling cholangiocytes, which line the bile duct. Hepatocyte functions only lasted 1-2 weeks at most.

A study led by researchers in the University of Florida College of Pharmacy has found that a pair of popular glucose-lowering medications may have protective effects against the development of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias in patients with Type 2 diabetes.

In research published in JAMA Neurology on April 7, UF researchers studied Medicare claims data of older adults with Type 2 diabetes to assess the association among glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, or GLP-1RAs, sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors, or SGLT2is, and the risk of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.

A stem cell-based therapy initially developed at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) may lead to a new treatment for advanced Parkinson's disease, according to results from a phase 1 clinical trial reported in Nature.

The treatment involved creating nerve cells (neurons) derived from embryonic stem cells and transplanting them into the brains of 12 Parkinson's patients.

University of California, Davis researchers have developed a new, neuroplasticity-promoting drug closely related to LSD that harnesses the psychedelic's therapeutic power with reduced hallucinogenic potential.

The research, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, highlights the new drug's potential as a treatment option for conditions like schizophrenia, where psychedelics are not prescribed for safety reasons.

Is sauerkraut more than just a tangy topping? A new University of California, Davis, study published in Applied and Environmental Microbiology suggests that the fermented cabbage could help protect your gut, which is an essential part of overall health, supporting digestion and protecting against illness.

Authors Maria Marco, professor with the Department of Food Science and Technology, and Lei Wei, a postdoctoral researcher in Marco's lab, looked at what happens during fermentation - specifically, how the metabolites in sauerkraut compared to those in raw cabbage.

Tim-3 is an immune checkpoint molecule involved in immunity and inflammation recently linked to late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD), but its role in the brain was unknown until now. In a paper published in Nature, researchers from Mass General Brigham used preclinical models to uncover Tim-3's role in microglia, the brain's resident immune cells, and have identified it as a promising therapeutic target for Alzheimer's disease.

Chinese scientists have revealed a hidden metabolic partnership between breast cancer cells and immune cells that drives aggressive tumor behavior and resistance to immunotherapies. The study sheds light on how tumor cells exploit the amino acid arginine to both fuel their growth and evade the immune system.

The research was led by Prof. HU Hai, who holds dual appointments as professor at the Hangzhou Institute of Medicine (HIM) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and Chief Physician at Zhejiang Cancer Hospital, in collaboration with Prof. LUO Manli from Sun Yat-Sen University and Prof. LI Hongde from HIM.

Meeting the unmet need for a vaccine is the top priority for researchers studying Lyme disease, which infects about 476,000 people in the U.S. each year and can come with severe complications such as ongoing fatigue and joint issues. Vaccine developers have come close to success, but no human vaccine has yet been commercially viable.

After decades of trial and error, a promising new target is emerging - the Lyme bacterial protein CspZ, which the bacteria use to evade detection from the body's immune system.

A significant discovery has identified a missing "gatekeeper" protein as the root cause of dry mouth in Sjögren's syndrome - a finding that could change the way the disease is treated. Researchers pinpointed tricellulin, a protein that helps seal the junctions between saliva gland cells, as the key factor. When inflammation damages tricellulin, saliva production stops and harmful substances leak through.

Every year, millions of people around the world suffer ischemic strokes that block blood flow to a region of the brain.

Restoring blood flow rapidly is decisive and can save lives. But paradoxically, it can also lead to further damage to the blood vessels in the brain.

Gene therapy, a technique that is revolutionizing the treatment of multiple genetic conditions, including eye and muscle diseases and blood disorders, requires efficient and specific delivery of the genetic material to the tissue and cell type of interest. To help improve gene therapy, a multidisciplinary team led by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, the Jackson Laboratory and the University of Massachusetts Medical School has generated a comprehensive atlas that researchers can use to select the most effective viral vehicle for their target organ.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) announced that the European Commission (EC) has issued a decision amending the marketing authorization for ABRYSVO®, the company's bivalent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) prefusion F (RSVpreF) vaccine, to extend the indication to include prevention of lower respiratory tract disease (LRTD) caused by RSV in individuals 18 through 59 years of age. This expands the previous authorization for individuals aged 60 and older, and ABRYSVO now offers in the EU the broadest RSV vaccine indication, which includes:

A team of scientists from The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) has identified a promising new drug target for acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a deadly blood cancer with a five-year survival rate of just 30%, according to the National Cancer Institute. Their study, published in Cell Stem Cell in February, highlights the crucial role of a protein called paraspeckle component 1 (PSPC1) in the progression of AML.

People with low levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) in their blood have a lower risk of dementia, including lower risk of Alzheimer's disease related dementia, shows a study published online today in the Journal of Neurology Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

Use of statins conveyed an additional protective effect for people with low LDL-C, specifically those with blood levels less than 1.8 mmol/L (<70 mg/dL), reducing their risk of dementia even further.

Researchers develop innovative phospholipids that improve the functional delivery of mRNA via lipid nanoparticles, paving the way for advanced therapeutic applications.

A groundbreaking study conducted by researchers at Hokkaido University has unveiled a novel class of zwitterionic phospholipids capable of significantly enhancing the functional delivery of mRNA. The study was published in the Advanced Science.

A scientific technique that rapidly increases the body's production of anti-inflammatory cells promoted healing from heart attacks in mice, according to a new study by investigators from the Smidt Heart Institute at Cedars-Sinai. Once adapted to treat humans, the technique could potentially be used to repair heart muscle damage after a heart attack and be applied to a variety of inflammatory disorders.

The investigators' findings were published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Bayer and Suzhou Puhe BioPharma Co., Ltd., a clinical-stage biotechnology company, announced that they have entered into a global license agreement for Puhe BioPharma's oral, small molecule PRMT5 inhibitor that selectively targets MTAP-deleted tumors. Under the agreement, Bayer obtains an exclusive worldwide license to develop, manufacture and commercialize the MTA-cooperative PRMT5 inhibitor.

Scientists have long struggled to target proteins that lack defined structure and are involved in cancer, neurodegenerative disorders like Parkinson's disease, and other serious illnesses. Now, a new study from Scripps Research demonstrates a proof of concept for a new strategy: engineering proteases - enzymes that cut proteins at specific sites - to selectively degrade these elusive targets with high precision in the proteome of human cells.

Among other functions, the NK cells (Natural Killers, a type of lymphocyte forming part of the immune system) have the capacity to detect and eliminate cancer cells. But in some cases they cannot overcome the tumour’s defense mechanism and the cancer grows. Now, a study published in Nature Immunology, with the involvement of the Hospital del Mar Research Institute, the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Pompeu Fabra University, proposes a new approach to strengthen NK cells in their fight agaist tumour cells.

Scientists from Johns Hopkins Medicine and eight other institutions in the United States, Africa and Europe say they have identified a potential new gene target that could be edited to treat sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder marked by sickle-shaped red blood cells that cause intense pain and shorten lifespans.

The potential target, the FLT1 gene, contributes to the production of a protein, fetal hemoglobin, whose presence is already known to improve the lifespan of people with sickle cell disease.