Cholesterol is an essential lipid for maintaining cellular homeostasis. Besides being a precursor for steroid hormones, and being an essential component of plasma membranes, it is also enriched in lipid rafts and plays a key role in intracellular signal transduction. Cholesterol is primarily synthesized in the liver and transported to cells around the body through […]
Immune system T cells have been reprogrammed by a group of researchers from the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center into regenerative stem cell-like memory cells (TSCM) that are long-lived, highly active “super immune cells” with strong antitumor activity. Cancer immunotherapy, also known as immuno-oncology, is a form of cancer treatment that uses the power of […]
Most developing and adult tissues are hierarchically organized such that tissue growth and maintenance are driven by the production of lineage-committed cells from populations of tissue-resident stem and progenitor cells. Stem cells in adult tissues are typically found in a quiescent or reversible G0 state and must re-enter the cell cycle and divide to promote […]
Microbes that live in our gut don’t just digest food. They also have far-reaching effects on the immune system. A new study shows that a particular gut microbe can prevent severe flu infections in mice, likely by breaking down naturally occurring compounds, called flavonoids, commonly found in foods such as black tea, red wine, blueberries […]
Researchers at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre have made new findings which provide a broader understanding of how dormant hematopoietic stem cells are activated and could pave the way towards therapeutic treatments for a number of cancers. The team of researchers studied lysosomes, which are membrane-bound organelles found in all cells. They were once believed […]
Pain starts in receptor nerve cells found beneath the skin and in organs throughout the body. When you are sick, injured, or have other types of problems, these receptor cells send messages along nerve pathways to the spinal cord, which then carries the message to the brain. Pain medicine reduces or blocks these messages before […]
It’s long been believed that advancing age leads to broad declines in our mental abilities. Now new research offers surprisingly good news by countering this view. The findings, published on August 19, 2021, in Nature Human Behaviour, show that 2 key brain functions, which allow us to attend to new information and to focus on […]
An international study, published in the journal of Science, has found that, after accounting for body size, energy expenditure peaks in infancy and then steadily declines until the age of about 20 years. Contrary to the popular belief that metabolism slows in middle age, the research suggests that energy expenditure does not change until close […]
Regenerative medicine has yet to designate biomarkers that can identify patients likely to respond to a stem cell therapy based on their expression of a clinical or molecular profile congruent with the therapeutic mechanism-of-action (MOA) of the stem cell for that condition, while withholding treatment from likely non-responders. Ultimately, such patient stratification will be required […]
Modern health care is not only reliant on antibiotics to treat infectious disease but also to prevent infections during surgery or immune suppression. Escalating levels of antibiotic resistance impose a substantial burden on medical practice. It is generally believed the evolution of antibiotic resistance is an inevitable consequence of antibiotic use. Antibiotic resistance is the […]