New research led by Irish scientists has uncovered how lipid-rich fluid in the abdomen, known as ascites, plays a central role in weakening the body’s immune response in advanced ovarian cancer. The findings offer new insights into immune suppression in ovarian cancer and open promising avenues for future immunotherapy approaches.

Over 70% of patients with ovarian cancer are diagnosed at an advanced stage, often presenting with large volumes of ascites. This ascites fluid not only supports the spread of cancer throughout the abdominal cavity but also significantly impairs the body’s immune defences. Understanding how ascites affects the immune system is important for developing better treatments that use the immune system to fight cancer. 

In this recent study, researchers from Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin explored how ascites disrupts immune cell function, with a particular focus on natural killer (NK) cells and T cells, which are key players in the body’s ability to eliminate tumours.

An ASU scientist decided to find out why a bacterial infection makes fruit flies promiscuous. What he discovered could help curb mosquito-borne diseases and manage crop pests.

A team of researchers at Rice and Baylor College of Medicine has developed a new strategy for identifying hazardous pollutants in soil ⎯ even ones that have never been isolated or studied in a lab.

Researchers developed FaceAge, an AI tool that calculate's a patient biological age from a photo of their face. In a new study, the researchers tied FaceAge results to health outcomes in people with cancer: When FaceAge estimated a younger age than a cancer patient’s chronological age, the patient did significantly better after cancer treatment, whereas patients with older FaceAge estimates had worse survival outcomes.