A research team from the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, in collaboration with City of Hope, has found a promising way to adapt CAR T cell therapy so that it can fight solid tumors. The researchers engineered CAR T cells to produce a fusion of two proteins: interleukin 12 (IL-12) cytokine, which boosts immune activity, and a programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) blocker, an immune checkpoint inhibitor that prevents cancer cells from turning off the immune attack. In mouse models of prostate and ovarian cancer, the modified CAR T cells launched a localized attack, shrinking the tumor without causing toxicity in other parts of the body. The results were just published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering. The approach enhanced the ability of T cells to penetrate tumors and made the surrounding environment less hostile. It was also safe, with minimal toxicity elsewhere in the body, making it an attractive therapy to translate to patients.

A new study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases involving over 460,000 children and adolescents across 40 paediatric hospitals in the USA suggests that children who were infected with COVID-19 for the second time during the Omicron wave had more than double the risk of developing long COVID.

People may be more likely to resolve a problem if they feel they have more control over it, according to a new study from a team including researchers at Penn State. They also found that the relationship strengthens with age.

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center have reported encouraging results from a phase 1B clinical trial showing that the immunotherapy drug avelumab, when combined with whole brain radiotherapy, may provide a safe and effective treatment option for patients with leptomeningeal disease, one of the most aggressive and difficult-to-treat complications of advanced cancer. The findings were published in Neuro-Oncology.