Archives: 2022-11-29

PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2022-11-29

The FDA-approved drug Alectinib compromises SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid 2 phosphorylation and inhibits viral infection in vitro

A cross-institutional effort between researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine and Duke University has yielded exciting progress in the search for new therapeutics against Covid-19. Where much of our current anti-SARS-CoV-2 arsenal is built around the virus’ spike (S) protein, many other proteins contribute to the viral life cycle as well. This includes the nucleocapsid (N) protein, which

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PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2022-11-24

Researchers discover dysregulation of the immune system mediated by ATP as a new mechanism associated with severe COVID-19.

Researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil have found that severe COVID-19 is associated with an imbalance in an important immune system signaling pathway. The discovery helps explain at the molecular level why some people infected by SARS-CoV-2 develop a potentially fatal systemic inflammation. It also paves the way to the development

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PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2022-11-24

New Omicron subvariant BQ.1.1 resistant to all therapeutic antibodies

Are the currently approved antibody therapies used to treat individuals at increased risk for severe COVID-19 disease also effective against currently circulating viral variants? A recent study by researchers at the German Primate Center (DPZ) – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research and Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg shows that the Omicron sub-lineage BQ.1.1, currently on the rise

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PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2022-11-24

Gene-delivering viruses reach the brain in a step toward gene therapy for neurological diseases

Researchers have engineered a family of adeno-associated viral vectors that cross the blood-brain barrier in primate models. Gene therapies can treat, even potentially cure, certain genetic diseases, but it is challenging to deliver the treatments to the parts of the body where they are needed. Researchers have engineered viruses called adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) to deliver

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No Comments InGENE THERAPY RARE DISEASES
PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2022-11-23

CRISPR Technology applied to CAR T cells for Cancer Therapy

Researchers find that combining novel gene-editing CRISPR technology with CAR T therapy could simplify and improve CAR T therapy in one fell swoop. Traditional CAR T Therapy A remarkable feat in cancer care, today people with difficult-to-treat blood cancers can receive CAR T therapy, a personalized “drug” made from their own immune cells. Chimeric Antigen Receptor T cell (CAR T)

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PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2022-11-23

FDA Approves First Gene Therapy to Treat Adults with Hemophilia B

Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Hemgenix (etranacogene dezaparvovec), an adeno-associated virus vector-based gene therapy for the treatment of adults with Hemophilia B (congenital Factor IX deficiency) who currently use Factor IX prophylaxis therapy, or have current or historical life-threatening hemorrhage, or have repeated, serious spontaneous bleeding episodes. “Gene therapy for hemophilia has

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No Comments InGENE THERAPY RARE DISEASES
PIER MARIA FORNASARI
2022-11-23

COVID-19 Virus Increases Risk for Other Infections by Disrupting Normal Mix of Gut Bacteria

Infection with the pandemic virus, SARS-CoV-2, can reduce the number of bacterial species in a patient’s gut, with the lesser diversity creating space for dangerous microbes to thrive, a new study finds. The study builds on the realization that widespread use of antibiotics to fight infections with disease-causing bacteria in recent decades, by killing off

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