Research News

Why are some individuals able to use recreational drugs in a controlled way, whereas others switch to the compulsive, relapsing drug-seeking and -taking habits that characterize substance use disorder (SUD)? Despite more than six decades of extensive research, the question remains unanswered, hampering the development of targeted prevention and therapeutic strategies. Now, a new study in rats identifies the maladaptive nature of drug-seeking habits and how they contribute to the perpetuation of addiction by promoting the tendency to relapse.

Researchers at Wake Forest School of Medicine have discovered that a nanoparticle therapeutic enhances cancer immunotherapy and is a possible new approach in treating malignant pleural effusion (MPE). MPE is the accumulation of fluid between the chest wall and lungs and is accompanied by malignant cells and/or tumors.

Antibiotic resistance is a race between us humans, who strive to find new antibiotics that can treat infectious diseases – and bacteria, which are becoming increasingly resistant. For now, bacteria are way ahead, which is why it is important for us to learn more about antibiotic resistance. A Danish research group has discovered a new piece of the puzzle that helps us better understand the 'enemy'.

Insilico Medicine, an end-to-end artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery company announced that the first healthy volunteer has been dosed in a first-in-human microdose trial of ISM001-055.

A study of an investigational gene therapy for sickle cell disease has found that a single dose restored blood cells to their normal shape and eliminated the most serious complication of the disease for at least three years in some patients.

An experimental HIV vaccine based on mRNA—the same platform technology used in two highly effective COVID-19 vaccines—shows promise in mice and non-human primates, according to scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. Their results, published in Nature Medicine, show that the novel vaccine was safe and prompted desired antibody and cellular immune responses against an HIV-like virus.

Roche announced that the European Commission has extended the marketing authorisation for Actemra®/RoActemra® (tocilizumab) to include the treatment of COVID-19 in adults who are receiving systemic corticosteroids and require supplemental oxygen or mechanical ventilation. This decision comes just hours after the recommendation by the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP), reflecting the urgent need for Actemra/RoActemra as a potential treatment option during the COVID-19 public health emergency.

GlaxoSmithKline plc and Vir Biotechnology, Inc announced an update to preclinical data on bioRxiv1, a preprint server, demonstrating that sotrovimab, an investigational monoclonal antibody, retains in vitro activity against the full known Omicron spike protein, the new SARS-CoV-2 variant (B.1.1.529). The preclinical data was generated through pseudo-virus testing of the combined known mutations of the Omicron variant, which included the maximum number of changes (37 mutations) identified to date in the spike protein.

A common strategy to make vaccines more powerful is to deliver them along with an adjuvant — a compound that stimulates the immune system to produce a stronger response.

Researchers from MIT, the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, and other institutions have now designed a new nanoparticle adjuvant that may be more potent than others now in use. Studies in mice showed that it significantly improved antibody production following vaccination against HIV, diphtheria, and influenza.