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Ovarian cancer is a relatively rare but highly lethal disease. Of all gynecologic malignancies, ovarian cancer is the second most common and the leading cause of death. The World Cancer Research Fund International says that about 239,000 new cases were diagnosed in 2012. The five-year survival rate for all stages of ovarian cancer is about 30-50%. The disease is generally advanced when diagnosed due to a lack of early signs. If ovarian cancer is found earlier, treatment works much better. However, the mechanism underlying the metastatic progression of ovarian cancer is largely unknown, impeding the development of drugs for advanced, relapsed disease.

A paper, published 12 December 2016 in the journal Oncogene, now provides a way to inhibit metastasis of ovarian cancer, a discovery that may improve patient prognosis. The researchers said "our studies support a key regulatory role for the fractalkine axis in advanced and relapsed peritoneal metastasis in epithelial ovarian carcinoma." The study is led by Maria Barbolina at the University of Illinois.

Asthma varies in severity and frequency from person to person. For people with mild to moderate disease, appropriate treatment may help control symptoms and prevent asthma attacks. But for people with severe disease, conventional treatments may have limited effect. There is still a need to develop new treatments for these asthmatic patients.

Now a group led by Dr Ruth Saunders the University of Leicester reports in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology that an important protein, which is involved in the narrowing of the airway, is up-regulated in patients with severe asthma. The protein, called high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), seems to be linked with increased mucus production. The researchers believe that targeting the protein is a way to control asthma. (Cusabio offers researchers high-quality proteins including HMGB1, and Recombinant Il4r.)

A newest report says that African swine fever, a highly contagious hemorrhagic disease of pigs, has broken out in Chernihiv region, putting at risk large pig populations.
 

A combination of two existing cancer drugs shows efficacy against dengue virus and Ebola virus, according to a study reported by the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Rather than disabling viral components, the drugs target proteins produced by the body that are required for viral infection.

Emerging viral infections constitute a great threat to global health due to a lack effective vaccines or therapies. For example, the West African Ebola epidemic, which began in March 2014, is the largest and most complex Ebola outbreak since the virus was first discovered in 1976. Although that epidemic has subsided, it could return at any time. As many as 100 million people become infected with dengue virus each year. The dengue virus has 4 subtypes, which hampers the development of a vaccine. Moreover, a secondary infection by a different subtype can cause severe disease.

There's another reason to eat less sugar -- too much sugar confers risk for Alzheimer's disease.

Over 240 new cases of dementia are diagnosed each day in Australia, and a large portion of them is Alzheimer‘s. Simply put, Alzheimer‘s disease is a progressive mental deterioration affecting middle or old aged people, due to generalised degeneration of the brain.

Targeting stromal PAK1 could increase therapeutic response and survival of patients with pancreatic cancer. This is the discovery of a study published 7 February 2017 International Journal of Cancer.

The study, carried out by Australian researchers including Dannel Yeo, Graham S. Baldwin, Hong He, and Mehrdad Nikfarjam from University of Melbourne. Austin Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia and Phoebe Phillips from University of Melbourne. Austin Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia shows that PAK1 may serve as a regulator of the activation, proliferation and apoptosis of pancreatic stellate cells. The study, led by researchers from University of Melbourne and University of New South Wales, suggests that PAK1 could be a therapeutic target for pancreatic cancer.

A study led by Prof Alexander Weber from University of Tübingen now points to a new way to inhibit inflammation. A discovery that would have implications in the treatment of many diseases such as gout, Alzheimer's, atherosclerosis, heart attack or stroke. The paper, titled “Human NLRP3 inflammasome activity is regulated by and potentially targetable via BTK,” is published in Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Inflammation is the body's attempt to remove harmful stimuli, including damaged cells, pathogens and irritants, and to initiate healing of tissue. It is a protective response involving host cells, blood vessels and proteins. However, inflammation is also a potentially harmful process. For example, in atherosclerosis, inflammation can deteriorate the condition.

A study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences points to a previously unknown mechanism for thyroid cancer, a disease affecting the thyroid gland. About 90% of all thyroid cancer cases are driven by known genetic alterations, whereas driver mutations in the remaining tumors are unknown. Now the new study finds new genetic mutations in thyroid cancer. This may lead to new treatments for the disease.
Thyroid cancer occurs when abnormal cells grow in the thyroid gland, an organ that makes hormones to regulate heart rate, blood pressure, body temperature and weight. The cancer is relatively uncommon compared to other cancers. Most patients do very well because the cancer is usually found early and treatment works well. Women are much more likely to have thyroid cancer than men. The aggressiveness of thyroid cancer increases significantly in older patients.

Seasonal influenza (flu) virus has three types A, B, and C. Worldwide, the annual epidemics causes about 3 to 5 million cases of severe illness, and about 250 000 to 500 000 deaths.

Now a study presents an approach to detect a type of circulating helper T cells in the blood after an annual flu vaccine. The approach would help determine whether the vaccination is successful. The study involves collaboration between several research centers in the USA, including University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and Durham VA Medical Center.

Hearing loss can affect an individual's daily life and social relationship. However, there are various causes for hearing loss, making it difficult to make the right diagnosis of the pathogenesis. Now University of Michigan investigators have identified a new cellular mechanism for hidden hearing loss, an auditory neuropathy that contribute to speech discrimination and intelligibility deficits in individuals considered to have normal hearing in traditional tests. The investigators, including Guoqiang Wan and Gabriel Corfas, have reported their findings in the journal Nature Communications.

Some people complain that they have trouble understanding conversation in noisy environments even though they have passed a hearing test. This is the so-called hidden hearing loss. The condition is caused by loss of inner hair cell synapses. This is the only cellular mechanism discovered to date. Now the new study presents a second cause. It reveals that transient loss of cochlear Schwann cells leads to permanent auditory deficits similar to hidden hearing loss. Better understanding the mechanisms underlying hidden hearing loss would be helpful for prevention, diagnosis and treatment.