Scientists reveal that during hematopoietic regeneration, RNA expressed from a part of the genome considered ‚junk DNA‘ is used by hematopoietic stem cells to get activated and proliferate. The study shows that these so-called transposable elements make RNA after chemotherapy and activate an immune receptor which induces inflammatory signals enhancing hematopoietic stem cell cycling and thus participating in the regeneration of the hematopoietic system.

Patients with malfunctioning kidneys often need dialysis to rid their blood of unwanted molecules and excess water. Personalising the settings of dialysis for each patient is crucial for their health, but it is complicated and error-prone. A group of Viennese scientists was awarded a competitive grant from the Vienna Science and Technology Fund to develop a precision medicine approach to dialysis treatment.

What if a microscope allowed us to explore the 3D microcosm of blood vessels, nerves, and cancer cells instantaneously in virtual reality? What if it could provide views from multiple directions in real time without physically moving the specimen and worked up to 100 times faster than current technology?

Researchers have developed a microfilter device that can easily separate and capture trace amounts of cancer cells in blood. The palm-sized device is expected to contribute to the development of new cancer diagnostic technologies based on cancer cells in the blood, such as early detection by blood test, postoperative management, and recurrence monitoring.

Scientists have discovered stem cells of the hematopoietic system in glioblastomas, the most aggressive form of brain tumor. These hematopoietic stem cells promote division of the cancer cells and at the same time suppress the immune response against the tumor. This surprising discovery might open up new possibilities for developing more effective immunotherapies against these malignant brain tumors.

A new study shows inherited risk of early-onset cancer is significantly higher among Latino and African American families for solid tumors, and Asian/Pacific Islander families for blood-based cancers, compared to non-Latino white families in California. Researchers used California population-based health registries to evaluate the relative cancer risk among first-degree relatives of patients diagnosed with cancer by the age of 26. This study demonstrates the need for increased scrutiny on familial cancer clustering in minority populations.

A new study finds that convalescent plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients can dramatically improve likelihood of survival among blood cancer patients hospitalized with the virus. The therapy involves transfusing plasma from people who have recovered from COVID-19 into patients who have leukemia, lymphoma or other blood cancers and are hospitalized with the viral infection.

Using real-time deformability cytometry, researchers at the Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin in Erlangen were able to show for the first time: Covid-19 significantly changes the size and stiffness of red and white blood cells – sometimes over months. These results may help to explain why some affected people continue to complain of symptoms long after an infection (long covid).

In a review of 200 patients with a wide spectrum of cancer diagnoses, researchers found that after full vaccination, 94 percent of patients overall demonstrated seroconversion, which was determined by the presence of antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. Response rates were very high among patients with solid tumors and were lower in people with certain blood cancers, but even the majority of those patients mounted an immune response.

Effective drugs for the treatment of diseases of the central nervous system, such as multiple sclerosis, do exist. However, the blood-brain barrier, which protects the brain as the body’s control center, makes it especially difficult for therapeutic biomolecules to pass through. Thus, researchers from an international consortium coordinated by the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB have spent the last four and a half years developing a novel system in the EU project „N2B-patch“ that can be used to bypass this barrier. The new approaches will be presented at a virtual international final symposium on June 17, 2021.

Köln, 08. Juni 2021. Zum Weltblutspendetag am 14. Juni 2021 ruft die Bundeszentrale für gesundheitliche Aufklärung (BZgA) gemeinsam mit Blutspendeeinrichtungen bundesweit dazu auf, Blut und Plasma zu spenden. Der Weltblutspendetag steht in diesem Jahr unter dem Motto „Give blood and keep the world beating“ („Spende Blut und halte die Welt am Laufen“), um das Bewusstsein für den Bedarf an Blut und Blutprodukten auch in Pandemiezeiten zu stärken. Gerade im Zusammenhang mit der Verbreitung des Coronavirus und der damit verbundenen Sorge vor Infektionen, haben Blutspenden noch mehr an Bedeutung gewonnen. Dabei können Spendewillige ohne Krankheitssymptome wie bisher Blut und Plasma spenden.

An odor-based test that sniffs out vapors emanating from blood samples was able to distinguish between benign and pancreatic and ovarian cancer cells with up to 95% accuracy.

Normal cells usually have multiple solutions for fixing problems that may arise. But cancer cells may ‚put all their eggs in one basket,‘ getting rid of all backup plans and depending on just one solution. Researchers discovered that a particular type of blood cancer, acute myeloid leukemia, came to depend on a single DNA repair method. They developed a drug that shut down the remaining pathway in lab-grown cells.

Base editing is a novel gene editing approach that can precisely change individual building blocks in a DNA sequence. By installing such a point mutation in a specific gene, an international research team led by the University of Zurich has succeeded in sustainably lowering high LDL cholesterol levels in the blood of mice and macaques. This opens up the possibility of curing patients with inherited metabolic liver diseases.

The latest analysis looked at data from more than 200,000 women aged 50-74 at recruitment who were followed up for an average of 16 years. The women were randomly allocated to one of three groups: no screening, annual screening using an ultrasound scan, and annual multimodal screening involving a blood test followed by an ultrasound scan as a second line test.

RNA-based drugs may change the standard of care for many diseases, making personalized medicine a reality. So far these cost-effective, easy-to-manufacture drugs haven’t been very useful in treating brain tumors and other brain disease. But a team has shown that a combination of ultrasound and RNA-loaded nanoparticles can temporarily open the protective blood-brain barrier, allowing the delivery of potent medicine to brain tumors.

Researchers have developed a new technology to overcome the inefficiencies and high error rates common among next-generation sequencing techniques that have previously limited their clinical application.

Cancerous tumors thrive on blood, extending their roots deep into the fabric of the tissue of their host. They alter the genetics of surrounding cells and evolve to avoid the protective attacks of immune cells. Now, researchers have developed a way to study the relationship between solid, difficult-to-treat tumors and the microenvironment they create to support their growth.

Researchers have identified a vulnerability in some cases of acute myeloid leukaemia that could be harnessed for targeted treatment of these poor-prognosis cancers.

A new artificial intelligence (AI) method is helping researchers link immune cells to their targets and, for example, uncouple which white blood cells recognize SARS-CoV-2. The tool has broad applications in understanding the function of the immune system in infections, autoimmune disorders, and cancer.

New research has uncovered a surprising role for so-called ‚jumping‘ genes that are a source of genetic mutations responsible for a number of human diseases. Scientists made the unexpected discovery that these DNA sequences, also known as transposons, can protect against certain blood cancers.

Researchers have uncovered a long-sought link in the battle to control cholesterol and heart disease. The protein that interferes with low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptors that clear ‚bad‘ cholesterol from the blood was identified. Excess LDL cholesterol can lead to atherosclerosis — a narrowing and hardening of arteries — and ultimately, heart attack.

A new technique that can trace which tissues and organs the DNA in our blood comes from has just been reported.

Image analysis utilizing neural networks can help identify details in tissue samples which are difficult to discern by the human eye. A study demonstrated that the technique makes it possible to accurately determine genetic mutations in the cancer cells of patients suffering from myelodysplastic syndrome, a malignant blood disorder.

Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease in the world, yet little is known about its causes and progression. To diagnose it early, make prognoses and develop therapies, biomarkers that indicate the development and course of the disease are needed. Bioinformaticians at Saarland University have been searching for such biomarkers, focusing on ribonucleic acids (RNA). In their study, which is now published in the journal ‚Nature Aging‘, they show that the level of non-coding RNAs in the blood of a Parkinson’s patient can be used to track the course of the disease.