Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: biotech/medical – Page 5

Human heart regrows muscle cells after heart attack, world-first study shows

This study provides the first direct evidence of cardiomyocyte mitosis in the adult human heart following myocardial infarction, challenging the long-standing paradigm that cardiac muscle cells are incapable of regeneration. Utilizing live human heart tissue models, researchers from the University of Sydney demonstrated that while fibrotic scarring occurs post-ischemia, the heart simultaneously initiates a natural regenerative program characterized by active cell division. The investigation further identified specific regulatory proteins that drive this mitotic process, offering a molecular blueprint for endogenous tissue repair. These findings suggest that the human heart possesses a latent regenerative capacity that could be therapeutically harnessed to prevent heart failure and reverse post-infarct tissue damage, representing a significant shift in regenerative cardiovascular medicine.

A world‑first University of Sydney study reveals that the human heart can regrow muscle cells after a heart attack, paving the way for breakthrough regenerative therapies to reverse heart failure.

Proton Beam vs Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy in Olfactory Neuroblastoma

In patients with advanced olfactory neuroblastoma, IMRT and PBRT yielded similar long-term outcomes and rates of grade 2 or higher radiation-related adverse events. Theoretical benefits of PBRT—such as organ sparing—require further study to clarify potential clinical advantages.

Question Does adjuvant proton beam radiotherapy (PBRT) provide equivalent oncologic effectiveness while reducing radiation toxic effects compared with adjuvant intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) for patients with olfactory neuroblastoma (ONB)?

Findings In this propensity score–matched cohort study of 54 patients, patients treated with adjuvant IMRT and PBRT had similar rates of radiation toxic effects and no statistical difference in overall survival and recurrence-free survival.

Meaning PBRT may not improve overall survival, recurrence-free survival, or radiation toxic effects relative to IMRT for patients with ONB.

Human heart regrows muscle cells after heart attack, researchers discover

Pioneering research by experts at the University of Sydney, the Baird Institute and the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney has shown that heart muscle cells regrow after a heart attack, opening up the possibility of new regenerative treatments for cardiovascular disease.

Following the publication of the study in Circulation Research, first author Dr. Robert Hume, from the Faculty of Medicine and Health and Charles Perkins Center, and Lead of Translational Research at the Baird Institute for Applied Heart and Lung Research, explained the significance of the finding: Until now we’ve thought that, because heart cells die after a heart attack, those areas of the heart were irreparably damaged, leaving the heart less able to pump blood to the body’s organs.

Our research shows that while the heart is left scarred after a heart attack, it produces new muscle cells, which opens up new possibilities.

Diabetes drugs may be changing cancer in surprising ways

Common diabetes drugs may do more than regulate blood sugar—they could also influence how cancers grow, spread, or slow down. Researchers are now unraveling how these medications affect immune function, inflammation, and tumor biology, with intriguing but still uncertain implications.

Researchers are taking a closer look at how medications used to treat diabetes may also influence cancer. While diabetes itself has long been associated with higher cancer risk, scientists are now investigating whether diabetes drugs play a direct role beyond controlling blood sugar levels and body weight. A recent review examines how widely used treatments such as metformin, SGLT2 inhibitors, and GLP-1 receptor agonists may affect cancer growth by changing how cells multiply, how the immune system responds, and how inflammation develops. These insights point to possible new treatment strategies while also highlighting how much remains unknown.

Type 2 Diabetes (T2DM) has been linked to a higher likelihood of developing several types of cancer, including liver, colorectal, and breast cancer. Managing blood glucose and body weight remains essential for people with diabetes, but growing evidence suggests these factors alone do not fully explain the increased cancer risk. This has led scientists to explore how diabetes medications themselves might influence cancer, either by reducing risk or, in some cases, creating unintended effects. Understanding this connection could help clarify how diabetes treatments fit into cancer prevention and care, though further research is still needed to unravel the underlying biology.

A Single Molecule May Explain How Blood Flow in The Brain Triggers Dementia

Reduced blood flow to the brain is thought to be a key factor in many forms of dementia, including Alzheimer’s, and scientists have just identified a new mechanism regulating this flow, which may also help explain how it goes wrong.

A fat molecule helps maintain the system’s balance, researchers at the University of Vermont discovered, and in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease, disruption of this balance led to problems.

Fixing the imbalance restored more normal blood flow, offering a hopeful new target for understanding and treating dementia-related brain changes.

Presenting data from the largest integrated thyroid cancer single-cell sequencing atlas

Here, Vivian L. Weiss & team highlight stromal tumor-dynamics occurring across the spatial evolution of thyroid cancer from indolent to lethal disease, identifying a prognostic invasive cell subtype:

The figure shows two distinct patterns associated with anaplastic thyroid carcinoma.

6The Francis Crick Institute, London, United Kingdom.

7Institute of Interdisciplinary Research (IRIBHM), Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.

8Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington, USA.

Organ cross-talk: molecular mechanisms, biological functions, and therapeutic interventions for diseases

3. Pathology as Network Dysregulation.

In recent years, a transformative view of physiology has emerged: the body operates not as isolated organs, but as an integrated communication network in which signals flow bidirectionally between the brain, the immune system, the gut, and peripheral organs. This comprehensive review synthesizes current mechanistic insights into this “organ cross-talk” and frames them within systems biology and neuroscience.

At its core, organ cross-talk encompasses neural, endocrine, metabolic, and immune signaling between organs that coordinate homeostasis and orchestrate responses to stress and disease. From a neuroscience vantage point, three themes stand out:

1. The Brain as a Communication Hub.

2. Peripheral Feedback to the CNS.

Continue reading “Organ cross-talk: molecular mechanisms, biological functions, and therapeutic interventions for diseases” | >

Agenus Closes Strategic Immunotherapeutic Collaboration with Zydus Lifesciences

As part of the collaboration, Agenus has granted Zydus exclusive rights to develop and commercialize BOT and BAL in India and Sri Lanka, with Agenus eligible to receive royalties on net sales in those territories.

“Closing this collaboration with Zydus strengthens our balance sheet and, critically, secures dedicated U.S. manufacturing capacity at a pivotal moment for Agenus,” continued Armen. “With these foundations in place, our focus in 2026 is disciplined execution—advancing our Phase III program, broadening paid patient access through authorized pathways, and progressing toward regulatory submission supported by one of the most substantial clinical datasets generated in [microsatellite stable] MSS colorectal cancer.”

Following the closing, the Emeryville and Berkeley, CA, biologics manufacturing facilities will be transferred to Zydus and housed under a newly formed subsidiary named Zylidac Bio. Agenus has secured committed manufacturing capacity at these U.S. sites to support BOT+BAL supply needs for its clinical trials, global access programs, and future commercialization.

AI model detects prediabetes using ECG data without need for blood tests

DiaCardia, a novel artificial intelligence model that can accurately identify individuals with prediabetes using either 12-lead or single-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) data, has been developed. This breakthrough holds promise for future home-based prediabetes screening using consumer wearable devices, without requiring invasive blood tests.

Type 2 diabetes occurs when the human body either cannot make enough insulin or does not use insulin well, resulting in high blood glucose levels. This condition is a growing global health burden that can reduce the quality of life and life expectancy.

Before type 2 diabetes develops, many people go through a prolonged stage called prediabetes, where blood glucose levels are above normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. Prediabetes is an important window wherein lifestyle changes can reduce the progression to diabetes.

Liraglutide in Acute Minor Ischemic Stroke or High-Risk Transient Ischemic Attack With Type 2 Diabetes: The LAMP Randomized Clinical Trial

Liraglutide addition for Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes and minor AIS or high-risk TIA reduced 90-day stroke recurrence and improved functional outcomes.

Question Do glucagon-like peptide–1 receptor agonists (liraglutide) reduce stroke recurrence in patients with type 2 diabetes who have minor acute ischemic stroke or high-risk transient ischemic attack?

Findings In this randomized clinical trial of 636 participants with type 2 diabetes, 25 patients (7.9%) who were randomly assigned to receive standard therapy plus liraglutide and 44 (13.8%) of those who received standard therapy had recurrent stroke at 90 days.

Meaning The results of this randomized clinical trial suggest that, compared with standard therapy, liraglutide might reduce recurrent stroke in patients with type 2 diabetes who had minor acute ischemic stroke or high-risk transient ischemic attack.

/* */