Medical Xpress news

Medical Xpress / Genome-wide analysis reveals host–virus genetic interactions in cancer risk

A study from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health reports a major advance in understanding how interactions between human and viral genomes shape disease risk. The research found that variations in the Epstein–Barr ...

Apr 15, 2026
Medical Xpress / Ultra-processed food intake tied to sharply higher obesity risk in adolescents

Adolescents who consume more ultra-processed foods (UPFs) have significantly higher odds of being overweight or obese, according to a new systematic review and meta-analysis published in the open-access journal PLOS One by ...

Apr 15, 2026
Medical Xpress / A molecular movie captures cancer's great escape from targeted therapy

Cancer drugs are designed to shut tumors down. But sometimes, in the very act of attacking a tumor, treatment can also help a small fraction of cancer cells become harder to kill. A new study from researchers at the Institute ...

Apr 15, 2026
Medical Xpress / RNA sequencing platform unlocks rare disease diagnoses missed by standard tests

Researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) developed a new RNA sequencing strategy that can reveal how genetic variants disrupt gene function and improve the diagnosis of rare diseases.

Apr 15, 2026
Medical Xpress / Mitochondria keep key immune cells battle-ready by sustaining electron flow, study reveals

Researchers at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC) show that active mitochondria maintain dendritic cells, the immune system's sentinels, in a "ready-to-respond" state, linking cellular ...

Apr 15, 2026
Medical Xpress / Blood test predicts kidney failure risk to Black Americans years before onset

A new blood test can identify which individuals of African ancestry carrying high-risk APOL1 gene variants are most likely to develop kidney failure, years before clinical disease becomes apparent. Findings on the new test, ...

Apr 15, 2026
Medical Xpress / Immune system uses a conveyor belt-like process to edit defective antibodies, new research finds

The immune system's B cells create antibodies that can mount a response against just about anything—either destroying a pathogen or instructing the rest of the immune system to go after the offender. But what happens when ...

Apr 15, 2026
Medical Xpress / Blood-based DNA signals may help track osteosarcoma in children

Detecting whether osteosarcoma, a rare but aggressive bone cancer that most often affects children and adolescents, has returned or spread remains a major challenge for patients and doctors. Blood-based biomarkers, which ...

Apr 15, 2026
Medical Xpress / A major cancer protein hijacks RNA editing, exposing a new weakness in prostate tumors

Northwestern Medicine scientists have uncovered an unexpected role for a well-known cancer-related protein, revealing a new layer of genetic regulation that could reshape how certain cancers are treated. In a new study published ...

Apr 15, 2026
Medical Xpress / Genetic atlas reveals how human liver cells divide their labor

If scientists could shrink themselves to microscopic size and take a journey through the human body—like the submarine crew in the 1966 science fiction classic "Fantastic Voyage"—one of their first stops would no doubt be ...

Apr 15, 2026
Medical Xpress / 'MitoCatch' delivers healthy mitochondria to diseased cells

Scientists led by Botond Roska at the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB) have developed MitoCatch, a system that enables targeted delivery of healthy mitochondria to specific cell types affected ...

Apr 15, 2026
Medical Xpress / From benign growth to pancreatic cancer: New study shows how the switch gets flipped

As we age, our cells accumulate genetic changes—mutations—some of which open the door to cancer. Scientists call these mutations "oncogenic," meaning "tumor-producing." By our senior years, we each may harbor as many as 100 ...

Apr 15, 2026