Medical Xpress news

Medical Xpress / Genetic modifier of Friedreich's ataxia points toward treatment for devastating disorder

Friedreich's ataxia (FA) is a rare but devastating genetic disorder. Those with the condition are often diagnosed between 5 and 15 years of age and live only into their 30s or 40s. There is no widely approved treatment that ...

Dec 10, 2025 in Genetics
Medical Xpress / In pneumonia's tug-of-war, lung microbiome could tip the balance

Northwestern University scientists have potentially uncovered a previously unknown, hidden player in pneumonia. In a new study, scientists found the lungs' own microbial community, or microbiome, appears to influence how ...

Medical Xpress / Pulmonary fibrosis traced to key signaling pathway

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic disease in which healthy lung tissue is gradually replaced by scar tissue. While the early events that initiate this change are poorly understood, recent research suggests ...

Medical Xpress / Aging population faces escalating West Nile threat as chronic diseases and immunosuppression rates climb

Older people with a history of chronic kidney disease or conditions affecting blood flow to the brain such as stroke face about double the risk of developing neuroinvasive disease that can lead to paralysis and death following ...

Medical Xpress / Mobile DNA elements reveal their role in lung cancer progression

Using lung cancer biospecimens from the Sherlock-Lung study, an international team led by National Institutes of Health (NIH) researchers, identified key factors that drive tumor evolution and influence outcomes. Overall, ...

Dec 10, 2025 in Oncology & Cancer
Medical Xpress / Real-time imaging captures what happens to cancer cells arriving in the brain

Metastasis occurs when cancer cells break away from the original tumor and travel through the bloodstream to form new tumors in other parts of the body. It is the leading cause of cancer-related death. Brain metastasis is ...

Dec 10, 2025 in Oncology & Cancer
Medical Xpress / Anxiety and insomnia may lower natural killer cell count, potentially repressing immune function

Natural killer (NK) cells are the bodyguards of our immune system. As a first line of defense, they destroy invading pathogens, foreign bodies, and infected cells in early stages, thereby preventing them from spreading. NK ...

Dec 10, 2025 in Immunology
Medical Xpress / Study links gut and bloodstream infections in newborns within sub-Saharan Africa for the first time

New research from Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM) has shown gut and bloodstream infections are caused by the same bacteria, giving hope of better prevention and diagnosis of deadly neonatal sepsis.

Medical Xpress / A paper-based technology could transform cancer drug testing

Researchers at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) have developed Spheromatrix, a simple and low-cost technology that enables tumor models to be grown, frozen, and stored for future use in cancer drug testing.

Dec 10, 2025 in Oncology & Cancer
Medical Xpress / A mitochondrial protein may hold the secret to longevity

As life expectancy continues to climb globally, the focus of many people has moved from longevity alone to living in good health. This has drawn attention to the need to extend "healthspan," the period during which an individual ...

Dec 10, 2025 in Gerontology & Geriatrics
Medical Xpress / Cell-free DNA could detect adverse events from immunotherapy

A noninvasive blood test to detect genetic material shed by tumors may help clinicians identify adverse events related to treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitor drugs, investigators at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer ...

Dec 10, 2025 in Oncology & Cancer
Medical Xpress / Study unveils improved mRNA cancer vaccine targeting

No matter where cancer cells grow in the human body, they are a threat to our health and our lives. But instead of treating them with chemotherapy or radiation—which have undesirable side effects—what if we could train ...

Dec 10, 2025 in Immunology