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DNA element with a murky past is borrowing cell's repair machinery

Science Daily: Pharmacology News

They hijack a little-known piece of the cell's DNA repair function to close themselves into a ring-like shape and then create a matching double strand. The finding upends 40 years of conventional wisdom and may offer new insights into cancer, viral infections and immune responses.

DNA 75
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Designing a Better Probiotic. CRISPR Hubris?

PLOS: DNA Science

The molecular tools of CRISPR were borrowed and developed from the natural immune response of bacteria to viruses – bacteriophages – that infect them. DNA Science recently covered perfumes resurrected from extinct plants, but using older and less precise recombinant DNA technology. CRISPR Hubris?

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A therapy candidate for fatal prion diseases turns off disease-causing gene

Broad Institute

Science (2024) Related content New gene delivery vehicle shows promise for human brain gene therapy My Quest to Cure Prion Disease — Before It’s Too Late | Sonia Vallabh | TED Prion diseases lead to rapid neurodegeneration and death and are caused by misshapen versions of the prion protein in the brain. Online June 27, 2024.

Disease 142
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A research team searches for every gene that helps tumors evade immunotherapy

Broad Institute

The drugs work by blocking a protein, PD-1 — which helps keep immune responses in check — and stimulating the immune system to attack tumors. The researchers soon partnered with Calico Life Sciences , which in collaboration with AbbVie , discovered drug candidates that block the PTPN2 protein.

Research 137
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Can Global Genomic Surveillance Forecast the Next Pandemic?

PLOS: DNA Science

These factors are converging to enable both identification of novel infectious diseases as well as microbial resistance, before these threats can impact public health, write a team from the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Frontiers in Science. • offers clues to how the virus might change.

Virus 98
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The immune system’s role in lung cancer risk

Drug Target Review

HLA are the critical molecules that our immune systems use to present peptides to T cells and facilitate recognition and killing in immune responses to pathogens. HLA-II presents peptides to CD4 T cells thought to be important for indirectly helping immune responses and facilitating antibody production.

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Targeted drug treatment leads tumor cells to imitate viral infection

Broad Institute

Reporting in Science , researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have made a surprising discovery about these drugs. They found that mIDH1 inhibitors trick the tumor cells into thinking they are infected with a virus, causing the immune system to mount an antiviral response.