University of Miami Study Supports Use of Stem Cells to Treat Severe COVID-19
Although the main purpose of the study was to assess safety, the researchers also found that the treatment significantly improved survival with 91% of the stem-cell treated patients surviving until 31 days after admission versus 42% of the control group.
Microneedle Skin Patch Captures, Detects Biomarkers
Finding a biomarker using these microneedle patches is similar to blood testing. But instead of using a solution to find and quantify the biomarker in blood, the microneedles directly capture it from the liquid that surrounds our cells in skin.
Severe COVID-19 Inflammatory Response Also Impacts Brain
A study carried out by NIH researchers suggests that severe COVID-19 can damage the brain. MRI scans showed damage to small blood vessels in the brain, but no signs of viral RNA were found in tissue samples, leading to the theory that the severe immune reaction seen in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 is likely to blame for this damage.
![Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have found that a rare resistance mutation first thought to appear in melanoma (pictured) following treatment with a targeted therapy has instead turned out to be hiding in the tumor all along. [Definiens]](https://www.clinicalomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/1519-218x150.jpeg "Melanoma Vaccine from NeoVox Shows Anti-Tumor Response Four Years Later")
Melanoma Vaccine from NeoVox Shows Anti-Tumor Response Four Years Later
In a Phase 1 study among eight patients with advanced melanoma who received the NeoVax vaccine, after a median of four years, all of the patients remained alive and six patients had no signs of active disease.
Autoantibodies in COVID-19 Promote Blood Clots
About half of the patients who were very sick with COVID-19 were exhibiting a combination of high levels of both the dangerous antibodies and super-activated neutrophils, which are destructive, exploding white blood cells.
SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies Decrease Three Months After Infection
The study is one of the first longitudinal analyses to show that people who were seropositive—that is, they had produced antibodies against the virus that causes COVID-19—become seronegative, which means there were no detectable antibodies after a certain point.
AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 Vaccine Candidate Exhibits Encouraging Data, Promising Features
The AZ vaccine was developed in collaboration with researchers at the University of Oxford and tested first in the UK and Brazil. Key advantages of AZD1222 are that it does not require ultra-cold storage and it may be the least expensive of the three lead vaccines in development.
Evidence Suggests SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Can Enter the Brain
The researchers showed that an intravenously injected radioiodinated spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 readily crossed the blood-brain barrier in male mice and was taken up by brain regions and entered the parenchymal brain space.
Severe COVID-19 Activates Specific Set of T Cells
New research corroborates other studies that highlight potential associations between strong MAIT cell activation and severe COVID-19 outcomes and provide important information to help better understand the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 that could help develop new treatments.
Oncolytic Virus Could Improve Treatment Strategy for Pancreatic Cancer
A modified oncolytic vaccinia virus helps kill pancreatic tumor cells and makes them more vulnerable to immunotherapy in an animal model, a finding researchers now hope to validate in human trials.
