COVID-19 Lung Damage Reduced in Patients Prescribed Fenofibrate, New Study Suggests
The results demonstrated that patients who were taking drugs to speed up the breakdown of fats in their lungs were recovering from lung infections caused by COVID-19 in a matter of days—with no mortality among these patients.
Guardant Throws Hat in Early Cancer Detection Ring with CRC Test
Guardant Reveal, is a plasma-only ctDNA test for detection of early-stage colorectal cancer, with additional cancer types to follow. The minimal residue disease test, which will have a turnaround time of seven days, had been in development since 2016 under the name LUNAR-1, and was launched for research use only in 2019.
Regeneron, Moderna Return Encouraging Early Data on COVID-19 Clinical Trials
Moderna said its vaccine candidate produced neutralizing antibodies in older and elderly adults, while Regeneron said REGN-COV2 rapidly reduced viral load as well as time to alleviate symptoms in non-hospitalized patients.
Lab-on-a-Chip Infection Test Could Lead to Novel Portable Diagnostics
Dubbed TriSilix, the chip performs a miniature version of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing on bodily fluids, feces, or environmental samples, according to the scientists at Imperial College London who developed the new technology.
cfDNA Test Developed to Detect Acute Rejection After Heart Transplant
In studies of a group of 171 heart transplant recipients, the new blood test performed better than tissue biopsies, signaling problems even when no outward signs of rejection were evident.
Pacific Biosciences, Invitae to Codevelop Clinical WGS Platform
Leveraging both Sanger sequencing and long-read technology , PacBio and Invitae will look to develop new whole-genome assays in areas such as carrier screening, immune system response, and other heritable diseases.
Neuroinvasion Mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 Discovered
SARS-CoV-2 can affect many other organs in the body including the central nervous system, where the infection is associated with a variety of symptoms ranging from headaches and loss of taste and smell to impaired consciousness, delirium, strokes, and cerebral hemorrhage.
Researchers Activate Antiviral Immune Pathways in Triple Negative Breast Cancers
The study shows that endogenous mis-spliced RNA in tumor cells mimics an RNA virus, leading tumor cells to self-destruct as if fighting an infection.
Nanomaterial-Based Biosensor Can Detect COVID-19 Antibodies in Seconds
A big advantage of the new sensor is that it only requires a very small amount of blood—around 5 microliters—to work. It can also detect levels of antibodies as low as 0.15 nanograms per milliliter.
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.