11 March 2021
Insights into how bacterial proteins work as a network to take control of our cells could help predict infection outcomes and develop new treatments.
Much like a hacker seizes control of a company’s software to cause chaos, disease-causing bacteria, such as E. coli and Salmonella, use miniature molecular syringes to inject their own chaos-inducing agents (called effectors) into the cells that keep our guts healthy.
These effectors take control of our cells, overwhelming their defences and blocking key immune responses, allowing the infection to take hold.
The data represent a breakthrough in our understanding of the mechanisms of bacterial infections and host responses. Professor Gad Frankel
AI analysis of how bacteria attack could help predict infection outcomes eurekalert.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from eurekalert.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Radiotherapy responses may be improved with targeted immunotherapy, study suggests
8th March 2021
A new study suggests that targeted immunotherapy could make cancers that are resistant to radiotherapy more responsive to treatment.
The study, conducted by scientists at The Institute of Cancer Research, London in collaboration with the University of Leeds and The Francis Crick Institute, studied inflammation in bowel tumour samples taken before and after radiotherapy from 53 patients.
The researchers aimed to understand how tumour immune activity before and after radiotherapy treatment varies between patients who respond or do not respond well to treatment.
The study found that by profiling the immune landscape of cancers before therapy, researchers could identify which patients are likely to respond to radiotherapy, and also who might benefit from ‘priming’ their tumour with immunotherapy.