Inside Precision Medicine

Global Trial of BioNTech’s mRNA-Based Lung Cancer Vaccine Launches Siow Ming Lee, PhD, who leads thenational study said, “Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, with an estimated 1.8 million deaths in 2020.” He added, “We are now entering this very exciting new era of mRNA-based immunotherapy clinical trials.” The NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research) UCLH Clinical Research Facility is the lead research site.

Immunotherapy Prior to Surgery May Improve Outcomes for High-Risk Liver Cancer Patients These findings from Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers show that high-risk patients can achieve comparable positive long-term outcomes and highlights the need for prospective studies on the possible benefits of neoadjuvant therapy in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Comprehensive Atlas of Normal Breast Cells Released Online A complete and extensive mapping of healthy breast cells is now available online at CELLxGENE. It’s a new tool to study how breast cancer develops and the differences in breast tissue among genetic ancestries. The study used breast tissues from clinically breast cancer free women and included samples from women of diverse genetic ancestry so that data are applicable to all people. Researchers are from Indiana University School of Medicine and NanoString Technologies, Inc.

Positive Phase III Data Suggest Bayer’s Menopause Drug May Soon Be on Market The non-hormonal drug elinzanetant, designed to treat hot flashes experienced by women during the menopause. Bayer submitted a New Drug Application to the FDA earlier this month based on these results and plans to submit additional applications to additional health regulators in different regions soon.

Overriding Tumor Gene Self-Edits to Improve Immunotherapies A team of researchers found that late tumors used gene editing to suppress antitumor immunity genes, reducing infiltrating immune cells and tumor–immune cell communications. The lead author is Judy Lieberman, MD, PhD, in the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine (PCMM) at the Boston Children's Hospital.

Most Common Long COVID Symptoms Differ between Younger Children and Adolescents A study funded by The National Institutes of Health has found that while there are similar patterns of how long COVID affects virtually every organ system in both younger children and adolescents, younger children were more likely to experience headache, while those older were most likely to suffer from low energy and tiredness.

Rethinking Lung Cancer Screening: New Analysis Suggests New Criteria Should Be Included According to a new study, current eligibility criteria may be excluding many individuals who could benefit most from screening. The study proposes a new set of criteria that could identify high-risk individuals more effectively, potentially reducing lung cancer mortality and addressing racial disparities in healthcare.

Migraine Not Linked to Parkinson’s Disease in Women A large study led by the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin shows no link between migraine and the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease in women aged 45 years and older. The investigators report that the risk of developing Parkinson’s did not appear to be influenced by migraine regardless of the kind of migraine or frequency over more than 20 years of follow up.

Higher Mental Illness Risk among Unvaccinated after Severe Bouts of COVID-19 A University of Bristol-led study showed higher rates of mental illness for up to a year following severe COVID-19 in unvaccinated people. Vaccination appeared to strongly mitigate mental illness.

Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Outcomes Predicted by Multi-omics The new research study out of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Harvard Medical School could significantly improve patient outcomes in precision immuno-oncology and allogeneic HCT (allo-HCT).