Cancer cells have a voracious appetite for sugar - using it to fuel their rapid growth. This is why many scientists have tried to develop drugs that block cancer cells’ metabolism by cutting off their sugar supply.

Now a team led by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin report in the journal Nature Chemical Biology that they have found a completely different approach. Instead of starving cancer cells, they trick them into consuming even more sugar than usual.

A protein that can dial down oxidative stress in cells helps some cancers resist treatment with a widely used class of drugs called BTK inhibitors, according to a study led by investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine. The discovery points to a possible solution to the problem of BTK inhibitor treatment resistance.

BTK inhibitors reduce the activity of the enzyme BTK (Bruton’s Tyrosine Kinase), which has a central role in immune cells called B cells.

Viagra was originally developed to treat high blood pressure and chest pain caused by reduced blood flow to the heart, but over the past three decades it has become the world’s best-known therapy for erectile dysfunction. In the future, this blockbuster drug may find yet another use. In a study published recently in Cancer Research, scientists in the lab of Prof. Ayelet Erez at the Weizmann Institute of Science found that sildenafil, Viagra’s active ingredient, may restrict cancer metastasis through a newly discovered biological mechanism.

An international research team led by the Medical University of Vienna has investigated a new peptide derived from cone snail venom which significantly reduced inflammation-induced pain in an animal model. Crucially, its effect takes hold immediately after subcutaneous injection, whereas previously known cone snail peptides must be administered directly into the cerebrospinal fluid.

More than half of U.S. adults ages 30 to 79 - about 87.5 million people - are now recommended for statins to prevent cardiovascular disease under newly updated clinical guidelines, according to a study by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers published in JAMA.

The new recommendations significantly change how doctors assess cardiovascular risk by looking beyond the next 10 years to a person’s risk over several decades.

Many countries are using too many powerful and inappropriate antibiotics, fuelling antibiotic resistance concerns, while millions lack access to the specific drugs they need. That is according to a major international study of antibiotic use published in The Lancet Public Health.

Research led by City St George's, University of London and University of Oxford developed the first global framework that estimates how many and which type of antibiotics each country needs to treat their infections.

Use of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity are associated with an increased risk of hair loss (alopecia) in adults with type 2 diabetes, finds a study published by The BMJ.

Although the absolute risk is low, awareness of this potential effect may help to inform shared treatment decisions, say the researchers.