New research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine speaks to the benefits of a COVID-19 booster.

The new findings shed light on how mRNA boosters - both Pfizer and Moderna - affect the durability of our antibodies to COVID-19. A booster, the researchers report, made for longer-lasting antibodies for all recipients, even those who have recovered from a COVID-19 infection.

Researchers at the University of Tokyo have used artificial DNA to target and kill cancer cells in a completely new way. The method was effective in lab tests against human cervical cancer- and breast cancer-derived cells, and against malignant melanoma cells from mice. The team created a pair of chemically synthesized, hairpin-shaped, cancer-killing DNA.

In one of the first large, real-world studies comparing the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines versus natural immunity in protecting against death, hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits for any cause, including COVID, research-scientists from Regenstrief Institute, Indiana University School of Medicine and Vanderbilt University Medical Center report that people of all age groups benefited significantly more from vaccination than natural immunity acquired from a previous COVID infection.

Scientists at UC San Francisco (UCSF) have engineered T cells to produce a potent anti-cancer cytokine, but only when they encounter tumor cells. The immunotherapy eliminated melanoma and pancreatic cancer in mice without major side effects, and it offers a promising new strategy for fighting these and other hard-to-treat cancers.

A serious condition that can cause the kidneys to suddenly stop working could be treated with existing medicines, a new study shows.

In a study in mice scientists found that medicines usually used to treat angina and high blood pressure prevented much of the long-term damage to the kidney and cardiovascular system caused by acute kidney injury (AKI).

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, has been devastating the entire world. While the vaccination program is advancing, drug treatments for COVID-19 are still highly important for those who become infected. Now, a team at Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU), National Center for Global Health and Medicine (NCGM), Tohoku University, NCI/NIH, and Kumamoto University has designed and synthesized compounds that have the potential to be novel drugs targeting SARS-CoV-2.

To design drugs that stall the growth of aggressive cancers, it helps to know the structures of the proteins that are revving the cancers' engines.

In a series of three papers published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Scripps Research scientists have illuminated the three-dimensional structure of phosphoinositide 3-kinase alpha (PI3Kα), a protein often mutated in cancer cells.