Lead Story
AI blood test could spare thousands of women invasive cancer exams
NHS organisations in England are rolling out PinPoint, an AI-powered blood test developed by Leeds-based PinPoint Data Science, after a large-scale evaluation of 16,481 patients referred with suspected cancers across 170 GP practices in Yorkshire. The test analyses around 30 blood markers to sort patients into low, elevated or high risk groups, achieving 99.1% accuracy in identifying gynaecological cancers and a 99.8% negative predictive value for the lowest-risk group. If deployed widely, it could spare up to 18,000 women a year from unnecessary invasive scans — roughly one in five current referrals. Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust are both introducing the test for suspected gynaecological and upper gastrointestinal cancers.
Read more →Lead Story
AI blood test could spare thousands of women invasive cancer exams
NHS organisations in England are rolling out PinPoint, an AI-powered blood test developed by Leeds-based PinPoint Data Science, after a large-scale evaluation of 16,481 patients referred with suspected cancers across 170 GP practices in Yorkshire. The test analyses around 30 blood markers to sort patients into low, elevated or high risk groups, achieving 99.1% accuracy in identifying gynaecological cancers and a 99.8% negative predictive value for the lowest-risk group. If deployed widely, it could spare up to 18,000 women a year from unnecessary invasive scans — roughly one in five current referrals. Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust are both introducing the test for suspected gynaecological and upper gastrointestinal cancers.
Sugar-coated nanoparticles boost brain cancer survival by 50% in mice
Researchers at Oregon State University have developed sugar-coated lipid nanoparticles that smuggle tumor-suppressing genetic material past the blood-brain barrier to treat glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer, for which fewer than 30% of patients survive two years after diagnosis. Coating the nanoparticles with mannose, a sugar recognized by the GLUT1 transporter that ferries it into the brain, let them reach brain tissue nearly ten times more effectively than uncoated versions. In mouse studies published in the Journal of Controlled Release, the treatment shrank tumors and increased median survival by 50% with no noticeable damage to other organs, offering a new strategy for a cancer that has seen little therapeutic progress in decades.
Read more →Sugar-coated nanoparticles boost brain cancer survival by 50% in mice
Researchers at Oregon State University have developed sugar-coated lipid nanoparticles that smuggle tumor-suppressing genetic material past the blood-brain barrier to treat glioblastoma, the most aggressive form of brain cancer, for which fewer than 30% of patients survive two years after diagnosis. Coating the nanoparticles with mannose, a sugar recognized by the GLUT1 transporter that ferries it into the brain, let them reach brain tissue nearly ten times more effectively than uncoated versions. In mouse studies published in the Journal of Controlled Release, the treatment shrank tumors and increased median survival by 50% with no noticeable damage to other organs, offering a new strategy for a cancer that has seen little therapeutic progress in decades.
Repurposed spinal injury drug reverses Alzheimer's DNA damage in mice
Scientists at King's College London have found that KCL-286, an experimental drug originally developed for spinal cord injury that has already passed Phase 1 human safety trials, repaired DNA breaks and reduced inflammation in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. The drug works by activating a protein in the retinoic acid pathway, which in turn upregulates BRCA1, a key DNA-repair factor, addressing multiple disease mechanisms at once rather than targeting amyloid or tau alone. Because KCL-286 has already cleared initial human safety testing, researchers believe it could move into Alzheimer's clinical trials more quickly than a therapy starting from scratch. The findings were published in FEBS Open Bio.
Read more →Repurposed spinal injury drug reverses Alzheimer's DNA damage in mice
Scientists at King's College London have found that KCL-286, an experimental drug originally developed for spinal cord injury that has already passed Phase 1 human safety trials, repaired DNA breaks and reduced inflammation in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease. The drug works by activating a protein in the retinoic acid pathway, which in turn upregulates BRCA1, a key DNA-repair factor, addressing multiple disease mechanisms at once rather than targeting amyloid or tau alone. Because KCL-286 has already cleared initial human safety testing, researchers believe it could move into Alzheimer's clinical trials more quickly than a therapy starting from scratch. The findings were published in FEBS Open Bio.