Researchers from the Institute of Translational Genomics at Helmholtz Munich have described a genetic overlap between type 2 diabetes (T2D), a disease that is also associated with obesity, and osteoarthritis, a degeneration of the joints that worsens with age and coincides in the factor risk of being overweight. The researchers used genetic data, multiomics and functional analysis of the tissues T2D and osteoarthritis express to identify which genes were associated and correlated with both diseases. They published their results on July 10, 2023, in The American Journal of Human Genetics.
Another brick in the ambitious Human Cell Atlas initiative has been put into place with the publication of the largest and most comprehensive cell map of the human lung. The open and freely available atlas catalogs the diversity of cells in the lung, including rare and previously undescribed cell types.
Herantis Pharma plc has received approval from the Finnish Medicines Agency, Fimea, and an ethics committee for a clinical trial application (CTA) to start clinical development of HER-096 for Parkinson's disease.
Transgene SA has received clinical trial application (CTA) approval from the French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) to proceed with a phase I trial of TG-6050, a novel oncolytic virus (OV) for intravenous administration in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Enrollment is expected to open in the first half of this year.
Circuit dysfunction is clearly recognized as a driver of neuropsychiatric disease, and some neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s disease. And at the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) 2022 Congress, researchers made an argument that the same is true in multiple sclerosis (MS). Such a lens could explain the radiological-clinical paradox between the amount of structural damage and clinical severity.
The U.K. is launching a coordinated national program of research into the unprecedented outbreak of monkeypox that has spread across Europe and North America – regions where the disease is not endemic – over the past six months. Taking a lead from the SARS-CoV-2 playbook, there will be work to sequence the viral genome and to study how it is evolving, linking this to changes in the transmission and pathology of the virus.
Domain Therapeutics SA has received clinical trial application (CTA) clearances in France and Belgium for its immuno-oncology program DT-9081, allowing the initiation of a phase I trial for solid tumors.
Collagen is the most abundant protein in the human body, which would seem to make it an unlikely source for an immunotherapy target. But it is where researchers from Immatics Biotechnologies GmbH and the University of Pennsylvania have found a target that was expressed on stromal cells in a number of different solid tumors, but very rare in normal tissues.