Avoidance of graft-vs.-host disease (GVHD) after a hematopoietic stem cell transplant could depend on certain members of the microbiome. According to a study led by scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center (FHCC), while some species of intestinal bacteria repressed the expression of the major histocompatibility complex II (MHC-II), others induced it and triggered the immune response that produces GVHD.
During the first talk of the Basic Science Seminar sessions at the 2023 EASL International Liver Congress, focusing on the gut-liver axis, Prof. Maria Rescigno from Humanitas University presented data on the interaction between the gut and the liver and the role of microbiota and intestinal permeability in health and disease.
Microbiome company Finch Therapeutics Group Inc. has suffered one blow after another in the past year with dwindling cash, delayed programs, a terminated deal and three workforce reductions. The latest reduction will bring the once healthy 189-person company down to a handful of employees, and it places the lead program – the oral microbiota product, CP-101, for Clostridiumdifficile infection – on the sidelines.
Researchers in China have discovered that bacteria promote cancer metastasis by bolstering the strength of host cells against mechanical stress in the bloodstream, promoting cell survival during tumor progression.
BOSTON – The gut microbiome and its prospects for drug development have been matters of debate for a while, sharpened by the high-profile phase II failure of Seres Therapeutics Inc.'s candidate, SER-109, in the summer of 2016. A panel at Biopharm America surveyed the space in light of developments since the stumble with that candidate, composed of about 50 species of firmicutes spores derived from stool specimens from healthy donors, against recurrent Clostridium difficile infection.
