A promising way to improve artificial milk to become closer to natural breast milk, small robots made to deliver treatment to drug-resistant cancer cells, and a promising treatment for prostate cancer, are some of the medical research that the past few days have brought about.
Do humans make milk like breast milk?
Human breast milk contains a unique blend of prebiotic polysaccharides that are difficult to replicate in commercial infant formula. New research published on June 13 in the journal Nature Food, conducted by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Davis, has shown how genetically modified plants can help bridge this gap.
The study team reprogrammed plants’ sugar-making machinery to produce a variety of human milk sugars, also called human milk oligosaccharides.
The findings could lead to healthier and more affordable formula milk for children, or more nutritious dairy-free plant-based milk for adults.
A small robot targets cancer cells
Engineers at UC San Diego have developed microscopic robots capable of swimming through the lungs to deliver cancer-fighting drugs directly to metastatic tumors.
This approach has shown promising results in mice, inhibiting the growth and spread of tumors that had spread to the lungs, leading to increased survival rates.
The findings were detailed in a paper published June 12 in the journal Science Advances.
Women lose their teeth due to chronic kidney disease
A new study suggests that chronic kidney disease may also be linked to tooth loss. The results were published on June 11 in the journal Menopause.
These findings suggest that prevention and management of bone and mineral metabolism disorders in postmenopausal women with CKD is critical to preventing tooth loss. It is also important to address the progression of kidney disease, as the consequences affect multiple body systems beyond just oral health.
Medicines that give hope to prostate cancer patients
Prostate cancer is currently difficult to treat with immunotherapy. But the results of a phase I human trial using chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy developed by researchers from City of Hope, one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States, are underway.
The results of the study showed that patients with advanced cases of cancer can safely treat their prostate cancer using cellular immunotherapy, which has promising therapeutic activity, according to a study published in the journal Nature Medicine.