Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have discovered a critical new factor in regulating phenylalanine metabolism and, therefore, in preventing the inherited metabolic disorder phenylketonuria (PKU). The research also suggests a possible avenue for new treatments that may be effective for certain patients with PKU. The study demonstrates that the long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) HULC directly regulates the metabolic enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH). Loss of the lncRNA resulted in excess phenylalanine and symptoms consist with...

A Phase II cohort from the international PIVOT-02 study has shown the combination of interleukin-2 (IL-2) pathway agonist bempegaldesleukin (BEMPEG) plus nivolumab is safe and produces a deep, durable response in previously untreated metastatic melanoma patients by researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The Food and Drug Administration awarded Breakthrough Therapy designation to the combination of BEMPEG and nivolumab in 2019 for previously untreated metastatic melanoma. The publication also includes an...

Two board-certified neurologists have joined the staff at Houston Methodist Neurology Associates-Clear Lake, bringing the group to three physicians and expanding the level of service available to Bay Area patients. Bingzhong Chen, M.D., Ph.D., joined Dr. Vijayakumar in June in Medical Office Building 1 at 2060 Space Park Drive, Suite 104, on the Houston Methodist Clear Lake Hospital campus. Chen has a broad range of clinical expertise with a focus on treating headaches/migraines, epilepsy, vertigo,...

Bone cancer is hard to treat and prone to metastasis. Research teams at Rice University and Baylor College of Medicine have a new strategy to attack it. Chemist Han Xiao, Rice and biologist Xiang Zhang at Baylor and their labs have developed an antibody conjugate called BonTarg that delivers drugs to bone tumors and inhibits metastasis. Their open-access study shows how Xiao’s pClick technology can be used to link bone-targeting antibodies and therapeutic molecules. In...

Researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch have found SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in the testes of infected hamsters. The findings could help explain symptoms that some men with COVID-19 have reported and have important implications for men’s health. As the pandemic goes on, clinicians are finding that COVID-19 affects more than just the lungs. Some patients have reported testicular pain and some reports have shown decreases in testosterone, a key hormone...

Surgeons who pioneered an in-utero procedure that has improved the outcomes of children with spina bifida, and their mothers who underwent the fetal surgery, performed the 100th surgery of its kind Tuesday at Texas Children’s Fetal Center. Drs. Michael Belfort, OB/GYN-in-Chief at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women, and William Whitehead, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Texas Children’s, performed the first successful two-port fetoscopic surgery for spina bifida in the world back in 2014, a technique which...

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Hummingbird Bioscience announced the launch of a multi-year strategic research collaboration to investigate and evaluate HMBD-002, Hummingbird’s VISTA antagonist antibody. Under the agreement, MD Anderson and Hummingbird will collaborate on the design and execution of clinical and translational research studies to better understand how HMBD-002 modulates the anti-tumor immune response, both as a monotherapy and in combination with other checkpoint inhibitors. Working with MD Anderson’s immunotherapy...

The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating transformation in healthcare systems across the globe, but obstacles including workforce stability, provider incentivization, and innovation barriers could slow progress, according to 200 healthcare leaders from around the world. Chief Executives from some of the world’s leading public and private healthcare providers in eight geographies were interviewed for KPMG’s first-ever Global Healthcare CEO Future Pulse. The report’s breadth and scale offer insights into how healthcare leaders overseeing hospitals, health systems,...

. Results from the multi-cohort Phase I/II ARROW clinical trial, conducted by The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center researchers, showed that a once-daily dose of pralsetinib, a highly selective RET inhibitor, was safe and effective in treating patients with advanced RET fusion-positive non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and RET-altered thyroid cancer. . “Targeted therapies have dramatically improved care for patients with NSCLC and thyroid cancer driven by oncogenes, and the rapid clinical translation of selective RET inhibitor pralsetinib marks another milestone in a...

.A new strategy to reduce the side effects suffered by patients undergoing treatment for head and neck cancers now has the support of the National Institutes of Health.  . Andrew Schaefer, the Noah Harding Chair and a professor of computational and applied mathematics and computer science at Rice’s Brown School of Engineering, won a prestigious four-year R01 grant for $1.2 million to develop a personalized approach to adaptive radiation therapy (ART) for head and neck cancers.  . The goal of...