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Share on Pinterest Experts say cells in the body’s immune system may be a better way to manage pain. Lucas Ottone/Stocksy Scientists are being urged to look at the body’s “natural killer” cells as a potential treatment for neuropathic pain. They point out that these cells are already utilized by the body to battle cancer. Experts say the research is in its early stages and it is too soon to tell whether natural killer cells can be used for pain management. Some scientists are looking at “natural killer” cells as a treatment for neuropathic pain, according to a report published today in the journal Trends in Neuroscience . The body uses these cells to battle cancer, but Seog Bae Oh, a neurobiologist at Seoul National University in South Korea and senior author of the study, wanted to look at them in the context of pain. He points out that first, he needs a better understanding of how NK cells work and how to minimize side effects. “These cells were named natural killer cells based on o...

Share on Pinterest Researchers say many people with Parkinson’s disease need better access to treatment s. Maskot/Getty Images Researchers say a significant number of people with Parkinson’s disease are not getting the treatment they should receive. They say that in particular people of color and those who live in rural areas do not have access to treatment s. Experts say more movement disorder specialists in particular are needed. More than 1 million people in the United States have Parkinson’s disease , but few may be receiving the comprehensive and recommended care they need, a new study suggests. For their findings, the researchers looked at a population of Medicare recipients who had Parkinson’s in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. The sampling covered about 90% of the population in the United States who have the disease. The researchers reported that half of those studied received care from general neurologists and 9% received care from movement disorder specialists who c...

Share on Pinterest Fecal transplants could be used in conjunction with current cancer treatments to boost results. /Getty Images THIERRY ZOCCOLAN/Getty Images Combining fecal transplants with immune checkpoint inhibitors such as pembrolizumab or nivolumab showed the procedure was safe in people with advanced melanoma, according to a phase 1 clinical trial . Of the study participants, 65% responded positively to immunotherapy treatment. Positive responders also showed an increase in beneficial bacteria and a decrease in harmful bacteria in their gut microbiome following the fecal transplant. The researchers plan to conduct larger phase 2 trials and explore using fecal transplants in hard-to-treat cancers like pancreatic cancer. In recent years, a type of treatment called immunotherapy has been helping many people with cancer by harnessing their immune systems to recognize and destroy cancer cells. Some drugs used in immunotherapy, like pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and nivolumab (Opdivo), wo...

[ 9/08/2020 ] FDA is alerting health care professionals, oncology clinical investigators, and patients that a clinical trial studying the use of atezolizumab (Tecentriq) and paclitaxel in patients with previously untreated inoperable locally advanced or metastatic triple negative breast cancer (mTNBC) showed the drug combination did not work to treat the disease.   Atezolizumab in combination with paclitaxel is not approved for use in breast cancer. However, atezolizumab in combination with paclitaxel protein-bound (Abraxane)—a different combination therapy—is currently approved for the treatment of adult patients with mTNBC whose tumors express PD-L1 (PD-L1 stained tumor-infiltrating immune cells of any intensity covering ≥ 1% of the tumor area), as determined by an FDA-approved test. Continued approval of atezolizuma...

Share on Pinterest Donanemab has been seen as a ‘turning point’ in the search for dementia treatments. PER Images/Stocksy Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia, affects some 6 million people in the United States. While treatments can help manage Alzheimer’s symptoms, there is no cure yet. Now, a third disease-modifying treatment that clears amyloid plaques from the brain has shown positive results in a phase 3 trial. Donanemab, a monoclonal antibody, slowed cognitive decline by 35% in people in the early stages of Alzheimer’s but was less effective in those with more advanced Alzheimer’s. Dementia affects more than 55 million people worldwide, and up to 70% of those people have Alzheimer’s disease, characterized by the buildup of two proteins, amyloid and tau . Currently available treatments can help manage symptoms but not change the course of the disease. However, new disease-modifying treatments are showing the potential to slow the progress of the disease. In an i...