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Researchers have converted a blood type A kidney to a blood type O kidney and successfully transplanted it, they reported in Nature Biomedical Engineering, an advance that could reduce wait times for new organs and save lives. Type O patients, who account for more than half of those on kidney waiting lists, can only receive organs from donors with type O blood, yet type O kidneys are often given to others because they are universally compatible. As a result, type O patients typically wait two to four years longer and many die waiting, the researchers said in a statement. Traditional methods for overcoming blood-type incompatibility require days of intensive treatment to suppress the recipient’s immune system, while the new approach employs special enzymes to change the organ rather than the patient.

A new drug lowered blood pressure and improved kidney health markers in high-risk patients. Phase 3 trials will test its long-term effects. Preliminary research suggests that adding the new medication baxdrostat to standard treatment may help lower blood pressure and slow the progression of kidney disease in individuals with chronic kidney disease who also have uncontrolled hypertension. The findings were presented at the American Heart Association’s Hypertension Scientific Sessions 2025. The study was also recently published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. Chronic kidney disease and high blood pressure are strongly interconnected, and when either condition is poorly managed, they can result in severe complications including heart attack, stroke, heart failure and progression to kidney failure. One of the key factors in this relationship is aldosterone, a hormone produced by the adrenal glands. Aldosterone promotes sodium retention, which increases water retention and raises blood pressure. Persistently high levels of this hormone can cause blood vessels to become thickened and less flexible, leading to damage in the heart and scarring in the kidneys. This makes aldosterone an important player in both high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease. “These findings are encouraging for people living with chronic kidney disease and high blood...

The World Health Organization (WHO) today released its second Global hypertension report, showing that 1.4 billion people lived with hypertension in 2024, yet just over one in five have it under control either through medication or addressing modifiable health risks. The new report – released at an event co-hosted by WHO, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and Resolve to Save Lives during the 80th United Nations General Assembly – also reveals that only 28% of low-income countries report that all WHO-recommended hypertension medicines are generally available in pharmacies or primary care facilities. Hypertension is a leading cause of heart attack, stroke, chronic kidney disease, and dementia. It is both preventable and treatable – but without urgent action, millions of people will continue to die prematurely, and countries will face mounting economic losses. From 2011 to 2025, cardiovascular diseases – including hypertension – are projected to cost low- and middle-income countries approximately US$ 3.7 trillion, equivalent to around 2% of their combined GDP. "Every hour, over 1000 lives are lost to strokes and heart attacks from high blood pressure, and most of these deaths are preventable," said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. "Countries have the tools to change this narrative. With political will, ongoing investment,...

-Researchers may have found a way to improve success rates of liver transplantation with a workaround for a well-known complication that can cause the new organ to fail, a study in mice suggests. The liver’s blood supply is cut off when it is removed from the donor. When the blood supply is restored during transplantation into the recipient, the influx sparks inflammation that damages the liver, causing so-called ischemia-reperfusion injury. The resulting cascade of cellular and molecular events can lead to graft dysfunction and failure. In previous experiments, the researchers discovered that a protein called CEACAM1 helps protect the liver from injury during the transplantation process. In their latest study, published in JCI Insights, they discovered that CEACAM1 and another protein called Human Antigen R (HuR) together act as protective switches that prevent ischemia-reperfusion injury. They also found a way to boost these switches in mice, increasing their protective effect and reducing the damaging stress on the liver. The researchers also found the same protective relationship between HuR and CEACAM1 in discarded human livers that had been deemed unsuitable for transplantation. “One of the most intractable problems in the field of organ transplantation remains the nationwide shortage of donor livers, which has led to high patient...

Low-dose aspirin significantly reduced colorectal cancer recurrence in genetically defined patients. A team of researchers led by Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital has demonstrated in a new randomized clinical trial that taking a low daily dose of aspirin can cut in half the likelihood of recurrence after surgery in patients with colon or rectal cancer whose tumors carry a specific genetic alteration. Globally, nearly two million people are diagnosed with colorectal cancer each year. Of these, between 20 and 40 percent go on to develop metastases, making treatment significantly more challenging and often reducing survival rates. From observation to clinical trial Earlier observational research had suggested that aspirin might lower the risk of certain cancers and perhaps reduce recurrence after surgery in colorectal cancer patients with mutations in the PIK3 signaling pathway. This pathway controls critical cellular functions such as growth and division. Mutations disrupt these processes, driving unchecked cell growth and cancer progression. However, results from previous studies were inconsistent, and no randomized clinical trials had confirmed the link. To resolve this uncertainty, researchers launched the ALASCCA trial, which has now been reported in The New England Journal of Medicine.

A synthetic antibiotic is showing potent activity against some of the world’s most dangerous multidrug-resistant bacteria in lab experiments, according to the British scientists who created it. The new drug, Novltex, kills superbugs on the World Health Organization’s high-priority list, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus – also known as MRSA, the researchers said in a statement. It works at very low doses and outperforms several licensed antibiotics such as vancomycin, daptomycin, linezolid, levofloxacin, cefotaxime, they also said. The researchers based the design of their synthetic antibiotic on teixobactin, a natural molecule used by soil bacteria to kill competing microbes, making sure it would be easy to optimize and manufacture. Unlike traditional antibiotics, Novltex targets an essential building block of bacterial cell walls known as lipid II that does not mutate, which means the bugs won’t easily become resistant, according to a report in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. “Novltex is a breakthrough in our fight against antimicrobial resistance,” study leader Dr. Ishwar Singh of the University of Liverpool in the UK said in a statement. “While much more testing is required before Novltex reaches patients, our results show that durable and practical solutions to antimicrobial resistance are within reach.”

-Laser surgery for nearsightedness is as safe and effective in older teenagers as it is in adults, researchers reported on Tuesday in Copenhagen at the 43rd Congress of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons. They reviewed data on photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) procedures performed on 65,211 eyes between 2010 and 2024, comparing outcomes in 17- and 18-year-olds with outcomes in those ages 19 to 40. Results in teenagers were as good or even better than in adults, with 64% of teenagers’ eyes achieving 20/20 vision, compared with 59% of adult eyes, the researchers reported. Reoperations and complications such as hazy vision or weakening of the cornea were very rare in both groups. Although reviews of previously collected data are less reliable than studies that collect data going forward, “this is by far the largest study of PRK in teenagers, and this large sample size means the findings are very reliable,” study leader Dr Avinoam Shye of Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, Israel said in a statement. PRK involves using a laser to remove tissue from the cornea, reshaping it. “Some doctors worry that the eyes of teenagers may still be changing or that their eyes might respond differently to healing after laser treatment,...

The characteristics of type 2 diabetes vary from patient to patient and it has been proposed that the condition is made up of four subtypes. Now, new research presented at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Vienna, Austria (15–19 September) shows that smoking increases the risk of the condition, regardless of subtype. The researchers in Sweden, Norway and Finland also found that people with a genetic susceptibility to develop diabetes seem more vulnerable to the adverse effects of smoking. It has previously been suggested that type 2 diabetes (T2D) can be divided into the following subtypes: SIRD (severe insulin-resistant diabetes), characterized by insulin resistance (where the body's cells don't respond properly to insulin and can't easily take up glucose from the blood); SIDD (severe insulin-deficient diabetes), characterized by a lack of insulin; MOD (mild obesity-related diabetes), associated with obesity and younger age of onset; and MARD (mild age-related diabetes) which develops later in life Severity, prognosis and risk of complications differ across the subtypes but it is not clear if they have different risk factors. To find out more, Emmy Keysendal, a Ph.D. student at Karolinska Institutet, in Stockholm, Sweden, and colleagues examined the link...

MiR-93 promotes fatty liver disease, but vitamin B3 can counteract its effects. This discovery suggests a new treatment approach. Roughly 30% of people worldwide are affected by metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MASLD), a condition that until recently lacked targeted therapies. In an important breakthrough, scientists have identified a genetic factor that worsens the disease, and notably, the FDA-approved compound shown to be most effective against this factor is vitamin B3. A global first was achieved by a collaborative research group led by Professor Jang Hyun Choi of the Department of Life Sciences at UNIST, together with Professor Hwayoung Yun from the College of Pharmacy and Research Institute for Drug Development at Pusan National University (PNU) and Professor Neung Hwa Park from Ulsan University Hospital (UUH). Their work revealed the critical role of microRNA-93 (miR-93), a molecule expressed in the liver, as a genetic regulator influencing the onset and progression of MASLD. Role of miR-93 in liver function MiR-93 is a type of RNA found in hepatocytes that suppresses the activity of specific target genes. Researchers detected unusually high levels of miR-93 in both human patients with fatty liver disease and in experimental animal models. Molecular studies showed that miR-93 drives lipid buildup, inflammation,...

A research team from the Department of Pathology at the University of Hong Kong's LKS Faculty of Medicine (HKUMed) has discovered that atorvastatin, a widely used cholesterol-lowering drug, could become a powerful new weapon in the fight against liver cancer. The findings demonstrate how this safe, affordable medication can exploit a hidden weakness in liver cancer cells and boost the effectiveness of current treatments. The research was published in the Journal of Hepatology. Liver cancer is one of the deadliest cancers worldwide and is often diagnosed at an advanced stage when surgery is no longer an option. Current treatments such as targeted drugs and immunotherapy have limited success, providing only temporary relief for some patients. For patients with advanced liver cancer, especially those with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD, formerly known as NAFLD), which is caused by a high-fat diet, treatment options are limited and outcomes are poor. Therefore, improving the therapeutic approaches has become a top priority. Repurposing a cholesterol-lowering drug to fight liver cancer The research team at HKUMed has uncovered a novel therapeutic application for atorvastatin, which is a common medication taken by millions of people to manage high cholesterol. The team demonstrated for the first time that atorvastatin can...