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A Korean research team has successfully developed a “next-generation 3D artificial skin model” that replicates the unique lesion environment of patients with atopic dermatitis. By accurately recreating the microenvironment of atopic dermatitis lesions to closely resemble actual human skin, this model is expected not only to clarify the efficacy of treatments but also to accelerate the development of personalized new drugs. Previously, atopic dermatitis research primarily relied on two-dimensional cell cultures or mouse models. However, human skin involves a complex interplay among structural cells, immune cells, and sensory nerves, making it difficult to accurately predict drug effects in two-dimensional experimental systems. In particular, elucidating the unique “hypoxic environment” characteristic of atopic dermatitis and the resulting itch mechanism has remained a challenge. To address this issue, the research team introduced “single-cell RNA sequencing” technology. By analyzing patient skin tissue at the cellular level, they identified specific fibroblasts (COL6A5⁺) that induce itch. Subsequently, using a special gelatin-based hydrogel, they constructed a three-dimensional scaffold in which these cells could live and move, precisely recreating a hypoxic state similar to that found in patient skin. The research results demonstrated, in real time, that cells exposed to a hypoxic environment within the artificial skin model release itch-inducing factors...

Diabetes is less common among people living at high altitudes, where oxygen levels are low, than at sea level, and researchers who have discovered why that happens say the reason may lead to new treatments. In low-oxygen conditions, like those on high mountains, red blood cells can shift their metabolism to soak up sugar from the bloodstream, acting as “glucose sponges,” they reported on Thursday in Cell Metabolism. At high altitudes, being able to carry more glucose gives the red blood cells extra energy to deliver oxygen throughout the body more efficiently. It also has the beneficial side effect of lowering blood sugar levels, according to the report. In previous experiments, the researchers had seen that mice breathing low-oxygen air had dramatically lower blood glucose levels than normal. That meant the animals were quickly using up glucose after they ate, putting them at lower risk for diabetes. “When we gave sugar to (these mice), it disappeared from their bloodstream almost instantly,” study author Yolanda Martí-Mateos of the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco said in a statement. “We looked at muscle, brain, liver... but nothing in these organs could explain what was happening.” Ultimately, her team found that red blood cells were the “glucose sink” —...

Cholesterol-lowering statin drugs do not cause most of the side effects attributed to them on package inserts, a large analysis of past clinical trials found. For most people, the benefits of statins greatly outweigh the risks, study leader Christina Reith of Oxford University in the UK said in a statement. Her team analyzed data from more than 154,000 participants in 23 randomized trials that lasted at least 2 years, including 19 that compared any of five statins - atorvastatin (Lipitor), fluvastatin (Lescol), pravastatin (Pravachol), rosuvastatin (Crestor), or simvastatin (Zocor) - to placebos, and four trials that compared more intensive versus less intensive statin therapy. While millions of people have for decades safely used statins to reduce their odds of heart attacks and strokes, many others at high risk for cardiovascular disease have avoided the medicines over fear of side effects, Reith said. The drugs are known to cause myopathy - a muscle disorder – in about 1 of every 10,000 patients per year, mostly in the first year of treatment, according to a report of the study published in The Lancet. Statins have also been associated with small increases in blood sugar levels. But when the researchers looked at rates of more than five dozen...

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,...