Medical Bulletin 13/April/2023

Here are the top medical news for the day:

Human non-hodgkin lymphoma cured by novel nuclear medicine therapy in preclinical model

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a common blood malignancy. The American Cancer Society estimates that more than 80,500 new cases and 20,100 deaths will occur in the United States in 2023. The standard of care for many non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients involves chemotherapy and immunotherapy targeting the CD20 protein, which is highly expressed on most non-Hodgkin lymphoma cells.

A new nuclear medicine therapy can cure human non-Hodgkin lymphoma in an animal model, according to research published in the April issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. A single dose of the radioimmunotherapy, [177Lu]Lu-ofatumumab, was found to quickly eliminate tumor cells and extend the life of mice injected with cancerous cells for more than 221 days (the trial endpoint), compared to fewer than 60 days for other treatments and just 19 days in untreated control mice.

Reference:

Cure of Disseminated Human Lymphoma with [177Lu]Lu-Ofatumumab in a Preclinical Model,Journal of Nuclear Medicine,doi 10.2967/jnumed.122.264816 

Daily statin lowers cardiovascular disease risk in HIV+ people: Study

Statins are a class of medicines routinely prescribed to lower cholesterol and are known to prevent cardiovascular disease in those at risk in the general population.

A National Institutes of Health (NIH) clinical trial was stopped early because a daily statin medication was found to reduce the increased risk of cardiovascular disease among people living with HIV in the first large-scale clinical study to test a primary cardiovascular prevention strategy in this population. A planned interim analysis of data from the Randomized Trial to Prevent Vascular Events in HIV (REPRIEVE) study found that participants who took pitavastatin calcium, a daily statin, lowered their risk of major adverse cardiovascular events by 35% compared with those receiving a placebo. Adverse drug events observed in the study were like those in the general population taking statin therapy. The interim analysis was sufficiently compelling that the study’s independent Data Safety and Monitoring Board (DSMB) recommended it be stopped early given adequate evidence of efficacy. The NIH accepted the DSMB recommendations.

Reference:

Steven Grinspoon et al,NIH/NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Robust and variable immunity during COVID-19 in pregnant women observed in study

Pregnant women display a strong immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection, comparable to that of non-pregnant women, new research from the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity (Doherty Institute) has found.

Published in JCI Insight, the study looked at the immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 in unvaccinated pregnant and non-pregnant women and found similar levels of antibodies and T and B cell responses, responsible for long-term protection.

Reference:

Immune profiling of SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy reveals NK cell and γδ T cell perturbations,JCI Insight,doi 10.1172/jci.insight.167157

Age-related cognitive impairment may be a result of mitochondria power-supply failure: Study

Prior studies had found that brains lose synapses as they age, and the researchers saw this pattern in their non-human primate model, too. But when they looked at the synapses that remained, they found evidence of a breakdown in coordination between the size of boutons and the mitochondria they contained. A fundamental neuroscientific principle, the ultrastructural size principle, explains that whenever one part of the synaptic complex changes in size, so too must all the other parts.

Brains are like puzzles, requiring many nested and codependent pieces to function well. The brain is divided into areas, each containing many millions of neurons connected across thousands of synapses. These synapses, which enable communication between neurons, depend on even smaller structures: message-sending boutons (swollen bulbs at the branch-like tips of neurons), message-receiving dendrites (complementary branch-like structures for receiving bouton messages), and power-generating mitochondria. To create a cohesive brain, all these pieces must be accounted for.

Reference:

Violation of the ultrastructural size principle in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex underlies working memory impairment in the aged common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus),Courtney Glavis-Bloom et al,Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience,doi 10.3389/fnagi.2023.1146245