Medical Bulletin 22/ March/ 2025 - Video

Autoimmune diseases, which are estimated to affect more than 15 million people in the U.S., occur when the body responds to immune-system false alarms, and infection-fighting first responders are sent out to attack threats that aren’t there.

Now, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania have identified a key component to launching immune activity – and overactivity. The researchers identified a protein in cells that spurs the release of infection-fighting molecules. The protein, whose role in the immune system had not previously been suspected, provides a potential target for therapies that could prevent overreactive immune responses that are at the root of several debilitating illnesses.

Their paper appeared online in Cell. The team of researchers made the discovery by studying a rare autoimmune disease called STING-associated vasculopathy with onset in infancy (SAVI). The condition is extremely rare, occurring in one of every 1 million births. It leads to the immune response attacking tissues in the lungs and limbs of patients, often resulting in death before adulthood.

SAVI is caused by changes to a protein in cells called STING, which ordinarily acts as a molecular watchdog that responds to the presence of viral DNA by activating the component of the cell that generates immune proteins. These immune proteins are then released from the cell to signal to the body’s immune system of the need to attack the viral invaders, and where in the body the immune cells need to go. In SAVI, STING is overactive, triggering constant immune activity that ultimately damages healthy tissue.

Using immune cells that were sensitive to the disease-causing mutations in STING, the team performed a screen to identify proteins that prevented this sensitivity.

The team further validated this finding in SAVI cells that did not produce ArfGAP2. Without it, STING could not drive the release the immune proteins. The team tested that idea in a mouse that was genetically modified to have SAVI, but did not produce the ArfGAP2 protein. They found that the lung- and limb-destroying immune response typical of the disease did not occur, which confirmed that if the protein could be neutralized, the overactive immune response could be turned off.

It is a promising target for other conditions that similarly lead to excess immune proteins of the same type.

Ref: Poddar S, Chauvin SD et al. ArfGAP2 promotes STING proton channel activity, cytokine transit, and autoinflammation. Cell, February 12, 2025. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2025.01.027

Every year, millions of family members and friends provide care for loved ones undergoing cancer treatment, often at great emotional cost. A new scoping review, published this week in Archives of Geriatrics and Gerontology Plus, confirms the toll that this work can take on caregivers’ mental health. According to the review, most studies show that more than 15% of those who care for loved ones with cancer suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The comprehensive literature review found that caregivers with pre-existing mental health conditions, lower social support, and higher caregiver burden were at greater risk of PTSD. Additionally, patient-related factors such as disease severity, symptom burden, and perceived likelihood of death also contributed to caregiver distress.

The study also found that caregivers of patients with head and neck cancer or acute leukemia were among the most distressed, with up to 37% of them meeting PTSD criteria.

The most commonly reported PTSD symptoms were intrusive thoughts and hypervigilance. Unlike in other forms of trauma, avoidance, typically a key symptom of PTSD, was not an option, as caregivers remained deeply involved in their loved one’s cancer care.

“We were surprised to find so few studies on traumatic stress among caregivers of adult cancer patients,” says co-author Carmine Malfitano, director of research and education at the Centre for Psychology and Emotional Health and clinical social work specialist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre. “There is an urgent need for further research to reduce this gap in the literature and to develop proactive, evidence-based interventions to better integrate caregiver support in oncology care.”

Improving support will require more proactive screening, say the researchers.

The high prevalence of PTSD among adult cancer caregivers underscores the need to ensure they receive early support, especially at key points such as diagnosis, recurrence, or treatment transitions.

Ref: Klekovkina E, Stern M A et al. Traumatic stress in caregivers of adult patients with cancer: A scoping review; Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics Plus: Volume 2, Issue 2, June 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aggp.2025.100141

Bubble baths might be soothing soaks, but bubble showers could be the next thing in keeping the skin clean.

An Osaka Metropolitan University-led medical research team found that ultrafine bubble showers might help prevent atopic dermatitis.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common and relapsing skin disease characterized by skin barrier dysfunction, inflammation, and chronic pruritus. Both cutaneous barrier dysfunction and immune dysregulation are critical etiologies of the pathology of AD. Although various anti-inflammatory pharmacological agents, including cytokine inhibitors and signaling pathway blockers, have been developed recently, keeping the skin clean is of utmost importance in maintaining physiological cutaneous barrier function and avoiding an AD flare. Ultrafine bubbles (UFBs) are less than 1 μm in diameter and usually used to clean medical equipment. A UFB shower is expected to keep skin clean with attention to the temperature and strength of the shower.

Graduate School of Medicine student Ayaki Matsumoto and Associate Professor Hisayoshi Imanishi led the study into using ultrafine bubbles, often used to clean medical equipment, on mice with atopic dermatitis.

The scientists found that in mice with atopic dermatitis due to external factors, inflammation was markedly suppressed when the affected skin was showered with ultrafine bubbles, while normal showers also showed some positive results. Additionally, the ultrafine bubble showers improved the levels of proteins in the skin that act as a protective barrier. For mice with atopic dermatitis caused by genetic factors, however, there were no significant differences even compared to mice who were not showered.

“The results of this study suggest that ultrafine bubble shower treatment might be a new treatment for allergen-induced atopic dermatitis for humans, but this study was conducted on mice and the shower treatment period was short, only a week or two,” stated graduate student Matsumoto.

“From now on,” Professor Imanishi added, “it will be necessary to conduct ultrafine bubble shower therapy for several months on human patients to examine the effects.”

Ref: Matsumoto A, Imanishi H et al. Beneficial effects of ultrafine bubble shower on a mouse model of atopic dermatitis. Front. Immunol. , 26 December 2024, Sec. Inflammation

Volume 15 – 2024. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2024.1483000