Researchers at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center are exploring ways to wake up the immune system so it recognizes and attacks invading cancer cells. Tumours protect themselves by tricking the immune system into accepting everything as normal, even while cancer cells are dividing and spreading.

One pioneering approach uses nanoparticles to jumpstart the body’s ability to fight tumours. Nanoparticles are too small to imagine. One billion could fit on the head of a pin. This makes them stealthy enough to penetrate cancer cells with therapeutic agents such as antibodies, drugs, vaccine type viruses, or even metallic particles. Though small, nanoparticles can pack large payloads of a variety of agents that have different effects that activate and strengthen the body’s immune system response against tumours.

There is an expanding array of nanoparticle types being developed and tested for cancer therapy. They are primarily being used to package and deliver the current generation of cancer cell killing drugs and progress is being made in that effort.
‘Our lab’s approach differs from most in that we use nanoparticles to stimulate the immune system to attack tumours and there are a variety of potential ways that can be done,’ said Steve Fiering, PhD, Norris Cotton Cancer Center researcher and professor of Microbiology and Immunology, and of Genetics at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. ‘Perhaps the most exciting potential of nanoparticles is that although very small, they can combine multiple therapeutic agents.’

The immune therapy methods limit a tumour

Princeton University researchers have developed a way to use a laser to measure people’s blood sugar, and, with more work to shrink the laser system to a portable size, the technique could allow diabetics to check their condition without pricking themselves to draw blood.

‘We are working hard to turn engineering solutions into useful tools for people to use in their daily lives,’ said Claire Gmachl, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Electrical Engineering and the project’s senior researcher. ‘With this work we hope to improve the lives of many diabetes sufferers who depend on frequent blood glucose monitoring.’

In an article, the researchers describe how they measured blood sugar by directing their specialized laser at a person’s palm. The laser passes through the skin cells, without causing damage, and is partially absorbed by the sugar molecules in the patient’s body. The researchers use the amount of absorption to measure the level of blood sugar.
Sabbir Liakat, the paper’s lead author, said the team was pleasantly surprised at the accuracy of the method. Glucose monitors are required to produce a blood-sugar reading within 20 percent of the patient’s actual level; even an early version of the system met that standard. The current version is 84 percent accurate, Liakat said.
‘It works now but we are still trying to improve it,’ said Liakat, a graduate student in electrical engineering.

When the team first started, the laser was an experimental setup that filled up a moderate-sized workbench. It also needed an elaborate cooling system to work. Gmachl said the researchers have solved the cooling problem, so the laser works at room temperature. The next step is to shrink it.
‘This summer, we are working to get the system on a mobile platform to take it places such as clinics to get more measurements,’ Liakat said. ‘We are looking for a larger dataset of measurements to work with.’

The key to the system is the infrared laser’s frequency. What our eyes perceive as colour is created by light’s frequency (the number of light waves that pass a point in a certain time). Red is the lowest frequency of light that humans normally can see, and infrared’s frequency is below that level. Current medical devices often use the ‘near-infrared,’ which is just beyond what the eye can see. This frequency is not blocked by water, so it can be used in the body, which is largely made up of water. But it does interact with many acids and chemicals in the skin, so it makes it impractical to use for detecting blood sugar.

Mid-infrared light, however, is not as much affected by these other chemicals, so it works well for blood sugar. But mid-infrared light is difficult to harness with standard lasers. It also requires relatively high power and stability to penetrate the skin and scatter off bodily fluid. (The target is not the blood but fluid called dermal interstitial fluid, which has a strong correlation with blood sugar.)
The breakthrough came from the use of a new type of device that is particularly adept at producing mid-infrared frequencies

Changes in the way working genes are delivered to children with SCID (Severe Combined Immunodeficiency) could make gene therapy for the disease even safer, finds research led by a team at Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and its research partner the UCL Institute of Child Health.

Alterations to the delivery method, which are published in the New England Journal of Medicine, leads to a high success rate and the small risk of patients of developing complications, such as cancer, is reduced even further.

SCID is a condition in which children are born without an immune system because of a defect in the gene IL2RG. This condition is sometimes referred to as

People who suffer from a rare illness, the Mal de Debarquement Syndrome (MdDS), now have a chance for full recovery thanks to treatment developed by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. 

People often feel a sensation of movement, called Mal de Debarquement, after they have finished boating, surfing or a sea voyage. The symptoms usually disappear within hours, but in some people, and more frequently in women, symptoms can continue for months or years, causing fatigue, insomnia, headaches, poor coordination, anxiety, depression and an inability to work. Known as the Mal de Debarquement Syndrome (MdDS), the rare condition is marked by continuous feelings of swaying, rocking or bobbing.