Author: Leigh MacMillan

Cancer registries and sarcoma research

Sep. 13, 2022—The number of sarcoma research studies that use the two largest U.S. cancer registries is increasing, but over one-third of studies that asked the same research question reported conflicting findings.

Enhancing innate immunity in the lung

Sep. 12, 2022—Vanderbilt researchers show that a TLR4 agonist improves lung immune response and survival in a mouse model of bacterial pneumonia, supporting the development of this drug to protect against pneumonia in hospitalized patients.

Luc Van Kaer, PhD, left, Luke Postoak and colleagues have identified a protein that is key to the “education” of immature T cells in the thymus.

Study identifies key player in T cell “education”

Sep. 1, 2022—New Vanderbilt research could inform therapeutic strategies for enhancing thymic function when desired — such as during aging, recovery from radiation therapy or chemotherapy, or other conditions that reduce T cell output.

A new mechanism for lupus

Aug. 30, 2022—Vanderbilt researchers describe a new mechanism for the most common form of lupus and suggest a new treatment approach to this autoimmune disease.

Blood cancer progression

Aug. 29, 2022—Vanderbilt researchers used single-cell technologies to explore the accumulation of mutations during blood cancer progression, which could help identify strategies for preventing leukemia before it occurs.

Research by Christopher Peek, PhD, left, Jim Cassat, MD, PhD, and their colleagues reveals how gut inflammation leads to bone loss.

Vanderbilt researchers discover how gut inflammation leads to bone loss

Aug. 25, 2022—Gastrointestinal inflammation, such as occurs in inflammatory bowel disease, triggers the expansion of a population of “bone-eating” cells, leading to bone loss.

The study team included, from left, Mohammad Saleem, PhD, Lale Ertuglu, MD, Annet Kirabo, PhD, and Ashley Pitzer, PhD.

Researchers discover how salt increases blood pressure

Aug. 17, 2022—A Vanderbilt research team has discovered that activation of a certain protein complex involved in the inflammatory response in immune cells contributes to salt-sensitive hypertension.

Mitochondria and retinal degeneration

Aug. 15, 2022—Vanderbilt researchers have developed a new cellular model for exploring mitochondrial dysfunction in age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in people over 65.

Genotype-specific blood counts

Aug. 11, 2022—Vanderbilt researchers report genotype-specific reference ranges to improve interpretation of laboratory blood results in African Americans with a common gene variant that lowers white blood cell counts.

Targeted cancer drug during pregnancy

Aug. 2, 2022—The targeted cancer therapy alectinib was safe as a treatment for lung cancer during two pregnancies in a patient with non-small cell lung cancer, according to a case report from Vanderbilt physicians.

H. pylori and lung cancer

Aug. 1, 2022—Specific biomarkers for H. pylori — a bacterium that infects the stomach — were associated with increased risk of lung cancer, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.