Johns Hopkins Medicine

The first study of the immunotherapy drug pembrolizumab as the initial treatment for patients with a rare but aggressive form of skin cancer known as Merkel cell carcinoma reports better responses and longer survival than expected with conventional chemotherapy. The study, co-led by Suzanne Topalian, M.D., associate director of the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy…

Johns Hopkins researchers have identified a protein involved in cell proliferation and the development of new blood vessels that could serve as a marker for the early detection of colorectal cancers. In laboratory studies, investigators found that expression of the protein, called beta-1,4-galactosyltransferase-V (beta-1,4-GalT-V), was increased in human colorectal cancer tumor cells compared with normal…

Using a mouse model of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) — a potentially fatal condition that causes a premature infant’s gut to suddenly die — researchers at Johns Hopkins say they have uncovered the molecular causes of the condition and its associated brain injury. The discovery enabled the team to combine efforts with colleagues studying brain inflammation…

Researchers at Johns Hopkins report that a novel analysis of more than a thousand patients adds to evidence that hospitalization, critical illness and major infection may diminish brain structures that are most commonly affected by Alzheimer’s disease. Results of the study, published Sept. 24 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, suggest — but do not…

Johns Hopkins Medicine scientists say they have found new evidence in lab-grown mouse brain cells, called astrocytes, that one root of Alzheimer’s disease may be a simple imbalance in acid-alkaline–or pH–chemistry inside endosomes, the nutrient and chemical cargo shuttles in cells. Astrocytes work to clear so-called amyloid beta proteins from the spaces between neurons, but…

Researchers at The Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have developed a test for urine, gathered during a routine procedure, to detect DNA mutations identified with urothelial cancers. UroSEEK uses urine samples to seek out mutations in 11 genes or the presence of abnormal numbers of chromosomes that would indicate the presence of DNA associated with bladder cancer…

In a survey of almost 2,000 people who said they had had a past negative experience when taking psilocybin-containing “magic mushrooms,” Johns Hopkins researchers say that more than 10 percent believed their worst “bad trip” had put themselves or others in harm’s way, and a substantial majority called their most distressing episode one of the…

‘Shock and kill’ strategy for curing HIV may endanger patients’ brains. Combination drug treatments have become successful at long-term control of HIV infection, but the goal of totally wiping out the virus and curing patients has so far been stymied by HIV’s ability to hide out in cells and become dormant for long periods of…

An experimental drug that targets abnormally high levels of a protein linked to cancer growth appears to significantly reduce the proliferation of prostate cancer cells in laboratory cell cultures and animals, while also making these cells considerably more vulnerable to radiation, according to results of a study led by Johns Hopkins scientists. The findings, published…

Johns Hopkins researchers join collaborative group to screen 6,000 existing drugs in hopes of finding treatments for Zika virus infection. Scientists report that a specialized drug screen test using lab-grown human cells has revealed two classes of compounds already in the pharmaceutical arsenal that may work against mosquito-borne Zika virus infections. In a summary of their work,…