We love spending time learning about the latest medical breakthroughs and spotlighting research that piques our interest, may influence future research directions, or inform healthcare conversations. Here’s what we found this week.
The fetal ‘DNA fragmentome’ may one day provide a first-trimester snapshot of likely pregnancy complications and improve triage care.
Science Translational Medicine | Kate E. Stanley, Lore Lannoo, et al. In a new study, scientists examined cell-free DNA fragments floating in a mother’s blood, a concept formally called the DNA fragmentome, seeking signs of potential pregnancy complications due to infection, pregnancy with twins, and immune-mediated diseases. Researchers retrospectively examined first-trimester blood samples from almost 2,000 pregnant women at high risk of such complications and correctly found several high-risk complications more than half the time, suggesting this approach should be studied further. (More, paywall may apply)
> The first newborn disease screening was developed 65 years ago.
Childhood cancer predisposition may be detectable with a genomic newborn screening test.
MedPage Today | Mike Bassett. Researchers are calling for universal newborn cancer screening using routinely gathered blood samples after they accurately detected cancer-associated mutations in about 7% of nearly 2,000 children who developed cancer by age 8. The researchers scanned the blood for a panel of 11 genes linked with cancer or likely cancer. (More, free w/email)
> The earliest known cancer was discovered in a toe of a 1.7-million-year
Personalized mRNA vaccines, combined with immunotherapy, slowed melanoma’s spread and recurrence, according to a late-stage randomized trial.
Reuters | Michele Gershberg. Merck and Moderna announced that a personalized skin cancer vaccine, when combined with the immunotherapy drug Keytruda, showed a “clinically meaningful” benefit compared with a placebo treatment. That’s based on a randomized trial involving 1,137 participants. The companies have been working on this approach since 2016. The personalized vaccine, called Intismeran, teaches a patient’s immune system to recognize targets specific to the patient’s tumor. Still unknown: whether this approach extends overall survival as well as specific details of the trial. (More, w/video)
> mRNA vaccines alter immune responses—not DNA.
