Tests in 1,225 patients with the most deadly form of skin cancer reveal for the first time a genetic trait among most of those who did not respond to the latest cancer treatments, known as immune checkpoint inhibitors. Metastatic melanoma, as the disease is formally named, kills nearly 10,000 Americans annually.

A study initiated by a University of Arizona Comprehensive Cancer Center physician-scientist defined for the first time how loss of the Y chromosome in male immune cells negatively affects immune system function, which may explain why loss of Y is associated with lower cancer survival rates. The paper “Concurrent loss of the Y chromosome in cancer and T cells impacts outcome,” was published today in Nature.

A group of bat viruses closely related to the deadly Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) could be one small mutation away from being capable of spilling over into human populations and potentially causing the next pandemic.