Advancements in HIV/AIDS research, drug development and clinical practice since the 1980s have made it possible for people living with HIV to lead long, productive lives and keep the virus in check at undetectable levels and nontransmissible as long as therapy is maintained. However, a cure ― completely ridding the body of the virus — has only been documented in a handful of patients who underwent complex and high-risk bone marrow transplants for life-threatening blood cancers such as leukemia or lymphoma.

Cancer researchers at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center have published three groundbreaking studies demonstrating how advanced artificial intelligence and population health analytics can identify and address barriers to quality cancer care.

"It's been known for decades that cancer can flatten healthy day-night stress hormone rhythms,” says CSHL’s Jeremy Borniger. “What causes that?” In mice, Borniger’s lab found that breast cancer disrupts the brain-body feedback loop that regulates these rhythms. Stimulating key neurons in the hypothalamus at certain times restored healthy function, pushing anti-cancer immune cells into tumors and shrinking them significantly.

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is an aggressive malignancy with limited therapeutic options. Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPi) have shown remarkable efficacy, especially in BRCA-mutant patients, and are approved as maintenance therapy to prevent recurrence after initial response to chemotherapy.

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have developed a first-of-its-kind mRNA system that switches on therapeutic genes preferentially inside targeted cells—an advance demonstrated in studies in mice that could lay the groundwork for safer, more precise treatments for cancer and other diseases. The system, called the cell-selective modRNA translation system (cSMRTS), is an engineered form of mRNA designed to activate in specific cell populations. The findings were reported in the November 15 online issue of Molecular Therapy, a Cell Press journal.

Two Keck Medicine of USC hospitals – USC Norris Cancer Hospital and Keck Hospital of USC – have each received a Top Teaching Hospital award for outstanding achievement in patient safety and quality from The Leapfrog Group, a nonprofit national watchdog organization. It is the first time two hospitals within the health system have received this honor simultaneously.