In the decades-long push to develop an HIV vaccine, researchers reported yesterday that they’ve managed to circumvent one particularly stubborn challenge. While developing a messenger RNA-based vaccine, the researchers found that the key was to make it hide a key protein complex that usually pokes out of the surface of the virus, because that complex usually conceals a region that distracts the immune system from mounting a protective response. Only 4% of study participants given a vaccine that exposed this part of the viral surface produced antibodies that could block infection; that jumped to 80% when the distracting region wasn’t visible to the immune system.
The study authors note that this is the first time an HIV vaccine candidate has sparked antibodies that can neutralize infection in a large percentage of subjects. But don’t get ahead of yourself just yet — there’s more work to be done to reach the broad protective power that any successful vaccine would need. Read more from STAT’s Jonathan Wosen on the science and what comes next.
scienceHow respiratory diseases could influence cancerFor somebody who is in remission from breast cancer, a respiratory infection like the flu or Covid-19 could trigger a relapse where cancer cells metastasize, according to a mouse study published yesterday in Nature. In mice, the researchers found that both flu and SARS-CoV-2 infections triggered changes in the physical and biochemical characteristics (phenotype if you know) of breast cancer cells. That led to the proliferation of the cancer cells through a mouse body within days of the respiratory infection, and “a massive expansion of carcinoma cells into metastatic lesions” in two weeks. It’s just mouse data, yes. But the general idea is at least partly backed by observational data in humans. The team also analyzed data on survivors of any cancer in the UK biobank, along with breast cancer survivors in Flatiron Health databases. They found that a SARS-CoV-2 infection was substantially associated with a higher risk of lung metastasis and of dying from cancer as compared to survivors who weren’t infected. |
from AXIOS:
| GOP law boosts direct primary care |
| By Maya Goldman |
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| Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios |
| Providers of “direct primary care” who charge patients a monthly fee for unlimited visits and workups are poised to become big winners from the new Republican tax-and-spending law.
Why it matters: The law for the first time allows patients to tap their health savings accounts for the concierge-like primary care arrangements, and lets employers extend both benefits, in the belief they’re more efficient than the traditional fee-for-service system.
The legislation “takes an impediment out of the way” for employers who want to improve their employees’ primary care, said Jim Winkler, chief strategy officer for the Business Group on Health. Driving the news: Starting next year, people who have a high-deductible plan and direct primary care membership through their workplace can contribute to an HSA.
Until now, the tax code disqualified people who use concierge care from contributing to an HSA. Employers are among those who advocated for the change, which had some bipartisan support, Winkler said.
The change opens the direct primary care market to more employers, said Rebecca Springer, director of market development at Bailey and Co.
Read more |
