Reframe Daily: New immune target + mitophagy drug strengthen T cells; biopsy & blood tests speed cancer care

Reframe Daily—curated by Christin Chong (neuroscience PhD, Buddhist chaplain, healthtech strategy consultant)—delivers optimistic and credible healthtech updates you won’t find in most popular news outlets, from sources scientists and healthcare providers read and trust.

Today in one sentence: Scientists reported a new immune target to help T cells fight cancer; a drug that keeps T cells from burning out; a rat study that eased a deadly skin-calcification disease; a lab method that reads proteins and genes on the same biopsy slide; and a blood test that may catch heart trouble from cancer immunotherapy early.

Christin’s note: I hope y’all have a wonderful weekend! I’ll be back Monday and starting a video series that I’ll share here as well. :)

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http://christin.substack.com/

Good news: Scientists found a new way to boost cancer-fighting immune cells. Blocking the immune “brake” LAIR1—or building it into a 3-in-1 CAR-T design—made tumors shrink and mice live longer.

Targeting immune checkpoint LAIR1 with antibody blockade or 3-in-1 CAR T cells enhances antitumor response

Market readiness: 🙂 (early lab and mouse data; years from routine care). 

Good news: In a deadly skin-calcification disease (calciphylaxis), blocking IL-17 or calming overactive neutrophils melted away calcium deposits in rats. That hints at a drug strategy doctors might repurpose.

Pharmacological targeting of the IL17/neutrophil axis attenuates calcific deposits in rat models of calciphylaxis

Market readiness: 🙂🙂 (preclinical, but drugs against IL-17 already exist for other diseases). 

Good news: A small-molecule approach kept T cells from “burning out” by turning on cell clean-up (mitophagy). Stronger, longer-lasting T cells could make future cancer and infection treatments work better.

USP30 inhibition augments mitophagy to prevent T cell exhaustion

Market readiness: 🙂 (mechanism shown in preclinical models; still discovery stage). 

Good news: Pathologists showed a way to read proteins and genes together on the same standard biopsy slice (FFPE). This could sharpen diagnoses and match patients to treatments faster.

Integration of spatial protein imaging and transcriptomics in clinical FFPE tissues

Market readiness: 🙂🙂 (demonstrated on clinical specimens; labs would need to adopt and validate). 

Good news: A simple blood draw (cell-free mRNA) captured immune signals and heart-muscle injury during a dangerous side effect of cancer immunotherapy. It points to earlier, safer care.

Using plasma cell-free mRNA to profile immune response and myocardial damage in immune checkpoint inhibitor–induced myocarditis

Market readiness: 🙂🙂 (promising diagnostic concept; needs larger validation before clinical use).

Thank you for taking the time to take care of yourself and your loved ones.