An experimental personalized mRNA vaccine, given with the immunotherapy Keytruda, helped high-risk melanoma patients remain cancer free longer than Keytruda alone in a large clinical trial, Moderna and Merck announced August 19. The companies have not released trial data; earlier studies found the combination halved the risk of recurrence or death. The therapeutic vaccine does not prevent melanoma but trains the immune system against a patient's tumor.
A small case series suggests that mapping an individual’s pain signals in the brain and then delivering precise electrical stimulation may interrupt severe chronic pain, though results varied among three participants.
Analysis of 2.5 million people points to mostly neurological genes linked to the pain disorder, scientists report in Nature Medicine, though the variants are not diagnostic and the dataset does not represent all ancestries.
Researchers report July 30 in iScience that three mosquito species preferred different groups of people based on components of body chemistry and skin microbiome. In a study of 119 volunteers, Aedes aegypti, Aedes albopictus and Culex quinquefasciatus showed distinct attraction patterns, with no one strongly attracting all three species.
