CAR Ts against senescent cells; plus NIH program for ALS, sex-dependent COVID-19 immune responses and more

CAR T liver fibrosis therapy
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center researchers have generated CAR T cells against PLAUR, which is involved in extracellular matrix remodelling, that could eliminate pathologic senescent cells. Senescent cells have been associated with chronic inflammation that contributes to diseases including liver fibrosis, atherosclerosis and osteoarthritis. The MSKCC team described in Nature the detection of high PLAUR expression levels in fibrotic liver and atherosclerotic plaque patient samples and showed that anti-PLAUR CAR Ts reduced liver fibrosis and improved liver function in a mouse model of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).

NIH to invest $25M in ALS
The NIH plans to invest $25 million over five years in a new initiative called Accelerating Leading-edge Science in ALS (ALS²). The Transformative Research Award funding opportunity is open to researchers who aim to apply new technologies toward identifying amyotrophic lateral sclerosis’ molecular cause to enable therapeutic development. Another objective of ALS² is to determine whether there are biological similarities between ALS and other neurodegenerative diseases...