A recent NIH-supported study by the Stanford University School of Medicine, shows that wearable biosensors (for example, a fitness monitor) can play an important role in early detection of abnormalities in the body and perhaps serious medical conditions. The report in PLoS Biology, describes how these biosensors monitor heart rate and other vital signs, such as skin temperature and blood oxygen levels. This could reveal information that possibly shows the onset of infection, insulin resistance, or inflammation.

The Stanford research team collected nearly 2 billion measurements from 60 participants in the study.  Data collected from various sensors and periodic medical tests included information on weight, sleep, daily steps and exercise, caloric intake, heart rate, blood oxygen levels, skin temperature, and even exposure to gamma rays and X-rays.

The study compared the individual’s baseline data with deviations throughout the project. If algorithms are developed to pick up on these deviations, then the data could possibly be used for clinical diagnostics, research, and treatments. Specific deviations and patterns from normal baselines seem to correlate with particular health problems. The researchers hope that these tests could identify inflammations before individuals get sick from infections, cardiovascular issues, Type 2 diabetes, autoimmune diseases and even cancer.

The New York Times recently detailed the lack of minority representation in a majority of clinical trials to fight cancer. Immunotherapy studies, such as with nivolumab, use patients that are overwhelming white. Participation of minorities was “out of proportion with the groups’ numbers in the general population and their cancer rates.” Research funded by The National Institutes of Health is required by law to include minorities and women to see if they react to treatment differently than others. Unfortunately, very few clinical trials are being paid for by the NIH.

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Nature magazine reports that on November 30th, researchers at the Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Munich, Germany will gather and discuss the next generation of antibody–drug conjugates (ADCs). These ADCs, or remodeled antibodies that bring anti-cancer drugs into tumor cells while minimizing damage to healthy tissue, are currently going through clinical trials. The first generation of ADCs mostly failed to work effectively and proved to have safety risks.

The antibody of the ADC will scout out and attach itself to a cancerous cell before being absorbed by the cell. The antibody-drug link will then be cut by the cell, allowing the drug to kill the dangerous cell. The aforementioned previous generation of ADCs encountered problems such as being too unstable or not releasing the drug in the cancer cell.

Nature reports that there are more than 40 ADCs now in clinical testing stages, and that “researchers are also mining a wealth of data from cancer-sequencing projects in search of new targets for antibodies to latch onto.” Various other researchers and companies are trying new methods, such as ditching the antibody and using a smaller strand of amino acids to permeate deeper into cancer cells.