In the News

Research advances from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Intramural Research Program (IRP) often make headlines. Read the news releases that describe our most recent findings:

Rare cancers may masquerade as ADHD in children, NIH researchers suggest

Rare tumors called pheochromocytomas and paragangliomas may cause the same symptoms as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children, leading to inappropriate treatment that could worsen their symptoms and potentially endanger their health. That’s the conclusion of a new study by National Institutes of Health researchers who evaluated a group of pediatric patients diagnosed with the tumors.

Investigational malaria vaccine protects healthy U.S. adults for more than one year

PfSPZ Vaccine is first to show durable, sterile protection in people with no prior infection.

An experimental malaria vaccine protected a small number of healthy, malaria-naïve adults in the United States from infection for more than one year after immunization, according to results from a Phase 1 trial described in the May 9th issue of Nature Medicine. The vaccine, known as the PfSPZ Vaccine, was developed and produced by Sanaria Inc., of Rockville, Maryland, with support from several Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) awards from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. NIAID researchers and collaborators at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, conducted the clinical evaluation of the vaccine, which involved immunization and exposing willing healthy adults to the malaria-causing parasite Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum) in a controlled setting.

Rapid-response immune cells are fully prepared before invasion strikes

Through the use of powerful genomic techniques, researchers at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) have found that the development of immune cells, called innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), gradually prepares these cells for rapid response to infection. This work, which appeared online today in Cell, sheds light on the development and function of a cell type that is increasingly recognized as having an important role in the body’s immune defense. NIAMS is part of the National Institutes of Health.

Rapid-response immune cells are fully prepared before invasion strikes

Researchers at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) have discovered that innate lymphoid cells, early responders of the immune system, are primed at the DNA level for rapid action.

Ketamine lifts depression via a byproduct of its metabolism

NIH-funded team finds rapid-acting, non-addicting agent in mouse study.

A chemical byproduct, or metabolite, created as the body breaks down ketamine likely holds the secret to its rapid antidepressant action, National Institutes of Health (NIH) scientists and grantees have discovered. This metabolite singularly reversed depression-like behaviors in mice without triggering any of the anesthetic, dissociative, or addictive side effects associated with ketamine.

Elevated bladder cancer risk in New England and arsenic in drinking water from private wells

A new study has found that drinking water from private wells, particularly dug wells established during the first half of the 20th century, may have contributed to the elevated risk of bladder cancer that has been observed in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont for over 50 years. Other risk factors for bladder cancer, such as smoking and occupational exposures, did not explain the excess risk in this region. The study, by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and colleagues at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire; the departments of health for Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont; and the U.S. Geological Survey, appeared May 2, 2016, in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Bladder cancer mortality rates have been elevated in northern New England for over half a century. The incidence of bladder cancer in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont has been about 20 percent higher than that in the United States overall. Rates are elevated among both men and women. A unique feature of this region is the high proportion of the population using private wells for their drinking water, which are not maintained by municipalities and are not subject to federal regulations. These wells may contain arsenic, generally at low to moderate levels. Previous studies have shown that consumption of water containing high concentrations of arsenic increases the risk of bladder cancer.

NIH creates Atlas of Human Malformation Syndromes in Diverse Populations

Photographic resource will aid diagnosing genomic diseases in patients of non-European ancestry.

Researchers with the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health, have collaborated with physicians and medical geneticists around the world to create the Atlas of Human Malformation Syndromes in Diverse Populations. Health care providers can use the new atlas to diagnose diverse patients with inherited diseases by comparing physical traits (called phenotypes) and written descriptions of their symptoms with photos and descriptions of people with the same condition and ancestry. Previously, the only available diagnostic atlas featured photos of patients with northern European ancestry, which often does not represent the characteristics of these diseases in patients from other parts of the world. The free electronic atlas was announced online in Genetics in Medicine.

NIH creates Atlas of Human Malformation Syndromes in Diverse Populations

NIH study finds factors that may influence influenza vaccine effectiveness

The long-held approach to predicting seasonal influenza vaccine effectiveness may need to be revisited, new research suggests. Currently, seasonal flu vaccines are designed to induce high levels of protective antibodies against hemagglutinin (HA), a protein found on the surface of the influenza virus that enables the virus to enter a human cell and initiate infection. New research conducted by scientists at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, found that higher levels of antibody against a different flu surface protein — neuraminidase (NA) — were the better predictor of protection against flu infection and its unpleasant side effects. Neuraminidase, which is not currently the main target antigen in traditional flu vaccines, enables newly formed flu viruses to exit the host cell and cause further viral replication in the body.

The findings, from a clinical trial in which healthy volunteers were willingly exposed to naturally occurring 2009 H1N1 influenza type A virus, appear online today in the open-access journal mBio.

Healthy diet may reduce high blood pressure risk after gestational diabetes, NIH study suggests

Sticking to a healthy diet in the years after pregnancy may reduce the risk of high blood pressure among women who had pregnancy-related (gestational) diabetes, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions. The study was published in Hypertension.

“Our study suggests that women who have had gestational diabetes may indeed benefit from a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and low in red and processed meats,” said the study’s senior author, Cuilin Zhang, M.D., Ph.D., a senior investigator in the Epidemiology Branch of NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

NIH sequences genome of a fungus that causes life-threatening pneumonia

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, in collaboration with extramural organizations, have sequenced nearly the entire genome of human, mouse and rat Pneumocystis. This organism causes a life-threatening pneumonia in immunosuppressed hosts. Pneumocystis was one of the first infections that led to the initial recognition of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It has been responsible for thousands of deaths over the past 30 years and remains a significant risk in the HIV/AIDS population as well as in transplant recipients and other immunosuppressed patients. Findings were published in Nature Communications. NIH scientists collaborated with investigators from the Broad Institute and Leidos, Inc.

Through analysis of the genomes, researchers now better understand where the organism lives and how it avoids elimination by its hosts’ immune system. The high quality of the genomes allowed not only identification of metabolic pathways that are critical to the growth and survival of the organism, but also recognition that a large number of pathways that are present in other closely related fungi are absent from Pneumocystis. These pathways likely disappeared as Pneumocystis evolved to become highly dependent on its mammalian host to stay alive.

Children with Cushing syndrome may have higher suicide risk

NIH study finds that depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts increase after treatment.

Children with Cushing syndrome may be at higher risk for suicide as well as for depression, anxiety and other mental health conditions long after their disease has been successfully treated, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health.

Cushing syndrome results from high levels of the hormone cortisol. Long-term complications of the syndrome include obesity, diabetes, bone fractures, high blood pressure, kidney stones and serious infections. Cushing’s syndrome may be caused by tumors of the adrenal glands or other parts of the body that produce excess cortisol. It also may be caused by a pituitary tumor that stimulates the adrenal glands to produce high cortisol levels. Treatment usually involves stopping excess cortisol production by removing the tumor.

“Our results indicate that physicians who care for young people with Cushing syndrome should screen their patients for depression-related mental illness after the underlying disease has been successfully treated,” said the study’s senior author, Constantine Stratakis, M.D., director of the Division of Intramural Research at NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. “Patients may not tell their doctors that they’re feeling depressed, so it’s a good idea for physicians to screen their patients proactively for depression and related conditions.”

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This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 11, 2022