Communications medicine最新文献

{"title":"Birthweight predicts unfavorable adolescent immunometabolic trajectories leading to adult atypical depression in the ALSPAC cohort.","authors":"Qizhou Xia, Carine Parent, Guillaume Elgbeili, Irina Pokhvisneva, Patricia Pelufo Silveira","doi":"10.1038/s43856-026-01788-z","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-026-01788-z","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Lower birthweight, a marker of prenatal adversity, is associated with adverse health outcomes, including psychopathology and immune-metabolic alterations. This study tests whether longitudinal trajectories of chronic immune-metabolic alteration across adolescence, a period of rapid physiological changes, are predicted by birthweight and associated with subsequent depression risk, notably the atypical subtype. We aim to clarify pathways linking prenatal adversity to psychopathology.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We derived a latent immune-metabolic factor at ages 15, 17, and 24 from standardized C-reactive protein and Homeostatic measurement of insulin resistance in participants from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) cohort (N = 3000). We used latent class mixed modeling to identify immune-metabolic trajectory classes. Depression at 24 was measured on the International Classification of Diseases-10 criteria; atypical features were operationalized as the presence of neurovegetative symptoms (e.g. hypersomnia, hyperphagia). Inverse-probability weighting was used to mitigate selection bias.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Here we show that a four-class quadratic model best fits the data. Membership in the late-adolescence-peaking trajectory is associated with higher odds of depression at 24 (Weighted-Beta=0.767, p = 0.047, OR = 2.15, 95%CI:1.20-3.88), and, notably, of depression with atypical symptoms (Weighted-Beta=1.25, p = 0.0035, OR = 3.50, 95%CI:1.50-8.11). Birthweight is inversely associated with odds of experiencing an unfavourable late-peak trajectory group (Weighted-Beta = -1.99, robust p = 0.0313, OR = 0.14, 95%CI:0.02-0.84). Sex demonstrates a marginal moderating effect (p = 0.050), with the association between birthweight and late-peak trajectory membership being more pronounced in females.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Findings provide longitudinal evidence that prenatal adversity, indexed by lower birthweight, predicts individuals experiencing unfavourable adolescent immune-metabolic trajectories that are associated with adult depression, particularly with atypical features. Results suggest that developmental immune-metabolic trajectories could eventually inform patient clinical stratification and point to late adolescence as a possible intervention window.</p>","PeriodicalId":72646,"journal":{"name":"Communications medicine","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148474495","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The effect of SSRI/SNRI antidepressant treatment on the gut microbiota of patients with major depressive disorder.","authors":"Eugenia Emile Natasha, Danique Mulder, Leon Fehse, Nils R Winter, Lukas Fisch, Marius Welzel, Corinna Bang, Susanne Meinert, Kira Flinkenflügel, Tiana Borgers, Janik Goltermann, Elisabeth J Leehr, Carsten Culmsee, Frederike Stein, Florian Thomas-Odenthal, Paula Usemann, Lea Teutenberg, Igor Nenadic, Benjamin Straube, Nina Alexander, Hamidreza Jamalabadi, Andreas Jansen, Robert Nitsch, Andreas Lügering, Andre Franke, Udo Dannlowski, Tilo Kircher, Dominik Heider, Tim Hahn, Janna N Vrijsen, Philip van Eijndhoven, Indira Tendolkar, Andreas Reif, Sharmili Edwin Thanarajah, Silke Matura, Alejandro Arias Vasquez, Mirjam Bloemendaal","doi":"10.1038/s43856-026-01782-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43856-026-01782-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The gut microbiome has been linked to major depressive disorder (MDD), yet it remains unclear whether antidepressant treatment influences these associations. This study aimed to clarify the role of serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI/SNRI) in shaping gut microbiome changes observed in MDD.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We conducted cross-sectional analyses in two independent patient cohorts (total N = 1802) and a meta-analysis across both cohorts, comparing the gut microbiome of MDD patients with and without SSRI/SNRI treatment.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Here we show that SSRI/SNRI treatment is consistently associated with reduced Clostridium sensu stricto 1 abundance. This effect is specific to SSRI/SNRI treatment and not observed with other psychotropic medications. Importantly, reductions in Clostridium sensu stricto 1 in MDD compared to unaffected controls are explained by SSRI/SNRI medication status.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Antidepressant treatment is an important factor shaping gut microbiome alterations linked to MDD, underscoring the need to account for medication effects and potentially informing future microbiome-based strategies to improve treatment response.</p>","PeriodicalId":72646,"journal":{"name":"Communications medicine","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13376374/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148474485","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Early vitrectomy and intravitreal antibiotics for post-operative exogenous endophthalmitis (EVIAN): a randomised control trial of feasibility.","authors":"Mahiul Mk Muqit, Carlos Pavesio, Yanzhong Wang, Stephen Cobb, Christopher Spink, Elena Pizzo, Gerry Clare, Gordon Hay, Hatem A Wafa, Jiunn Wang, Hayley Boston, Keerththika Sriharan, James Bainbridge","doi":"10.1038/s43856-026-01664-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43856-026-01664-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Endophthalmitis is a blinding complication following any invasive ocular procedure, and historical treatment guidelines do exist but only for cataract surgery cases. To the best of our knowledge, no randomised controlled trial evidence exists to answer the question of early vitrectomy surgery for the treatment of endophthalmitis following any eye surgery.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We conducted a multicentre, national prospective randomized controlled clinical (RCT) trial aimed to assess the feasibility of randomizing patients to an early vitrectomy (Arm-A) intervention within 48-96 hours compared to current standard patient care of repeated, immediate intravitreal antibiotic injection (Arm-B) and delayed vitrectomy. There was no blinding or masking conducted in the trial. The key inclusion criteria were: over 18 years of age; confirmed diagnosis of POE at any time-point following an ocular surgery, procedure, or injection; symptomatic visual loss attributable to POE; best corrected visual acuity (VA) worse than 35 ETDRS letters, including counting fingers, hand motions and perception of light vision. The key exclusion criteria were: known adverse reaction to intravitreal antibiotics (amikacin/vancomyin/cephalosporins); optic atrophy in study eye; corneal oedema or haze that would prevent visualisation of fundus to perform vitrectomy surgery. The primary outcome measure was, the feasibility and acceptability of carrying out a RCT of early surgical treatment compared to standard treatment for POE.</p><p><strong>Clinicaltrials: </strong>gov NCT04522661 (13/08/2020).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Here we show that the study is feasible and meets the primary endpoint whereby 63 participants are randomized at 79% recruitment rate. Median change in VA (IQR) as per-protocol from baseline-to-week 24 was 40 (28-70) letters in Arm-A (n = 24) versus 13 (0-66) letters in Arm-B (n = 25); corresponding to a between-group difference of 24 letters, adjusted for baseline, in favour of early vitrectomy (p = 0.139). Higher rate of non-serious adverse events observed in Arm-B (68%) compared to Arm-A (47%), with higher incidence of retinal detachment 8 cases (24%) in Arm-B versus 2 cases in Arm-A (6.7%).</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The EVIAN trial meets the primary endpoint demonstrating feasibility in conducting a trial to randomize the target population at multiple eye centres. Although not statistically significant, the effect on VA change indicates a potential meaningful benefit of vitrectomy compared to standard of care treatment, which can now be tested in a definitive phase 3 clinical trial.</p>","PeriodicalId":72646,"journal":{"name":"Communications medicine","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13421665/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148474479","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Harnessing data science to control non-communicable diseases in Africa: a systematic review and gap analysis.","authors":"Akinkunmi Paul Okekunle, Osahon Jeffery Asowata, Adekunle Gregory Fakunle, Olasubomi Jimmy Omoleye, Muideen Tunbosun Olaiya, Judit Kumuthini, Moustafa I Morsy, Elisabetta Caiazzo, Alison Annet Kinengyere, Grace Ajuwon, Elaine O Nsoesie, Paul Olowoyo, Andre Pascal Kengne, Obaro S Michael, Fred Stephen Sarfo, Folakemi T Odedina, Segun Fatumo, Abiodun M Adeoye, Akindele Olupelumi Adebiyi, Rufus Olusola Akinyemi, Charles Agyemang, Shakuntala Baichoo, Bruce Ovbiagele, Pasquale Maffia, Olufunmilayo Olopade, Benjamin Aribisala, Onoja Matthew Akpa, Yosr Hamdi, Mayowa Ojo Owolabi","doi":"10.1038/s43856-025-01272-0","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43856-025-01272-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Data science methods can provide novel and pragmatic approaches for preventing and controlling non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in Africa. This study highlights current efforts, opportunities, and challenges in leveraging data science methods to accelerate and advance the prevention and control of NCDs in Africa.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We undertake a systematic review and gap analysis, as registered in PROSPERO (CRD42023406237).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Our findings suggest several data science methods have been used in research across the four leading NCDs in Africa. However, limited information exists on their application to improve disease surveillance, risk factor identification and characterization, prevention, treatment, drug discovery and rehabilitation. Machine learning outperforms traditional statistical methods in improving risk stratification in most studies (80.8%) designed for the prevention and control of NCDs. Notwithstanding, most (76.0%) data science techniques for NCDs prevention and control remain in the exploratory research phase, with limited clinical or public health application and minimal impact on the African population. There are critical gaps along the continuum of data generation, data quality, method development, and validation, which may be attributed to inadequate funding, capacity development, policy shortcomings, and infrastructure deficits. Considerable gaps exist in intra-African collaboration, data sharing, and replication, which hinder the cross-cultural replication and applicability of data science methods for NCDs prevention and control in Africa.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Multi-sectoral interventions that promote interdisciplinary capacity building, investment, and knowledge linkages, taking into account indigenous epistemologies, are needed to harness the enormous potential of data science to accelerate the prevention and control of NCDs in Africa.</p>","PeriodicalId":72646,"journal":{"name":"Communications medicine","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13377181/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148474506","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Clinician expertise and prompt engineering enhance cancer information extraction in electronic health records by small language models.","authors":"Federica Corso, Vittoria Peppoloni, Laura Mazzeo, Giuseppe Leone, Luana Passos, Vanja Mišković, Justin Armanini, Alberto Ferrarin, Isabella Catharina Wiest, Fabian Wolf, Giulia Montelatici, Rebecca Romanò, Paolo Ambrosini, Tommaso Capoccia, Stefano Natangelo, Simone Rota, Paola Andena, Marta De Ponti, Alessandra Russo, Giulia Stasi, Leonardo Provenzano, Andrea Spagnoletti, Marco Meazza Prina, Chiara Cavalli, Claudia Giani, Roberta Serino, Michele Borracino, Chiara Bonalume, Rosa Maria Di Mauro, Claudia Agosta, Andra Diana Dumitrascu, Giorgia Di Liberti, Giulia Corrao, Teresa Beninato, Monica Ganzinelli, Mario Occhipinti, Marta Brambilla, Claudia Proto, Jakob Nikolas Kather, Alessandra Laura Giulia Pedrocchi, Filippo De Braud, Giuseppe Lo Russo, Paolo Baili, Arsela Prelaj","doi":"10.1038/s43856-026-01790-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43856-026-01790-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Real-world data (RWD) in unstructured electronic health records (EHRs) is crucial for understanding complex diseases like cancer, but extracting structured information is challenging due to linguistic variability, semantic complexity, and privacy concerns. This study evaluates the performance of four small, locally deployable language models for information extraction from Italian EHRs.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We examine three prompting strategies (zero-shot, few-shot, and annotated few-shot) across English and Italian, involving clinicians with varying expertise to assess the impact of prompt design on accuracy. We evaluate the performance of four open-source small language models (SLMs) for clinical information extraction from Italian electronic health records (EHRs) in the APOLLO 11 trial on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The extraction protocol involves four steps: problem definition, data preprocessing, Large Language Model (LLM)-based information extraction, and output evaluation.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We show that general-purpose models (e.g., LLaMA 3.1 8B) outperform biomedical models in most tasks, particularly in extracting binary features. Multiclass variables such as TNM (Tumor, Node, Metastasis) staging, PD-L1 (Programmed death-ligand 1), and ECOG-PS (Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group-Performance Status) are more difficult due to implicit language and lack of standardization. Few-shot prompting and native-language inputs significantly improve performance and reduced hallucinations. Clinical expertise enhances consistency in the extraction, particularly among students using annotated examples.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The study confirms that privacy-preserving SLMs can be deployed locally for efficient and secure cancer data extraction. Findings highlight the need for hybrid systems combining SLMs with expert input and underline the importance of aligning clinical documentation practices with SLM capabilities. This is the first study to benchmark SLMs on Italian EHRs and investigate the role of clinical expertise in prompt engineering, offering valuable insights for the future integration of SLMs into real-world clinical workflows.</p>","PeriodicalId":72646,"journal":{"name":"Communications medicine","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148474448","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Biosocial influences of gender identity and geography on mucosal microbial phenotypes.","authors":"Vanessa E Van Doren, S Abigail Smith, Cassie Grimsley Ackerley, Jadah Keith, Robert A Arthur, Henry Claussen, Phillip Murray, Vin Tangpricha, Yi-Juan Hu, Chang Su, Mengyu He, Colleen F Kelley","doi":"10.1038/s43856-026-01780-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43856-026-01780-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Transgender women (TGW) experience unique hormonal contexts and high HIV incidence, yet the mucosal microbiome among TGW remains understudied. Sex hormones and geography may shape microbial composition, but the relative contributions of gender identity, feminizing hormone therapy (FHT), and location are unclear.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We conducted a multi-site study of TGW using FHT and cisgender men who have sex with men (MSM), all without HIV, in Atlanta, USA (n = 58; 25 TGW, 33 MSM) and Bangkok, Thailand (n = 147; 97 TGW, 50 MSM)(n = 205). We also conducted longitudinal sampling in 21 TGW pre/post FHT initiation. Rectal swabs were collected from all participants, with optional neovaginal sampling in TGW. Microbiota composition was analyzed using 16S rRNA sequencing, and associations with gender category, geography, and hormone concentrations were assessed using linear decomposition modeling (LDM) and BOUTH analysis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Here we show that the rectal microbiota differ significantly by both gender category and geography. TGW exhibit enrichment of estrogen-metabolizing taxa across sites, while MSM show Prevotellaceae enrichment in Atlanta only. Alpha diversity varies by location but not gender category. Neovaginal microbiota differ markedly from rectal composition, showing enrichment of skin- and gut-associated taxa and anaerobic taxa associated with HIV seroconversion. No significant rectal microbiota shifts are observed after short-term FHT initiation, possibly reflecting subtherapeutic hormone exposure.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>These findings underscore the need to consider gender identity as a complex biosocial phenotype in HIV prevention and highlight the potential role of mucosal microbiota in shaping HIV vulnerability in TGW.</p>","PeriodicalId":72646,"journal":{"name":"Communications medicine","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148450839","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The global preclinical research and development landscape for pre-eclampsia and eclampsia therapies.","authors":"Jessica Postregna, Kate Mills, Fiona Bruinsma, Maya Goldstein, Andrew Tuttle, Lindsay Keir, Cecile Ventola, A Metin Gülmezoglu, Anne Ammerdorffer, Joshua P Vogel, Annie R A McDougall","doi":"10.1038/s43856-026-01784-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-026-01784-3","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Surprisingly few medicines are available to prevent or manage pre-eclampsia, all of which are repurposed from non-pregnant populations and conditions. Analyses of clinical research and development pipelines for pre-eclampsia medicines have identified high-potential candidates; however, the preclinical pipeline has not been interrogated. To address this gap, we developed an approach to analyse and rank preclinical candidates and applied it to the preclinical pipeline for pre‑eclampsia and eclampsia.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We analysed and ranked the potential of 83 preclinical candidates for pre-eclampsia and eclampsia identified in the Maternal Health Pipeline spanning 2000 to 2025. Candidates were assessed across three domains - quality of preclinical evidence, product development stage and implementability. Each question in the prioritisation matrix was assigned a numerical value based on importance. The sum of these values was used to rank the potential of each candidate for future research.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>There is a total of 106 candidates in the preclinical pipeline. Twenty-three candidates are excluded from our analysis. Among the 83 candidates analysed, 11 high-potential candidates are identified, and the remaining candidates are ranked as medium (63 candidates) and low potential (nine candidates). Of the candidates analysed, 49.4% are new chemical or biological entities, 37 different binding targets are identified and the proposed mechanism of action for 32 candidates is a reduction in angiogenic factor sFlt-1.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>High potential candidates should be prioritised for further development, but progress is restricted by current mechanisms of action and animal models. Increased investment is essential to advance pre-eclampsia therapies into clinical trials.</p>","PeriodicalId":72646,"journal":{"name":"Communications medicine","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148450924","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A large cohort analysis of metabolic signatures underlying the liver-eye axis.","authors":"Mingxing Wu, Xueqin Li, Mingzhi Liu, Jun Zhang, Jingxin Zhou, Kai Jin, Zuyun Liu, Yumei Mao, Yuan Gao, Li Zhang","doi":"10.1038/s43856-026-01623-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43856-026-01623-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>The role of the liver, a vital metabolic organ, in ocular health and the corresponding mechanisms remains unclear. This study aimed to examine the association between liver function and retinal thickness, and whether metabolic signatures (MS) of liver function mediate these associations.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We used data from 31019 participants in UK Biobank. Liver function was measured using seven serum-based circulating biomarkers: alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, gamma-glutamyltransferase, alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin, total protein, and albumin levels. Retinal thickness was measured using optical coherence tomography, including the retinal nerve fiber layer, ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer, inner nuclear layer, inner nuclear layer-external limiting membrane, external limiting membrane-inner and outer photoreceptor segments, inner and outer photoreceptor segments-retinal pigment epithelium (ISOSRPE), and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). The circulating metabolome was quantified using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. A linear regression model and formal mediation analyses were performed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We find that abnormal liver function is significantly associated with increased RPE thickness (β [SE]: 0.094(0.034); P = 0.021) and decreased ISOSRPE thickness (β [SE]: -0.172 (0.048); P < 0.001), after adjusting for demographic, lifestyle factors, best-corrected visual acuity, and intraocular pressures. Among the 249 metabolites, 23 are selected using lasso regression to construct MS for liver function. The mediation proportion of MS in association between liver function and ISOSRPE thickness is 28.6% (P = 0.004). Among the 23 metabolites, six play a significant mediating role in the association between liver function and ISOSRPE thickness, with mediation proportions ranging from 3.20% to 16.4%.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This study demonstrates significant associations of liver function with retinal thickness and reveals potential underlying metabolomic mechanisms, providing insights into the liver-eye axis.</p>","PeriodicalId":72646,"journal":{"name":"Communications medicine","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13392093/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148450831","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Radioactive ion beam range adaptation in mouse tumors using in-beam PET.","authors":"Martina Moglioni, Tamara Vitacchio, Francesco Evangelista, Munetaka Nitta, Daria Boscolo, Giulio Lovatti, Olga Sokol, Emma Haettner, Sivaji Purushothaman, Walter Tinganelli, Christian Graeff, Uli Weber, Christoph Schuy, Andreas Bückner, Gabriele Corbetta, Leonard Doyle, Lennart Volz, Maria Chiara Martire, Tim Wagner, Alexander Helm, Collin Werkheiser, Daria Kostyleva, Rinku Prajapat, Suraj Kumar Singh, Elena Rocco, Jonathan Bortfeldt, Peter G Thirolf, Christoph Scheidenberger, Katia Parodi, Marco Durante","doi":"10.1038/s43856-026-01786-1","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s43856-026-01786-1","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Treatment adaptation is particularly critical in particle therapy, where even small range deviations can compromise target coverage or lead to unintended dose delivered to surrounding healthy tissues. In-beam positron emission tomography (PET) has emerged as a promising approach for range verification during irradiation with protons or stable carbon ion beams. However, its clinical use is limited by low signal-to-noise ratio and by the spatial mismatch between activity and dose distributions, reducing verification accuracy and limiting timely intervention.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We used radioactive ion beams for real-time range adaptation in 10 weeks old C3H/ HeNRj female mice bearing LM8-osteosarcoma tumors. Three ¹¹C beam range settings were planned: short (S), right (R), and long (L). The range of a collimated monoenergetic probing beam was monitored in real-time with the SIRMIO in-beam PET scanner by tracking the activity peak along the beam path, while range adaptation was achieved with a remotely controlled range shifter. Each plan (S, R and L) was also delivered, and tumor growth, toxicity assays, and histological analyses were performed to evaluate each treatment outcomes.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Dynamic repositioning of the ¹¹C beam produced spatially resolved PET signals that correlated with distinct biological outcomes. Toxicity was observed only in the L group, while adequate tumor coverage was achieved in both R and L groups. In contrast, the S group showed continued tumor growth.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>We provide the first demonstration that in-beam imaging of radioactive ion beams can enable real-time range-guided radiotherapy in a living organism. These findings establish radioactive ion beams as a promising platform for precision range-guided particle therapy.</p>","PeriodicalId":72646,"journal":{"name":"Communications medicine","volume":"6 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13369987/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148450655","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Repurposing molecular imaging to map drug targets in vivo.","authors":"Xiaoying Xu, Vincent Taelman, Pablo Jané, Eduardo Jané, Rebecca A Dumont, Yonathan Garama, Francisco Kim, María Del Val Gómez, Karim Gariani, Martin A Walter","doi":"10.1038/s43856-026-01749-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s43856-026-01749-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Understanding where drug targets are expressed in the human body is essential for precision medicine, yet this information is difficult to obtain in living patients. Molecular imaging offers a non-invasive way to visualize target expression, but its application remains fragmented. We aim to develop a systematic framework to link approved drugs, their molecular targets, and existing imaging agents, with a focus on repurposing imaging strategies for clinical use.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We integrate drug, target, and disease data from public databases and combine these with imaging probe annotations and transcriptomic data from more than 240,000 patient samples across multiple diseases. Co-expression analysis is used to identify candidate surrogate imaging targets for proteins that lack direct imaging agents. Statistical associations are assessed using correlation analysis with multiple testing correction.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Here we show that existing imaging agents can be linked to 704 therapeutic targets across 1345 diseases. Nearly half of these targets are directly imageable, while the remainder can be connected to surrogate imaging targets through co-expression. In total, more than 4000 imaging agents are identified, enabling the systematic prioritization of candidate imaging strategies across diseases.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>This study provides a framework for repurposing molecular imaging agents to visualize drug targets in vivo. The approach expands the potential of imaging to guide patient selection and treatment monitoring, and highlights opportunities to translate existing but underused imaging agents into clinically actionable biomarkers.</p>","PeriodicalId":72646,"journal":{"name":"Communications medicine","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":7.4,"publicationDate":"2026-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148438923","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}