Antifungal therapy improves microbiome dynamics in inflammatory bowel disease.

September 1, 2026| Source: Nature medicine

Gut fungal dysbiosis has been implicated in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), yet strategies for targeting the gut mycobiota in IBD remain unexplored. Here we leveraged the observation that Candida albicans strains are shared between the oral cavity and gut in patients with IBD with mild oral thrush, a condition caused by Candida overgrowth, to design a prospective observational study comparing oral antifungal therapy (swish-and-spit nystatin; oral nystatin fungal targeting (ORNT); n = 18) with orogastrointestinal antifungal therapy (fluconazole; gastrointestinal and oral fluconazole fungal targeting (GIFT); n = 35). Among 53 patients with mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease, fluconazole, but not nystatin, effectively reduced intestinal Candida burden and reshaped gut fungal-community composition. Fluconazole treatment was accompanied by increased bacterial diversity, expansion of short-chain fatty-acid-producing taxa, restoration of anti-inflammatory microbial metabolites and durable shifts in cross-kingdom microbial networks. These microbiome and metabolomic changes coincided with improved disease activity indices and a decreased risk of disease progression over the 8-week follow-up period. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of mycobiome-based patient stratification, provide evidence that targeted antifungal therapy can reshape the intestinal microbiota in IBD and establish a framework for implementing antifungal cotherapy in patients with fungal-associated disease manifestations.

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The honey bee stinger: An unusual pump with collapsible double pistons.

Most stinging animals deliver venom by contracting muscles around a venom reservoir, but honey bees employ a fundamentally different strategy. The stingers of worker bees have the unique ability to autotomize, separating from the body, to continue to sting independently. Despite more than a century of anatomical descriptions, the mechanics of venom pumping have remained unresolved due to the challenges of observing them in action. We recorded high-speed videos of active, autotomized stingers, co

Health & MedicineOctober 20, 2026

Chronic cigarette smoke exposure induces distinct stem cell states driving genetic driver-specific non-small cell lung cancer subtypes.

Cigarette smoke-induced chronic inflammation (CI) potentiates development of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) by mediating genetic and epigenetic events. Using normal lung organoids (LOs), we define how chronic cigarette smoke condensate (CSC) exposure drives two separate stem cell populations to evolve premalignant states harboring progressive epigenetic and linked transcriptomic abnormalities in the absence of major driver mutations. These dynamics facilitate evolution of an immune evasive s

Health & MedicineOctober 20, 2026

Cell identity competes with surface tension to determine stromal organization in tumor spheroids beyond the CAF shell paradigm.

Cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) are often found forming a peripheral stromal barrier around tumors. Here, this paradigm is challenged using microfabricated 3D cancer-CAF spheroid models combined with quantitative magnetic force tensiometry. A surface tension atlas is established for eight cancer cell lines, three CAF populations, and heterotypic tumor-CAF assemblies, spanning nearly two orders of magnitude. Surface tension is first shown to govern spheroid morphology and modulate drug respo

Health & MedicineOctober 20, 2026

Controlled functionalization of cellulose nanocrystals directs polymer-specific protein coronas and immune cell interactions.

Polymer coatings are widely used to suppress nonspecific protein adsorption and modulate nanoparticle-cell interactions. However, the biological outcomes of polymer-functionalized nanoparticles remain difficult to predict in complex biological environments because protein corona formation rapidly alters nanoparticle identity. This challenge is particularly pronounced when hydrophobic moieties are incorporated for imaging or therapeutic applications, as they can promote nonspecific interactions a

Health & MedicineOctober 20, 2026

Dynamic partitioning shapes the in vivo organization of the Escherichia coli RNA degradosome.

The bacterial RNA degradosome is a central mediator of RNA turnover, yet how its components are organized and regulated in living cells remains unclear. Using live-cell single-molecule imaging, we quantified the spatial distribution and dynamics of the four major Escherichia coli degradosome components: RNase E, RhlB, PNPase, and enolase. These proteins occupied distinct membrane-associated and cytoplasmic pools whose relative abundance varied among proteins and changed with physiological state.