Chronic Illness News

January 23, 2026

Top Headlines

This New Antibody May Stop One of the Deadliest Breast Cancers

Jan. 22, 2026 Researchers have identified a promising new weapon against triple-negative breast cancer, one of the most aggressive forms of the disease. An experimental antibody targets a protein that fuels tumor growth and shuts down immune defenses, effectively ...

Tiny Doses of THC Show Big Benefits for HIV Treatment

Jan. 21, 2026 A new study suggests that micro-doses of THC could help counter many long-term side effects of HIV treatment without causing intoxication. In animal models, low-dose THC reduced inflammation, improved gut bacteria, boosted serotonin, and lowered ...

Stanford Scientists Found a Way to Regrow Cartilage and Stop Arthritis

Jan. 20, 2026 Scientists at Stanford Medicine have discovered a treatment that can reverse cartilage loss in aging joints and even prevent arthritis after knee injuries. By blocking a protein linked to aging, the therapy restored healthy, shock-absorbing ...

Patients Tried Everything for Depression Then This Implant Changed Their Lives

Jan. 20, 2026 Researchers report that vagus nerve stimulation helped many people with long-standing, treatment-resistant depression feel better—and stay better—for at least two years. Most participants had ...

Finally Explained: Why Kidney Disease Is so Deadly for the Heart

Jan. 20, 2026 Scientists have uncovered why people with chronic kidney disease so often die from heart problems: damaged kidneys release tiny particles into the bloodstream that actively poison the heart. These particles, produced only by diseased kidneys, carry ...

A Common Painkiller May Be Quietly Changing Cancer Risk

Jan. 20, 2026 Ibuprofen may be doing more than easing aches and pains—it could also help reduce the risk of some cancers. Studies have linked regular use to lower rates of endometrial and bowel cancer, likely because the drug dampens inflammation that fuels ...

Scientists Discover Why Some Wounds Refuse to Heal

Jan. 20, 2026 Scientists have uncovered a surprising reason why some chronic wounds refuse to heal, even when treated with antibiotics. A common bacterium found in long-lasting wounds does not just resist drugs. It actively releases damaging molecules that ...

A Global DNA Study Reveals a Hidden Threat in Diabetic Foot Infections

Jan. 20, 2026 Scientists have uncovered new clues about why diabetic foot infections can become so severe and difficult to treat. By analyzing the DNA of E. coli bacteria taken from infected wounds around the world, researchers found an unexpected level of ...

Major Review Finds No Autism or ADHD Risk from Pregnancy Tylenol

Jan. 19, 2026 A major new scientific review brings reassuring news for expectant parents: using acetaminophen, commonly known as Tylenol, during pregnancy does not increase a child’s risk of autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability. Researchers analyzed 43 ...

Cannabis Was Touted for Nerve Pain. the Evidence Falls Short

Jan. 19, 2026 Cannabis-based medicines have been widely promoted as a potential answer for people living with chronic nerve pain—but a major new review finds the evidence just isn’t there yet. After analyzing more than 20 clinical trials involving over 2,100 ...

How Cancer Disrupts the Brain and Triggers Anxiety and Insomnia

Jan. 18, 2026 Scientists have discovered that breast cancer can quietly throw the brain’s internal clock off balance—almost immediately after cancer begins. In mice, tumors flattened the natural daily rhythm of stress hormones, disrupting the brain-body ...

Scientists Find ‘Master Regulator’ That Could Reverse Brain Aging

Jan. 18, 2026 Researchers have identified OTULIN, an immune-regulating enzyme, as a key trigger of tau buildup in the brain. When OTULIN was disabled, tau vanished from neurons and brain cells remained healthy. The findings challenge long-held assumptions about ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:59pm EST

Scientists Identify Hidden Protein Interaction Driving Parkinson’s Disease

Jan. 20, 2026 Researchers have identified a key molecular interaction that accelerates Parkinson’s disease by damaging the brain’s energy systems. They ...

The Real Danger of Tylenol Has Nothing to Do With Autism

Jan. 18, 2026 While social media continues to circulate claims linking acetaminophen to autism in children, medical experts say those fears distract from a far more serious and proven danger: overdose. ...

An Endocrinologist Tried a New Weight Loss Approach and It Worked

Jan. 17, 2026 A simple change in how primary care clinics approach weight management is delivering big public health wins. PATHWEIGH lets patients openly request help and gives doctors the tools to focus entire ...

Vitamin A May Be Helping Cancer Hide from the Immune System

Jan. 16, 2026 A vitamin A byproduct has been found to quietly disarm the immune system, allowing tumors to evade attack and weakening cancer vaccines. Scientists have now developed a drug that shuts down this ...

Statins May Help Almost Everyone With Type 2 Diabetes Live Longer

Jan. 15, 2026 New research suggests statins may protect adults with type 2 diabetes regardless of how low their predicted heart risk appears. In a large UK study, statin use was linked to fewer deaths and major ...

Northwestern Medicine’s New Antibody Wakes the Immune System Against Pancreatic Cancer

Jan. 15, 2026 Pancreatic cancer uses a sugar-coated disguise to evade the immune system, helping explain why it’s so hard to treat. Northwestern scientists ...

Scientists Uncover a Hidden Type of Diabetes in Newborns

Jan. 14, 2026 Researchers have discovered a rare new type of diabetes that affects babies early in life. The condition is caused by changes in a single gene that prevent insulin-producing cells from working ...

Massive Brain Study Reveals Why Memory Loss Can Suddenly Speed Up With Age

Jan. 14, 2026 A massive international brain study has revealed that memory decline with age isn’t driven by a single brain region or gene, but by widespread structural changes across the brain that build up over ...

A Little-Known Health Syndrome May Affect Nearly Everyone

Jan. 12, 2026 Most U.S. adults have risk factors tied to a little-known condition called CKM syndrome, which connects heart disease, kidney problems, diabetes, and obesity into one powerful health threat. When ...

Scientists Uncover a Hidden Aging Program in the Gut That Fuels Cancer Risk

Jan. 10, 2026 Although the gut renews itself constantly, its stem cells accumulate age-related molecular changes that quietly alter how genes are switched on and off. Scientists found that this “epigenetic ...

The 4x Rule: Why Some People’s DNA Is More Unstable Than Others

Jan. 9, 2026 A large genetic study shows that many people carry DNA sequences that slowly expand as they get older. Common genetic variants can dramatically alter how fast this expansion happens, sometimes ...

Common Food Preservatives Linked to Higher Risk of Type 2 Diabetes

Jan. 9, 2026 Foods that rely heavily on preservatives may be doing more than extending shelf life. In a large study spanning more than a decade, people with the highest intake of preservative additives were far ...

Scientists Find Exercise Rivals Therapy for Depression

Jan. 8, 2026 A large review of studies suggests that exercise can ease depression about as effectively as psychological therapy. Compared with antidepressants, exercise showed similar benefits, though the ...

Stanford’s AI Spots Hidden Disease Warnings That Show Up While You Sleep

Jan. 9, 2026 Stanford researchers have developed an AI that can predict future disease risk using data from just one night of sleep. The system analyzes detailed physiological signals, looking for hidden patterns ...

The Simplest Way Teens Can Protect Their Mental Health

Jan. 7, 2026 Teens who sleep in on weekends may be giving their mental health a boost. A new study found that young people who made up for lost weekday sleep had a significantly lower risk of depression. While ...

A Simple Drug Pair May Succeed Where Liver Fibrosis Treatments Failed

Jan. 6, 2026 Scientists have found that combining silybin with carvedilol works far better against liver fibrosis than either drug alone. The duo targets the root drivers of liver scarring, sharply reducing ...

Scientists Find a Safer Way to Make Cells Burn More Calories

Jan. 5, 2026 Researchers have developed experimental compounds that make cells burn more calories by subtly tweaking how mitochondria produce energy. Older versions of these chemicals were once used for weight ...

ADHD Drugs Don’t Work the Way We Thought

Dec. 25, 2025 ADHD stimulants appear to work less by sharpening focus and more by waking up the brain. Brain scans revealed that these medications activate reward and alertness systems, helping children stay ...

Scientists Reverse Alzheimer’s in Mice and Restore Memory

Dec. 24, 2025 Alzheimer’s has long been considered irreversible, but new research challenges that assumption. Scientists discovered that severe drops in the brain’s energy supply help drive the disease—and ...

MIT Study Shows High-Fat Diets Give Liver Cancer a Dangerous Head Start

Dec. 31, 2025 A high-fat diet does more than overload the liver with fat. New research from MIT shows that prolonged exposure to fatty foods can push liver cells into a survival mode that quietly raises the risk ...

What Cannabis Really Does for Chronic Pain

Dec. 30, 2025 Cannabis products with higher THC levels may slightly reduce chronic pain, particularly nerve pain, according to a review of multiple clinical trials. The improvement was small and short-lived, while ...

A Surprising Brain Cleanup Reduced Epileptic Seizures and Restored Memory

Dec. 25, 2025 A new study suggests temporal lobe epilepsy may be linked to early aging of certain brain cells. When researchers removed these aging cells in mice, seizures dropped, memory improved, and some ...

An 11-Year-Old Needed Two New Organs and Doctors Made History

Dec. 19, 2025 In a rare and historic achievement, Children’s Hospital Colorado successfully completed its first dual heart and liver transplant in a pediatric patient. The life-saving surgery was performed on ...

Diabetes Drugs May Be Changing Cancer in Surprising Ways

Jan. 2, 2026 Common diabetes drugs may do more than regulate blood sugar—they could also influence how cancers grow, spread, or slow down. Researchers are now unraveling how these medications affect immune ...

A New Drug Could Stop Alzheimer’s Before Memory Loss Begins

Dec. 22, 2025 New research suggests Alzheimer’s may start far earlier than previously thought, driven by a hidden toxic protein in the brain. Scientists found that an experimental drug, NU-9, blocks this early ...

Scientists Find a Safer Way for Opioids to Relieve Pain

Jan. 6, 2026 Researchers at USF Health have discovered a new way opioid receptors can work that may lead to safer pain medications. Their findings show that certain experimental compounds can amplify pain relief ...

MIT Scientists Find a Way to Rejuvenate the Immune System as We Age

Dec. 29, 2025 As the immune system weakens with age, scientists have found a way to restore some of its lost strength. By delivering mRNA to the liver, they created a temporary source of immune-boosting signals ...

Parkinson’s Breakthrough Changes What We Know About Dopamine

Dec. 22, 2025 A new study shows dopamine isn’t the brain’s movement “gas pedal” after all. Instead of setting speed or strength, it quietly enables movement in the background, much like oil in an engine. ...

After the LA Fires Hospitals Saw a Sudden Surge in Illness

Dec. 29, 2025 After the January 2025 LA wildfires, hospitals recorded a surge in serious health problems. Emergency visits for heart attacks, lung illness, and general sickness rose sharply in the following three ...

Cannabis Compounds Show Unexpected Power Against Ovarian Cancer

Dec. 15, 2025 Scientists have discovered that key compounds from cannabis—CBD and THC—show surprisingly strong effects against ovarian cancer cells. Used together, they slow cell growth, reduce colony ...