ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) is one of the most commonly used protein quantification techniques in the lab, prized for its high sensitivity and specificity. However, behind its seemingly straightforward protocol lie numerous pitfalls that can lead to experimental failure. Whether it's weak signal, high background, or poor reproducibility, these issues are a major headache.

In September 2025, a research paper titled "Targeting necrotic lipid release in tumors enhances immunosurveillance and cancer immunotherapy of glioblastoma" in the journal Cell Research. This study reveals for the first time a novel immune evasion mechanism whereby loss of pro-apoptotic tumor suppressor genes (such as TP53) triggers mPTP-dependent necrosis, releasing APOE-containing lipid particles that lead to T cell dysfunction. Furthermore, it proposes that clearing excess APOE lipid particles from the immune microenvironment is a new strategy to restore the function of tumor-infiltrating T cells and enhance the efficacy of immunotherapy for glioblastoma (GBM).

Virus-like particles (VLPs) are nano-sized particles formed by the self-assembly of viral structural proteins. They lack the viral genetic material, are non-infectious, and exhibit an excellent safety profile. VLPs mimic the native conformation and repetitive surface antigen array of viruses, enabling potent activation of both B cells and T cells. Consequently, they are widely used in vaccine development and antigen presentation. Researchers can produce VLPs in the laboratory by expressing recombinant viral proteins in various expression systems, including prokaryotic cells, yeast, insect cell lines, plant cells, and mammalian cell lines

On October 6th local time, the Karolinska Institute in Sweden announced that the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine would be awarded to American scientists Mary E. Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell, and Japanese scientist Shimon Sakaguchi, in recognition of their groundbreaking discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance. The laureates will share the prize money of 11 million Swedish kronor.

Recently, a team led by Michael Demetriou at the University of California, Irvine, published a study in Cell titled "Safe immunosuppression-resistant pan-cancer immunotherapeutics by velcro-like density-dependent targeting of tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens." The research team proposed a novel, broad-spectrum cancer immunotherapy strategy. By achieving "Velcro-like" high-affinity targeting of Tumor-Associated Carbohydrate Antigens (TACAs), they enabled efficient killing of various cancers while avoiding the "on-target, off-cancer" toxicity common in traditional immunotherapies. This approach offers new therapeutic hope for solid and hematological tumors that currently lack effective targets.

In the field of immunology, immunoglobulin G (IgG) is widely regarded as the workhorse of humoral immunity. As the most abundant antibody in mammalian serum, it plays a critical role in defending against pathogenic infections.

A study published in Advanced Science in September 2025, titled "PVC Nanoplastics Exposure Exacerbates Asthma through R-Loop Accumulation and Subsequent STING Activation in Macrophages", systematically reveals a novel mechanism by which PVC nanoplastics aggravate asthmatic inflammatory responses by promoting R-loop accumulation and activating the cGAS-STING pathway in macrophages.

Model organisms are species used to study and reveal biological phenomena that follow universal patterns in living systems. In simple terms, due to ethical and practical constraints, life science research often cannot be conducted directly on humans or within complex ecosystems. To uncover fundamental principles of life or physiological mechanisms, scientists rely on organisms that are highly representative and experimentally tractable—these are model organisms.

Aging is an inevitable process for every living organism and a current hotspot in life sciences research. From exploring the molecular mechanisms of aging to identifying interventions that delay aging, cellular senescence—as the cytological basis of organismal aging—has remained a major focus of the scientific community. Accurately defining cellular senescence and efficiently identifying senescent cells are crucial prerequisites for understanding the mechanisms of aging-related diseases and developing novel intervention strategies.

The Exosomes were first found in sheep reticulocytes in 1983. Johnstone et al tracked transferrin receptors during the maturation of reticulocytes and found that the formation of exosomes is the mechanism for the loss of transferrin receptors in mature red blood cells. To distinguish them from other types of extracellular vesicles (EVs), they were named exosomes.

Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1), like human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), belongs to the Retroviridae family. It is the first identified human oncogenic retrovirus and shares similar genomic structure and target cells (CD4⁺ T cells) with HIV-1. However, it exhibits strikingly different infection kinetics. HTLV-1 does not rely on persistent viral replication to sustain infection; instead, it achieves long-term persistence by "hijacking host cell proliferation mechanisms" and may ultimately induce adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL). HTLV-1 is endemic in Japan, the Caribbean, Central Africa, and South America. For decades, the molecular mechanism underlying HTLV-1's spontaneous establishment of reversible latency has remained elusive.

Apoptosis is a form of programmed cell death, specifically a regulated cell death process, characterized primarily by nuclear pyknosis, cell shrinkage, membrane blebbing, and DNA fragmentation. Furthermore, caspase family proteases and other key apoptotic regulators play pivotal roles in apoptosis research. Three principal pathways mediate apoptosis: the intrinsic apoptotic pathway, the extrinsic apoptotic pathway, and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-induced apoptotic pathway.