On December 11, Weill Cornell Medical College, the University of Glasgow, the University of Texas McGovern Medical School and other research institutions, in collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company, published a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) entitled: Continued Treatment With Tirzepatide for Maintenance of Weight Reduction in Adults With Obesity: The SURMOUNT-4 Randomized Clinical Trial.

The study reported that in obese or overweight participants (but without diabetes), a weekly injection of Tizepatide was effective in losing weight, but stopping the drug caused significant weight loss to be regained, while continuing the drug was able to maintain and further enhance the weight loss. These results suggest that obese patients may be trapped in a long-term dependence on GLP-1 weight loss drugs.

Luciano Marraffini's team at Rockefeller University recently published a paper in the journal Nature entitled "Bacterial cGAS senses a viral RNA to initiate immunity."

The study reported that bacteria use the CBASS system to defend against viral (bacteriophage) infections, but it has been unclear exactly how bacteriophages trigger the bacterial CBASS immune response. The study demonstrated that a structured RNA called cabRNA, produced by bacteriophages when they infect bacteria, is the trigger for the CBASS immune response. The study reveals a conserved mechanism by which innate antiviral defense pathways are activated, a finding that could also help tackle the threat of antibiotic resistance.