Debunking in a world of tribes

Social media aggregate people around common interests eliciting collective framing of narratives and worldviews. However, in such a disintermediated environment misinformation is pervasive and attempts to debunk are often undertaken to contrast this trend. In this work, we examine the effectiveness of debunking on Facebook through a quantitative analysis of 54 million users over a time span of five years (Jan 2010, Dec 2014). In particular, we compare how users usually consuming proven (scientific) and unsubstantiated (conspiracy-like) information on Facebook US interact with specific debunking posts. Our findings confirm the existence of echo chambers where users interact primarily with either conspiracy-like or scientific pages. However, both groups interact similarly with the information within their echo chamber. Then, we measure how users from both echo chambers interacted with 50,220 debunking posts accounting for both users consumption patterns and the sentiment expressed in their comments. Sentiment analysis reveals a dominant negativity in the comments to debunking posts. Furthermore, such posts remain mainly confined to the scientific echo chamber. Only few conspiracy users engage with corrections and their liking and commenting rates on conspiracy posts increases after the interaction

Innovative Strategies of Reprogramming Immune System Cells by Targeting CRISPR/Cas9-Based Genome-Editing Tools: A New Era of Cancer Management

Khaled S Allemailem,1 Mohammed A Alsahli,1 Ahmad Almatroudi,1 Faris Alrumaihi,1 Waleed Al Abdulmonem,2 Amira A Moawad,3 Wanian M Alwanian,1 Nahlah Makki Almansour,4 Arshad Husain Rahmani,1 Amjad Ali Khan5 1Department of Medical Laboratories, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia; 2Department of Pathology, College of Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah, Saudi Arabia; 3Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Institute of Bacterial Infections and Zoonoses, Jena, Germany; 4Department of Biology, College of Science, University of Hafr Al Batin, Hafr Al Batin, Saudi Arabia; 5Department of Basic Health Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Buraydah, Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Amjad Ali Khan, Department of Basic Health Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, Qassim University, Buraydah, 51452, Saudi Arabia, Tel +966-16-3800050 Ext. 15445, Fax +966-16-3801628, Email [email protected]: The recent developments in the study of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats/associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9) system have revolutionized the art of genome-editing and its applications for cellular differentiation and immune response behavior. This technology has further helped in understanding the mysteries of cancer progression and possible designing of novel antitumor immunotherapies. CRISPR/Cas9-based genome-editing is now often used to engineer universal T-cells, equipped with recombinant T-cell receptor (TCR) or chimeric antigen receptor (CAR). In addition, this technology is used in cytokine stimulation, antibody designing, natural killer (NK) cell transfer, and to overcome immune checkpoints. The innovative potential of CRISPR/Cas9 in preparing the building blocks of adoptive cell transfer (ACT) immunotherapy has opened a new window of antitumor immunotherapy and some of them have gained FDA approval. The manipulation of immunogenetic regulators has opened a new interface for designing, implementation and interpretation of CRISPR/Cas9-based screening in immuno-oncology. Several cancers like lymphoma, melanoma, lung, and liver malignancies have been treated with this strategy, once thought to be impossible. The safe and efficient delivery of CRISPR/Cas9 system within the immune cells for the genome-editing strategy is a challenging task which needs to be sorted out for efficient immunotherapy. Several targeting approaches like virus-mediated, electroporation, microinjection and nanoformulation-based methods have been used, but each procedure offers some limitations. Here, we elaborate the recent updates of cancer management through immunotherapy in partnership with CRISPR/Cas9 technology. Further, some innovative methods of targeting this genome-editing system within the immune system cells for reprogramming them, as a novel strategy of anticancer immunotherapy is elaborated. In addition, future prospects and clinical trials are also discussed.Keywords: CRISPR/Cas9, tumor microenvironment, immune response, molecular targeted therapy, cancer immunotherapy, nanotechnology, clinical stud