Biopeer

Report discovers root of cardiac fibrosis

A report published in Nature Medicine by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) helps explain the roots of cardiac fibrosis. The research further showed that the bone morphogenic molecule known as rhBMP7 might prove to be a therapy for cardiac fibrosis. The study used mice, in which endothelial cells had been marked genetically, to confirm the conversion of cells into fibroblasts during cardiac fibrosis. These cells were responsible for slowing down the proper function and electrical conduction of the heart. In the second part of the study, the investigators analyzed the rhBMP7 protein to determine its function in reducing the development of fibroblasts. “These findings provide compelling proof that the process of fibrosis can be reversed in the heart and offers the possibility of new therapies for patients who have developed cardiac fibrosis as the result of myocardial infarction, hypertension, valvular diseases or heart transplantation,” said senior author of the study, Dr. Raghu Kalluri.

Researchers from the University of Edinburgh found that heart disease might lead to a decline in cognitive function. The four-year study evaluated 452 elderly individuals who were suffering from at least one type of cardiovascular disease. The results showed that individuals who had suffered from multiple strokes during the trial period experienced a decline in verbal memory performance. But, researchers also found that atherosclerosis reduces the flow of blood required to feed the brain and hence gradually degrades the cognitive function of individuals. “Anything that leads to better cardiovascular health – more favorable levels of cardiovascular risk factors, blood pressure, cholesterol, not to smoke – these are all likely to impact the brain, the blood flow to the brain, arterial function, and eventually cognitive function,” said lead researcher, Dr. Snorri Bjorn Rafnsson.

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Cancer patients benefit from white blood cell boosters

A multi-institutional study, led by researchers from the University of Rochester School Of Medicine and Dentistry and the Duke University Comprehensive Cancer Center, found that cancer patients who received drugs to stimulate the growth of infection-fighting white blood cells were less likely to die from chemotherapy-related complication. The researchers compiled 17 trials involving more than 3,000 cancer patients receiving chemotherapy of varying intensity to treat several different types of cancers. "Patients taking a drug known as granulocyte colony-stimulating factor early in their chemotherapy were about half as likely to develop dangerously low white blood cell counts with fever, and half as likely to die from infection," said Nicole M. Kuderer, M.D., lead author of the study. "This study represents an important part of the effort to better treat this common complication in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy." The results of this study showed that white blood cell boosters also benefit cancer patients who receive more common chemotherapy doses.

A study conducted at the Indiana University School of Medicine found that testicular cancer patients who do not respond to commonly used therapies may be cured with aggressive chemotherapy and a stem cell treatment. The study team looked at 184 patients with metastatic testicular cancer and demonstrated that the disease can be curable with a high-dose chemotherapy and stem cell transplant using cells harvested from the patient before the initial chemotherapy infusion. "The message for patients is that through research, diligence and new technologies, there is hope," said Lawrence Einhorn, professor of medicine at Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center. The results of this study brought new hope for patients who are treated with this therapy. “This is new medicine and it tells patients that cures are on the horizon,” said Stephen D. Williams, M.D., director of the Indiana University Simon Cancer Center and a co-author of the paper.

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New method might lead to rapid development of malaria vaccines

Researchers at the Biochemistry Department of the University of Lausanne, Switzerland and University of Montpellier, France, have discovered a method for the quick development of malaria vaccines. The scientists hoped to develop an antibody-based vaccine for malaria to stop proliferation of the parasite in blood. They turned to the recently sequenced malaria parasite genome and bioinformatics peptide synthesis, using hundreds of short-helical coiled protein segments which are able to maintain their conformation once they are chemically synthesized. In the first round of vaccine selection, all 95 peptides synthesized were recognized by the blood of malaria immune patient donors. Purified human antibodies that are specific to at least a dozen of these peptides could inhibit the growth of the malaria parasite in the body. The researchers say that quick detection would speed up the manufacturing process of vaccines, thereby reducing time and cost to enter new vaccine candidates in clinical trials.

Researchers at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) published a study in the July 23 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences about their discovery of a therapeutic ovarian cancer vaccine. The cancer vaccine is formulated to trigger the antitumor response in the body, which in turn would inhibit the cancer cells that remain after primary treatment. The study evaluated the effect of this vaccine in women with epithelial ovarian cancer. "Further, we detected vaccine-induced immune cells in patients up to 12 months after immunization, suggesting a long-lasting effect," said Kunle Odunsi, of the Gynecologic Oncology and Immunology departments at RPCI.

Researchers in the molecular genetics and microbiology department at Duke University have discovered genetic reasons why a small percentage of people have a natural resistance to HIV. When a person is infected by HIV, viral load rises to a high level before the immune system pushes it down to a stable level. Some people can push the virus to undetectable levels; those who cannot control it progress rapidly to AIDS. "People really vary in their vulnerability to HIV. Some people, despite repeated, high degrees of exposure, will not become infected," said David Goldstein, lead researcher. "And even for those who do become infected, their immune systems are able to control the virus just fine." Researchers estimate up to 10% of people who do become infected will not become sick. Understanding people’s natural resistance to HIV may lead to new HIV vaccines or treatments.

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Obesity can spread through social networks

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that obesity can spread through social connections. The researchers call it ‘social contagion,’ where people who become obese tend to influence their friends and family and convey the subliminal message that being overweight is acceptable. Researchers used data from a long-term heart disease study based in Massachusetts, which involved 12,000 people. The study evaluated the addresses of the participants, heights, and weights as well as names of their close friends. The researchers tracked social connections over a 32-year period and then examined individuals’ BMI, weight and height for signs of obesity. The results showed that an individual's chances of becoming obese increased by 57% if a friend grew obese and increased by 171 % if a very close friend grew obese, often within a span of three to four years. “We were stunned to find that friends who are hundreds of miles away have just as much impact on a person's weight as those who are geographically close,” said James Fowler, study author. This fact led researchers to think that the 'social contagion' wasn't just about eating together, but about sharing ideas of acceptable appearance. The study doesn't challenge or replace the effects of genetics, a sedentary lifestyle or overeating as contributors to obesity.

Researchers at the New Zealand's National Research Center for Growth and Development and The University of Southampton found that a poor diet during pregnancy might lead the child to become obese as an adult. A preliminary study conducted two years ago, involved dosing newborn rats that had been undernourished in the womb, and were thus at risk of growing into obese adults, with the hormone leptin. Leptin is a hormone associated with metabolism and the body's signal to the brain that it is full. The second study evaluated the long-term effects of prenatal malnutrition and leptin treatment on key genes that control metabolism of adult rats. They found that rats with well-fed mothers reacted to leptin in the opposite way as rats with malnourished mothers. The study has raised questions about the nutritional signals received by individuals in their fetal stage and the possibility that humans might be programmed to be fat or thin depending on nutritional signals they received in the womb.

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Michael J. Fox in stem cell appeal

TONE technique to improve medical and scientific imaging

Researchers from the University of Virginia Engineering School have developed a new method of signal processing that can be used with a broad range of imaging and sensing systems including ultrasound, RADAR, SONAR, telecommunications, and even a few optical imaging systems. This technique, callled Time-domain Optimized Near-field Estimator (TONE), is said to provide improved image resolution and contrast in medical ultrasounds by reducing the contribution of unwanted reflections and signals. A study evaluated a series of simulations using sample ultrasound data to test the performance of the TONE algorithm and compared it to conventional beam-forming strategies (CBF) used by current ultrasound scanners. Results from the imaging trials showed significant improvement. "The potential applications for this algorithm are almost infinite," said James H. Aylor, dean of University of Virginia's School of Engineering and Applied Science. "Not only can it be used in the medical community to benefit patients nationwide, but it will also have applications in the fields of radio astronomy, seismology and more."

Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, U.S., have found an innovative way to use MRI to create images of fluid flow inside the body. David Alsop, a professor at Harvard Medical School and researcher at Beth Israel, has found a way to track nuclei movement within a fluid. The technique aligns atoms' nuclei with a powerful magnetic field and then zaps nuclei with a focused sequence of radio pulses. This distinguishes that particular sample of nuclei from other nuclei nearby. It's then possible to see how the nulcei move when the pulses are re-emitted, which can reveal important data such as the chemical composition of the surrounding environment. The researchers claim that the technique could be particularly useful for tracking the detailed pattern of blood flow within the brain.

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Jeff Sachs on Biotechnology and Poverty

Biotech Research in Hong Kong

Genes related to inflammation found to be major risk factors for lung cancer

Scientists from the National Cancer Institute and the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center found that two genes, related to inflammation, may be major risk factors for developing lung cancer. "Our findings help explain how heavy smoking, for example, combines with a genetic predisposition to create a besieged environment within the lungs," said lead author Eric Engels, researcher at the Viral Epidemiology Branch of the NCI's Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics. "Essentially, sustained inflammation alters the microenvironment of the lung tissue, damaging cells and altering DNA." The study discovered the mechanism by which damage to the lung through smoking triggers an over zealous inflammatory response by the immune system that can lead to lung cancer. The researchers studied 1,500 lung cancer patients and 1,700 controls and found that some variants or polymorphisms in the genes for interleukin (IL) 1A and 1B are found more frequently in patients with lung cancer. The findings of this study increase the understanding of how some people are predisposed to developing cancer and may lead to potential therapies.

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center discovered a substance from the bark of the lapacho tree that has anti-cancer properties and could be useful for treating lung cancer. The researchers found that in non-small cell lung cancer, the substance beta-lapachone is metabolized by the enzyme NQO1 and results in cell death without damaging non-cancerous tissues which do not express NQO1. "Future therapies based on beta-lapachone and NQO1 interaction have the potential to play a major role in treating devastating drug-resistant cancers such as non-small cell lung cancer," said Erik Bey, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral researcher at the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center. "This is the first step in developing chemotherapeutic agents that exploit the proteins needed for a number of cellular processes, such as DNA repair and programmed cell death."

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PS3 helps Medical Research