#Cancer Blocked by Halving Levels of Protein Thought To Be ntouchablein a surprising finding, a team of UC San francisco and Stanford university scientists has discovered that a protein thought to be crucial for the body to develop
and function correctly can be reduced by half in mice with no apparent ill effects. More strikingly, the group found that the full complement of the protein normally found in cells can be hijacked by cancer cells to fuel their growth.
The work raises the possibility that targeted cancer drugs that lower levels of the protein could suppress tumor growth without affecting healthy cells.
a UCSF graduate student in the Biomedical sciences Program. his represents a new and exciting finding in regard to how we might target the development of tumors.
who holds the Helen Diller Family Chair in Basic Cancer Research, and Maria Barna, Phd, assistant professor of developmental biology and genetics at Stanford, co-senior authors of the new study. he dogma in every textbook was that
said Ruggero, a member of the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center (HDFCCC). During translation, strands of MESSENGER RNA (mrna) carry protein-making instructions from genes to ribosomes, the cellular machines in which proteins are made.
and co-first author Crystal S. Conn, Phd, a postdoctoral fellow in the UCSF Department of Urology,
especially since previous research has shown that eif4e is present at abnormally high levels in tumor cells. ancer cells rely on increases in protein synthesis as a critical means for sustaining their growth and survival,
In lab-dish experiments, mutations in certain genes known as oncogenes, such as Ras and Myc, reliably ransformnormal mouse cells into cancer-like cells the cells overproliferate,
just as tumor cells do. But when the researchers introduced oncogenic Myc and Ras into cells in
they again observed that the potential of these cells to develop tumors was weakened significantly. The researchers found,
when they set the stage for the development of cancer. These results were consistent with those seen in eif4e-deficient mice carrying Ras mutations
potentially toxic molecules that accumulate when cells are under stress, such as that caused by oncogenic transformation.
Though cells require some ROS to survive, stress conditions can push ROS levels beyond a threshold,
triggering a program that causes cells to commit suicide. To maintain the correct balance, mildly stressed cells activate genes to create scavenger proteins that mop up excess ROS.
To that end, in 2013 Ruggero and UCSF colleague Kevan M. Shokat, Phd, professor of cellular and molecular pharmacology and a Howard hughes medical institute Investigator, founded San diego-based effector Therapeutics
. effector is developing new treatments for patients with cancer and other serious diseases, in part by characterizing drug action and identifying targets related to the cell translational mechanisms.
but they make use of the surplus to initiate protective mechanisms when under stress. Cancer cells appear to hijack this mechanism,
using the extra reservoir of eif4e to ward off the stress response to enhance their own survival. his work pulls back the curtain on a very unique trick that cancer cells have developed during the course of evolution to promote their own growth, through a program that specific to cancer cells,
said principal investigator Arturo Alvarez-Buylla, UCSF professor of neurological surgery, Heather and Melanie Muss Endowed Chair and a principal investigator in the UCSF Brain tumor Research center and the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regeneration Medicine and Stem Cell Research. t may be unwelcome
news for those who thought of adult neural stem cells as having a wide potential for neural repair.
Alvarez-Buylla also noted that the paper has possible implications for the success of human stem cell therapy in the brain
the likelihood of our being able to use stem cell therapy to repair brain injury is very low. ource:
because the materials can assemble in water instead of more toxic organic solutions that are used widely today. nce you make the materials,
which allows for a better therapeutic potential. The team of researchers tested the therapeutic potential of these carbon nanoparticles by loading them with an anti-melanoma drug
and mixing them in a topical solution that was applied to pig skin. However, scientists have to make sure they coated particles properly,
Scientists also found that they can alter the infusion of the particles into melanoma cells by adjusting the polymer coatings.
It is a very versatile platform to treat melanoma, other kinds of cancers and other diseases.
as well as to make it carry several different drugs at the same time to allow for a multidrug therapy with the same particles.
which will eventually lead to innovative drug therapies for cancer and other diseases i
#Access to electricity and artificial light shortened time of our sleep Science knows that nowadays people tend to sleep less than they used to before modern times.
#Smart insulin patch could replace painful injections for diabetes This is the mart insulin patch, developed by researchers in the joint UNC/NC State Biomedical engineering Department.
A joint effort between diabetes doctors and biomedical engineers could revolutionize how people with diabetes keep their blood sugar levels in checkpainful insulin injections could become a thing of the past for the millions of Americans who suffer from diabetes, thanks to a new invention
painless patch could lower blood glucose in a mouse model of type 1 diabetes for up to nine hours.
More preclinical tests and subsequent clinical trials in humans will be required before the patch can be administered to patients,
but the approach shows great promise. e have designed a patch for diabetes that works fast,
and the UNC Diabetes Care Center. he whole system can be personalized to account for a diabetic weight and sensitivity to insulin,
Patients with type 1 and advanced type 2 diabetes try to keep their blood sugar levels under control with regular finger pricks and repeated insulin shots, a process that is painful and imprecise.
John Buse, MD, Phd, co-senior author of the PNAS paper and the director of the UNC Diabetes Care Center, said,
njecting the wrong amount of medication can lead to significant complications like blindness and limb amputations,
or even more disastrous consequences such as diabetic comas and death. esearchers have tried to remove the potential for human error by creating losed-loop systemsthat directly connect the devices that track blood sugar
they had to figure out a way to administer them to patients with diabetes. Rather than rely on the large needles
The researchers tested the ability of this approach to control blood sugar levels in a mouse model of type 1 diabetes.
They gave one set of mice a standard injection of insulin and measured the blood glucose levels,
They also found that the patch did not pose the hazards that insulin injections do.
Injections can send blood sugar plummeting to dangerously low levels when administered too frequently. he hard part of diabetes care is not the insulin shots,
or the blood sugar checks, or the diet but the fact that you have to do them all several times a day every day for the rest of your life,
the director of the North carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences (NC Tracs) Institute and past president of the American Diabetes Association. f we can get these patches to work in people,
said Professor Shankar Balasubramanian of the Department of chemistry and the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute, who led the research. t had been thought this modification was solely a short-lived intermediate,
and the role that these modifications may play in the development of certain diseases, said Balasubramanian. hile work is continuing in determining the exact function of this xtrabase,
The research was supported by Cancer Research UK, the Wellcome Trust and the Biotechnology and Biological sciences Research Council UK e
While conventional lithium-ion batteries are composed of brittle electrodes that can crack under stress, the new formulation produces battery cells that can be bent,
#Nanowire implants offer remote-controlled drug delivery A team of Purdue University researchers developed a new implantable drug-delivery system using the nanowires,
and wires required by other implantable devices that can lead to infection and other complications,
Purdue University Mari Hulman George Professor of Applied Neuroscience and director of Purdue Center for Paralysis Research. his tool allows us to apply drugs as needed directly to the site of injury,
which could have broad medical applications, Borgens said. he technology is in the early stages of testing,
but it is our hope that this could one day be used to deliver drugs directly to spinal cord injuries, ulcerations, deep bone injuries or tumors,
or chemotherapy. he team tested the drug-delivery system in mice with compression injuries to their spinal cords
Wen Gao, a postdoctoral researcher in the Center for Paralysis Research who worked on the project with Borgens,
and transported a patch of the nanowire carpet on water droplets that were used used to deliver it to the site of injury.
The nanowire patches adhere to the site of injury through surface tension, Gao said. The magnitude and wave form of the electromagnetic field must be tuned to obtain the optimum release of the drug
Youngnam Cho, a former faculty member at Purdue Center for Paralysis Research; and Jianming Li, a research assistant professor at the center.
GFAP is expressed in cells called astrocytes that gather in high numbers at central nervous system injuries. Astrocytes are a part of the inflammatory process and form a scar tissue,
A 1-2 millimeter patch of the nanowires doped with dexamethasone was placed onto spinal cord lesions that had been exposed surgically,
The lesions were closed then and an electromagnetic field was applied for two hours a day for one week.
#Researchers develop a new means of killing harmful bacteria The global rise in antibiotic resistance is a growing threat to public health,
damaging our ability to fight deadly infections such as tuberculosis. In this illustration, phagemid plasmids infect a targeted bacteria.
for new approaches to tackle bacterial infection. In a paper published online in the journal Nano Letters, researchers at MIT, the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard,
and kill bacteria have been used for many years to treat infection in countries such as those in the former Soviet union.
But bacteriophages can also cause potentially harmful side effects, according to James Collins, the Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering and Science in MIT Department of Biological engineering and Institute of Medical Engineering and Science,
as it can lead to the release of nasty toxins from the cell. hese toxins can lead to sepsis and even death in some cases,
or peptides molecules made up of short chains of amino acids that are toxic to the bacteria,
Collins says. ou can use this to kill off very specific species of bacteria as part of an infection therapy,
in order to get a more effective therapy, he says. This is in contrast to repeated infection with bacteriophages,
where the researchers found that the bacteria did develop resistance over time. Although Collins acknowledges that bacteria will ultimately develop resistance to any stress that is placed upon them
the research suggests that it is likely to take them far longer to develop resistance to phagemids than to conventional bacteriophage therapy,
he says. A ocktailof different phagemids could be given to patients to treat an unclassified infection,
in a similar way to the broad-spectrum antibiotics used today. But they are more likely to be used in conjunction with rapid diagnostic tools, currently in development,
which would allow physicians to treat specific infections, Collins says. ou would first run a fast diagnostic test to identify the bacteria your patient has,
and then give the appropriate phagemid to kill off the pathogen, he says. The researchers are planning to expand their platform by developing a broader range of phagemids.
but now hope to create particles capable of killing off pathogens such as Clostridium difficile and the cholera-causing bacterium Vibrio cholerea.
The paper demonstrates that using synthetic biology to modify a gene in a phage to make it more toxic to a pathogen can lead to more effective antimicrobial particles than classical approaches,
The researchers have created an improved form of phage therapy that may become the antibiotics of the future,
#New approach holds promise for earlier, easier detection of colorectal cancer Caltech chemists develop a technique that could one day lead to early detection of tumors Chemists at Caltech
have developed a new sensitive technique capable of detecting colorectal cancer in tissue samples a method that could one day be used in clinical settings for the early diagnosis of colorectal cancer.
Colorectal cancer is the third most prevalent cancer worldwide and is estimated to cause about 700,000 deaths every year.
Metastasis due to late detection is one of the major causes of mortality from this disease; therefore, a sensitive and early indicator could be a critical tool for physicians and patients.
the average biopsy size required for a colorectal biopsy is about 300 milligrams, says Furst. ith our experimental setup,
which could be taken with a syringe biopsy versus a punch biopsy. So it would be much less invasive.
but that has also recently been identified as an early indicator of cancer, especially the development of tumors,
if the process goes awry. When all is working well, DNMT1 maintains the normal methylation pattern set in the embryonic stages,
like suppress the growth of tumors or express proteins that repair damaged DNA, and that, in turn, can lead to cancer.
Building on previous work in Barton group, Furst and Barton devised an electrochemical platform to measure the activity of DNMT1 in crude tissue samples those that contain all of the material from a tissue
each composed of a colorectal tumor sample and an adjacent healthy tissue from the same patient.
and the presence of cancer the correlation was with activity. he assay provides a reliable and sensitive measure of hypermethylation,
so this technique could provide a useful route to early detection of cancer when hypermethylation is involved.
portable tests that could be used in the home to catch colorectal cancer in its earliest, most treatable stages.
NA Electrochemistry shows DNMT1 Methyltransferase Hyperactivity in Colorectal Tumors, was supported by the National institutes of health a
#Risk of bowel cancer reduced by taking aspirin for Lynch syndrome patients An international study led by The University of Melbourne has confirmed that long-term regular taking of aspirin
or ibuprofen reduces the risk of bowel cancer by more than half for people with the genetic mutation causing Lynch syndrome.
At least 1 in 1000 people in the population have the genetic mutation that causes Lynch syndrome.
These people have a much higher rate of bowel cancer than the general population and about half would develop the disease without regular screening.
In a paper published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute University of Melbourne researchers and international collaborators, led by Dr Driss Ait Ouakrim
and Dr Aung Ko Win from the School of Population and Global Health confirmed that those with Lynch syndrome who took aspirin regularly were less likely to develop bowel cancer than Lynch syndrome patients who did not take aspirin.
The research team also uncovered a new finding that Lynch syndrome patients who took ibuprofen regularly,
another nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, were about 60%less likely to develop bowel cancer compared with those who did not take ibuprofen.
This protection was seen in both men and women. he main risk reduction method for these people is to have regular colonoscopy screening.
Almost nothing is known about if and how lifestyle factors and medications can modify their risk of bowel cancer,
Dr Win said. ur data is the first to confirm the finding of a previous international randomised clinical trial that found a protective effect of aspirin on bowel cancer for these high-risk people.
Also, we were able to show the similar protective effect of ibuprofen such as Nurofen on bowel cancer for people with Lynch syndrome,
Dr Win said
#Breakthrough in graphene production could trigger revolution in artificial skin development A pioneering new technique to produce high-quality,
MA#A new study led by researchers at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public health finds that a malaria parasite protein called calcineurin is essential for parasite invasion into red blood cells.
Human calcineurin is already a proven target for drugs treating other illnesses including adult rheumatoid arthritis and lupus,
and the new findings suggest that parasite calcineurin should be a focus for the development of new antimalarial drugs. ur study has great biological and medical significance, particularly in light of the huge disease burden of malaria,
John Laporte Given Professor of Immunology and Infectious diseases. s drug resistance is a major problem for malaria control and eradication,
show the importance of calcineurin through different stages of the malaria life-cycle, implicating the protein as a potential target for blocking malaria transmission.
In addition to opening the door to potential new malaria treatments, these studies suggest that calcineurin could be targeted to treat other parasitic diseases.
Researchers at Boston College working in collaboration with the Harvard Chan group showed that calcineurin is also important for cellular attachment by a related parasite that causes toxoplasmosis. ur study shows that the ability of malaria parasites to engage red blood cells is driven by an ancient mechanism
for cellular attachment said lead author Aditya Paul, a postdoctoral researcher at the Harvard Chan School. n addition to a possible drug target,
calcineurin underlies a very basic aspect of parasite biology. p
#What your clothes may say about you Moving closer to the possibility of aterials that computeand wearing your computer on your sleeve,
Realization of spin-based Si NW devices requires efficient electrical spin injection and detection, which depend critically on the interface resistance between a ferromagnetic metal contact and the NW.
Researchers have shown standard oxide tunnel barriers to provide good spin injection into planar Si structures,
and used a graphene tunnel barrier contact that produces excellent spin injection and also satisfies several key technical criteria:
because the interface plays a critical role in determining the efficiency of spin injection and detection.
Cobalt is one of most widely used materials for spin injection/detection and so is Alq3 for spin transport.
which is expected to improve spin polarization at the point of spin injection into an organic semiconductor,
This is helpful in efficient injection of the spin-polarized charge carrier from ferromagnetic materials to organic materials.
we need spin injection, spin transport, and spin detection, Jang explains. ur latest work with SAMS only concerns the interface relevant to the spin injection part.
The next step should be to find a better medium for spin transport since only short-distance couple of hundred nanometersf spin transport has been demonstrated in organic materials such as Alq3 so far.
or to treat disease. Genes that regulate cell division, for example, are often overactive in cancer; gene editing could silence these genes to stop a cancer.
Clinicians worry that transplanting stem cells to heal diabetes or Parkinson disease raises the risk of endless cell divisions and cancer.
Removing genes that promote cell division could forestall that danger. Long before those uses reach the clinic,
however, gene editing will be used to probe the role of genes, Zhang says. e engineer one cell,
and then we expand a large number of cells, and all the offspring have engineered the same ability to delete on demand.
You can very quickly pin down exactly what this gene does, at the stem cell stage, neural stem cell stage or at the differentiated neuron stage.
Today, injection and extrusion molding shape hot liquids into everything from car parts to toys.
#Pioneering gene therapy takes aim at inherited blindness Canada first human gene therapy trial for eyeshe replacement of a faulty gene with a healthy ones now underway at the Royal Alexandra Hospital to preserve
and potentially restore vision for people with a genetic disorder that leaves them blind by middle age. t a great privilege to be able to do something very positive for people with choroideremia,
says Ian Macdonald, a professor of ophthalmology with the Faculty of medicine & Dentistry at the University of Alberta,
and clinical research team leader. eople have hoped for this for a long time. horoideremia is a form of inherited blindness that affects one in 50,
The disease is caused by a faulty gene that results in the degeneration of the light-sensing retinal cells at the back of the eye.
Macdonald trial involves a new treatment intended to stop choroideremia in its tracks with a single injection of
a surgeon detaches the area to be injected in the patient retina, then injects the viral vector through a narrow needle into the back of the eye.
The injection carries about 10 billion viral particles, each carrying a working copy of the good CHM gene,
I got the call that I qualified for the surgery. he viral vector, known as AAV2-REP1, was provided by Nightstarx Ltd.,
a private British biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of therapies for retinal dystrophies. e are leading the way in the development of an effective gene therapy treatment for choroideremia,
Oxford research is ongoing under the direction of ophthalmologist Robert Maclaren. Funds, support and equipment for the Canadian trial have been provided by various governmental and private agencies,
Alberta Innovates (Alberta Innovation and Advanced education), The Foundation Fighting Blindness, Choroideremia Research Foundation Canada, and private donors.
Researchers believe this new approach to eye therapy has promise for treating people early on before too many cells in the retina have been lost.
It may also have relevance for other, far more common causes of blindness, such as retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration. f we can maintain the vision our patients have,
we would look at that as a success, says Chan. f there is improvement, that even better. acdonald says he bsolutely impressedby the eye ability to heal itself
and reattach the retina within hours of surgery. he human body is doing its work. Wee just helping it. ource:
#TSRI and Biotech Partners Find New Antibody Weapons against Marburg virus A new study led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) identifies new immune molecules that protect against deadly Marburg virus, a relative
The team found antibodies (as above) that identify and neutralize Marburg virushich inflicts a mortality rate of up to 90 percent. hese antibodies attack a new site on Marburg virus we had seen not before,
said Erica Ollmann Saphire, senior author of the new study, professor at TSRI and director of the Viral Hemorrhagic fever Immunotherapeutic Consortium.
The new antibodies that identify and neutralize Marburg virushich has a mortality rate of up to 90%ere developed through an academic-industrial partnership including TSRI, Integrated Biotherapeutics, Mapp Biopharmaceutical and Emergent biosolutions.
Currently, there are no vaccines or treatments specifically for Marburg infections. The findings were published online ahead of print today in the journal Plos Pathogens.
New Tools to Fight Marburg Virusthe new study builds on previous work in Saphire lab revealing a molecular structure that Marburg virus uses to attach to
and enter host cells. To defeat Marburg virus, scientists are looking for vulnerable sites on the virus surface where an antibody can bind.
Previous research, including trials with the experimental ZMAPPTM treatment shows that mixtures or ocktailsof antibodies can block Ebola virus from infecting new cells and alert the immune system to the presence of the infection.
It thought that a similar cocktail strategy could work against Marburg virus. Antibodies against one site on Marburg were revealed in a study by Vanderbilt University and TSRI in February 2015,
but complementary antibodies needed against other sites remained to be discovered. In the new study, TSRI researchers designed proteins which elicited new antibodies developed at Emergent biosolutions.
Other antibodies in the study were identified independently at Mapp Biopharmaceutical and Integrated Biotherapeutics which collaborated with TSRI for molecular analysis. Some of the new antibodies target a new site on Marburg virus not seen before winglike feature attached to the base of the virus. Antibodies against this newly discovered site protected 90 to 100%of infected animal models from lethal infection.
Ebola virus Also Vulnerablesome antibodies discovered in the new study are also able to cross-react with Ebola virus
and its four relatives in the Ebolavirus genus. e expect both Marburg virus and Ebola virus to emerge again
and to acquire new mutations, said TSRI Research Assistant Marnie Fusco, first author of the new study. he cross-reactive antibodies could be used as diagnostics for newly emerging strains.?
The high cost of creating independent vaccines or treatments for each of the different viruses in this family necessitates intelligent design of immunogens (antibody-inducing molecules).
The molecular images used to design the molecules and evaluate the antibodies point the way forward, added Jody Berry, the former Director of Pipeline Research of Emergent biosolutions,
who initiated the study with Saphire six years ago. nderstanding where and how the antibodies interact with the virus tells us which regions can be targeted
and helps us develop lead candidates for clinical development, said Cory Nykiforuk, current director of pipeline research of Emergent biosolutions. here are multiple filoviruses that threaten our communities, front line medical workers and defense personnel,
and bringing new technologies to the forefront could potentially help meet future requirements. ource: NSF, Scripps Research Institut r
#Say It With Light: Using LEDS to Move Data Faster It like using fiber optics to communicate only without the fiber.
Imagine connecting to the Internet through the same room lights that brighten your day. A University of Virginia engineering professor and her former graduate student are already there.
such as in hospitals, in manufacturing facilities and in airplane cabins. Visible light communications has the potential to significantly increase the speed of Internet connection in multiuser indoor environments due to the broad bandwidth of the visible light,
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