white blood cells

ALSO NOTED: Human tests near for stem cell bone therapy; Gene therapy targets adult leukemia; Vitamin C controversy brews in ca

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 06:59:58 -0500

Stem Cell Research

An Edinburgh University team has been using a bioactive scaffold to help spur stem cells to grow into bone or cartilage. The researchers say the approach can be tested in humans in two years for severe trauma. Article

Researchers at the University of Iowa have used ESCs to boost the immune system of mice with leukemia. The breakthrough in developing a new source of white blood cells may one day replace the need for a bone marrow transplant. Report

Japanese scientists have derived a method for inducing stem cells from adult cells that bypasses a process that spawns tumors. Japanese scientists had made a major breakthrough earlier when they were able to make skin cells act like ESCs, able to transform into any cell that was needed without the ethical controversy that swirls around the embryonic science. This new advance, though, raised the risk of cancer. In the more recent study scientists tested the approach in mice, which remained tumor-free for six months. Report

German legislators are debating a move to amend a law that outlaws the development of embryonic stem cells for research purposes. Story

Stem Cell Sciences is closing its facilities in Edinburgh and consolidating operations in Cambridge. Report

China's Beike Biotech offers stem cell therapies to desperate Americans who can't get these treatments at home. Article

Genetics

A group of scientists at UCSD believes that a gene therapy could be used to fight adult leukemia. Report

Scientists found that by stimulating production of interferon, they could boost an organism's natural defenses against viruses. In their work, the scientists knocked out two key genes in mice that inhibit production of interferon. Report

By modifying a single mitochondrial gene, UCLA molecular medicine professor Douglas Wallace has demonstrated the causal link between mitochondrial defects and heart disease--pointing to a new approach to prevent the disease. Article

A complete scan of the human genome has revealed that a genetic variant in the Reelin gene increases the risk of developing schizophrenia in women only. Release

Researchers from the University of Chicago have discovered that many of the genetic variations that have enabled human populations to tolerate colder climates may also affect their susceptibility to metabolic syndrome, a cluster of related abnormalities such as obesity, elevated cholesterol levels, heart disease, and diabetes. Release

Cancer Research

In a tiny trial involving three patients, researchers say large doses of vitamin C resulted in prolonged lives and shrinking tumors. The idea that vitamin C can be an effective weapon against cancer has been in circulation for decades. To help settle the debate, several new trials are being planned. Report

Removing the ovaries of women genetically at risk of gynecological cancer can dramatically reduce their chances of developing the disease. Report

A research team at the Moores Cancer Center at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) reports that patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia who were treated with a gene therapy protocol began making antibodies that reacted against their own leukemia cells. Release

Researchers at Universite Laval and Institut national de Sante Publique in Quebec, Canada have discovered the mechanism through which the main metabolite of the insecticide DDT leads to aggressive breast cancer tumors. Report

Researchers in a multi-institutional study led by Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center slowed the growth of two particularly stubborn solid tumor cancers--neuroblastoma and peripheral nerve sheath tumors--without harming healthy tissues by inserting instructions to inhibit tissue growth into an engineered virus. Release

Researchers have gained an image of a mutant enzyme that plays a key role in several types of cancers as well as HIV and diabetes. Understanding that enzyme structure will help scientists develop a therapy to stop it from doing damage. Article

A research group at the University of Granada has found out that maslinic acid, a compound present in the leaf and the olive skin wax extracted from alpeorujo (crushed olive pulp), has the capacity of preventing cancer as well as regulating apoptosis in carcinogenic processes. Release

More Research

The absence of a brain protein helped mice learn faster, but they retained the lesson for a shorter period than normal mice. The experiment may help shed light on why autistic savants are able to learn some tasks much faster than others. Report

Dr. Sanjeev Gupta, a professor of hepatology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, has led a team of researchers who have transplanted healthy liver cells into mice, spurring them to produce a clotting factor that is absent in patients with Type A hemophilia. Report

And Finally... A variety of factors are conspiring the make infertility epidemic in 10 years. Report

New advances on hypertension

Mon, 16 Apr 2007 20:01:39 -0400

Researchers at the University of Bristol say that they've found a protein--JAM-1--in the walls of the blood vessels in the brain that may be directly linked to high blood pressure. The protein traps white blood cells, a process that can lead to inflammation and obstruct blood flow. And that has led the researchers to the novel conclusion that high blood pressure could be a vascular disease of the brain. About six of every 10 patients being treated for high blood pressure remain hypertensive, leading researchers to scramble for new drug targets to treat the disease.

"We are looking at the possibility of treating those patients that fail to respond to conventional therapy for hypertension with drugs that reduce blood vessel inflammation and increase blood flow within the brain," said team leader Professor Julian Paton. "The future challenge will be to understand the type of inflammation within the vessels in the brain, so that we know what drug to use, and how to target them. JAM-1 could provide us with new clues as to how to deal with this disease."

- check out the release on the findings

Autoimmune disease research points to new therapies

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 19:01:39 -0500

A team of scientists from the Whitehead Institute and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified a key set of genes that lie at the heart of autoimmune disease; findings that may help scientists develop new methods for manipulating immune system activity. Their work hinges on a greater understanding of the way regulatory T cells control the frontline T cells that attack pathogens. A failure of regulatory T cells can lead the front line white blood cells to attack the body's tissues, causing autoimmune disease. This new research focuses on the role of the master T cell regulator, Foxp3. Researchers in Richard Young's Whitehead lab, working with immunologist Harald von Boehmer of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, used a DNA microarray technology developed by Young to scan the entire genome of T cells and locate the genes controlled by Foxp3. There were roughly 30 genes found to be directly controlled by Foxp3 and one, called Ptpn22, showed a particularly strong affinity.

"This may shorten the path to new therapies for autoimmune disease," says MIT professor Richard Young, senior author on the paper that will appear January 21 online in Nature. "With this new list of genes, we can now look for possible therapies with far greater precision.

- here's the release on their findings

Related Articles:
Researchers unveil new insights into regulatory T cells. Report
New T-cell research. Report

ALSO NOTED: White blood cells overwhelm cancer; Bacteria used to create vaccine;

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 19:01:38 -0500

More Research

A line of cancer-resistant mice rely on white blood cells that can detect and overwhelm the defenses of cancer cells, according to researchers at Wake Forest University Medical Center. "Apparently, the mutation in the cancer-resistant mice renders the white blood cells capable of sensing unique diffusible and surface signals from cancer cells and responding to those signals by migration and physical contact," they said. Report

The combination of four potent bacterial surface proteins created a vaccine that was able to effectively fight MRSA in mice, according to researchers at the University of Chicago. Reporting in the Nov. 7, 2006, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the scientists concluded that the vaccine was able to prevent five serious, drug-resistant strains of infections. Release

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have, for the first time, coaxed umbilical cord blood stem cells to differentiate into a type of lung cell. Eventually, the research could lead to new lung therapies or treatments for respiratory illnesses. Release

Women with early-stage breast cancer may benefit from a new, accelerated approach to radiation therapy making their course of treatment shorter, according to a new study released today in the International Journal for Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics, the official journal of ASTRO. Release

A new study in Science magazine indicates that a newly found gene produces a protein that could protect people who have it from inflammatory bowel diseases. Researchers noted that they took a somewhat different tact than many scientists, researching the genetics of health rather than the genetics of disease. Report

A team of researchers based at Massachusetts General Hospital say a person's level of the molecule called BH4 can influence their tolerance of pain as well as their risk of chronic pain. Report

Gene therapy may hold the key to curing impotence in men with diabetes, according to a team of researchers at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Centre. In animal studies, they replaced a gene in rats with the equivalent of diabetes to counter erectile dysfunction. Report

Mayo Clinic Cancer Center has opened a new clinical study using a vaccine strain of the measles virus to attack recurrent glioblastoma multiforme, a largely untreatable brain tumor. This is the second of several pending molecular medicine studies in patients using measles to kill cancer. Release

Patients with Type 2 diabetes and periodontal disease who receive periodontal therapy see levels of oxidative stress--a condition in which antioxidant levels are lower than normal--reduced to the same levels as non-diabetic patients, according to a new study that appeared in the November issue of the Journal of Periodontology. Report

Rapid and guided healing of bones has moved a step closer with research by two biomedical engineering students who have found new ways to deliver bone growth enhancers directly to broken or weakened bones. Release

The next generation of treatments for shock or stroke could be based on a protein that is already in our heads--neuroglobin. In a review article to be published in the November issue of the FASEB Journal, scientists from University of Rome describe this protein, which may be the key to unlocking new therapies to minimize brain damage and improve recoveries for patients. Release

Researchers at Oregon Health and Science University's School of Dentistry have uncovered an interaction between two proteins in the nerve cells that carry pain information from the head and neck to the brain. The finding could play a significant role in the development of therapies to cure migraines and other craniofacial pain conditions like TMJ disorder. Release

Scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School say that they believe the common sequence of DNA characteristic in most people with rheumatoid arthritis may be the cause of overproduction of nitric oxide which inhibits apoptosis and leads to the disease symptoms. Release

Scientists studying the proteins spectrin and ankyrin, which shape and fortify cell membranes, say that spectrin's capacity to adhere to membranes may help researchers develop therapeutic molecules. Report

Cell biologists have provided further evidence that a gene thought to play a role in suppressing tumors actually protects against the development of pre-cancerous cell growth as well. The researchers say that the gene, caveolin-1, which they found in two major types of breast cells, could be a potential target for future drugs aimed at preventing breast cancer. The work also suggests a potentially important role of the tumor "microenvironment" in the cancerous process. Release

Researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center have been studying an enzyme called APOBEC-3G in the white blood cells of HIV-infected patients to determine how it can help stave off infections. Recently, they gained a close look at the A3G to determine how they could develop a therapeutic that would provide the same protection to others. Release

The British company e-Therapeutics has formed a partnership with Brazilian company Grupo TCI to establish a joint research facility close to the Amazonian and Atlantic rain forests, to start testing substances from the millions of plants in the most diverse ecosystem on the planet. Release

Deals & Dollars

The National Palliative Care Research Center, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, has been awarded a $5 million grant from the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Release

The Institute for OneWorld Health has won a $46 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to expand its research into new methods to fight diarrheal disease. The announcement was made at Forum 10, the Global Forum for Health Research's annual meeting in Cairo, Egypt. OneWorld Health is a non-profit pharmaceutical company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Release

Tools & Technology

Peter Richardson, a professor of engineering and physiology at Brown University, is using new computing tools to test ideas about clotting. He worked in collaboration with Igor Pivkin and George Karniadakis to create a model that combines fluid dynamics with platelet biochemistry to shed new light on methods to treat and prevent strokes and heart attacks. Report

Greg Albers, M.D., director of the Stanford Stroke Center, and his team report in the November issue of Annals of Neurology that new magnetic resonance imaging techniques can discriminate between stroke patients who are likely to benefit from a stroke medication--even when administered beyond the currently approved three-hour time window--and those for whom treatment is unlikely to be beneficial and may cause harm. Release

Increased versatility found in adult stem cell

Wed, 20 Sep 2006 20:01:39 -0400

With many stem cell researchers stymied in their hunt for embryonic stem cells, new research indicates that a type of adult stem cell could be induced to grow into a wide variety of tissue types. Adult stem cells are at the center of a number of research programs, but researchers consider adult stem cells to be significantly more limited than embryonic stem cells, which can be coaxed into creating any of the body's tissues. Researchers at Northwestern University, though, were able to do much more with hematopoietic stem cells than earlier thought. They took bone marrow cells and reprogrammed them into cells similar to white blood cells. And they believe their work points the way to additional transformations as well.

- see the release on the adult stem cell project

PLUS: A group of German scientists have demonstrated that the use of adult stem cells harvested from a patient's bone marrow were able to repair the cardiac damage done by a heart attack years or even decades after the attack. Article

Scientists find new white blood cell for immunology

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 20:01:39 -0400

Two white blood cells known as Th1 and Th2 have long been recognized for their powerful role in directing immune cells to fight infections and some cancers. Now, though, scientists have identified a third white blood cell that works in tandem with Th1 and Th2, and the discovery is promising to shake up research projects for rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease.

- here's the article from AL.com