antibodies

A new strategy for fighting melanoma

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 06:59:59 -0500

The notion that cancer stem cells are responsible for much of the worst damage associated with the disease took another step forward with the release of a new study from Harvard Medical School that identified antibodies that could be used to slow melanoma, the most lethal form of cancer. Co-author George Murphy noted that their work shows that cancer stem cells can be effectively targeted, offering a new therapeutic approach for a range of cancers. There's been a growing belief that cancer cells aren't all made alike, with a particular emphasis on stem cells that appear to be resistant to chemotherapy. The next step is to take the animal studies into man. Researchers suggested that this approach toward fighting cancer could become common in just a few years.

"If this works with melanoma, this may also work with other tumors that are notoriously difficult to treat" once they have spread, Dr. Murphy told the Boston Globe.

- read the article in the Boston Globe

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Body clock discovery offers big new drug target

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 06:59:59 -0500

The complex genetic machinery that manages our internal body clock is controlled by a single amino acid, which could prove to be one of the biggest new drug targets of the year. Researchers at the University of California say that the body clock regulates sleep patterns as well as metabolism and behavior. And distortions in the system are linked to a range of ailments, from depression to insomnia, neurodegenerative disorders and cancer. Any change in the amino acid that manages the body clock can disrupt its regulatory influence, and the scientists are testing antibodies to see which can target its activity. One sleep expert in the UK noted that while there are 89 varieties of sleep disorder, we currently have a single therapeutic approach to treating the disease--targeting the GABA neurotransmitter.

"Because the triggering action is so specific, it appears to be a perfect target for compounds that could regulate this activity," lead researcher Professor Paolo Sassone-Corsi told the BBC.

- see this release
- here's the article from the BBC

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Vaccine offers approach to blocking infections

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 06:59:59 -0500

A novel vaccine developed at The Scripps Research Institute at La Jolla may offer a new way to block infections without sparking bacterial resistance--a process that gradually dilutes the effectiveness of antibiotics. Reporting in Chemistry and Biology, the team focused on blocking the communication link among bacteria--which is necessary to make them virulent. The team designed a molecule that spurs production of antibodies by the immune system.

"Bacteria basically sense they have enough of their buddies around to allow them to say, 'OK, we're in a favorable environment to start turning on certain genes,'" says team leader Professor Kim Janda, director of the Worm Institute for Research and Medicine at Scripps Research. But if you stop bacteria from communicating, they can't organize an assault on the body.

- read the release on the vaccine program

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Scientists plot first moves for Project Checkmate

Tue, 17 Jul 2007 06:59:59 -0400

A collaboration between the Scripps Research Institute and IBM to find new antidotes to flu before new mutations surface is making some initial progress. Dubbed Project Checkmate, scientists are using phage displays to identify antibodies that can be used to fight influenza. The project hopes to employ supercomputers to anticipate the way that the flu mutates and moves. Researchers could develop new drugs for new versions of the flu that had yet to surface in the public. Scientists are waiting to hear back on their grant application to the NIH.

- read the article from the Palm Beach Post

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Antibodies used to protect against bird flu

Mon, 28 May 2007 20:01:39 -0400

An international team of investigators working on a specially funded project have found that antibodies extracted from bird flu victims provided immunity to mice later infected with H5N1. The antibodies also cut the level of the virus found in the lungs while largely preventing it from reaching the brain or spleen. The treatment was also able to work up to 72 hours after the bird flu victims were first exposed. The approach to treating bird flu is similar to doctors' use of the blood of Spanish flu survivors to treat new victims.

"We have shown that this technique can work to prevent and neutralize infection by the H5N1 bird flu virus in mice," says Cameron Simmons, a Wellcome Trust researcher at the Oxford University clinical research unit in Ho Chi Minh City. "We are optimistic that these antibodies, if delivered at the right time and at the right amount, could also provide a clinical benefit to humans with H5N1 infections."

- read the article on the new research in The Guardian

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Biotech says nano-device can directly target cancer cells

Mon, 14 May 2007 20:01:39 -0400

An Australian biotech company says it has developed a "nano-cell" that can be used to directly deliver drugs to cancer cells. Reporting in Cancer Cell journal, EnGeneIC reports the approach worked in primates and promises to help greatly reduce the amount of cancer therapies needed for treatment, while avoiding many of the harsh side effects that are common to chemotherapy. The nano-cell relies on antibodies to dock on the cancer cell for targeted delivery. Researchers hope to begin human trials later this year.

"For the first time there is a real possibility that this technology could lead to the use of multi-drug combinations and eventual custom-made therapies in cancer patients," research scientist Jennifer MacDiarmid said in a statement. "In terms of tumor therapy, most late-stage cancer patients carry tumor cells that exhibit various forms of drug resistance. Our technology may provide the first in-vivo (inside an organism) solution to this serious hurdle."

- here's the report from Scientific American

New approach to vaccine development

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 19:01:39 -0500

The Guardian covers the development of a new generation of virus-vectored vaccines that promise to take on a number of diseases like malaria. Instead of a traditional approach using weakened virus to produce antibodies that fight disease, researchers are adding the genetic code of molecules into the DNA of the virus. That approach is believed to be more effective in supporting a strong immune response. Efficacy trials for the new approach may be mounted in Africa in three to four years, after researchers have had a chance to test a malaria vaccine. The work is being funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has funneled huge sums into the science.

- read the article on vaccine research from The Guardian

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