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Friday, June 18th, 2010
Enzyme found to aid spinal nerve regrowth
BALTIMORE - U.S. medical scientists at Johns Hopkins Uni-
versity have discovered an enzyme that helps nerve regrowth
in damaged spinal cord nerves. Researchers at the univer-
sity's school of medicine said once damaged, nerves in the
spinal cord normally cannot grow back and the only drug
approved for treating these injuries does not enable nerve
regrowth. But in their study, the scientists discovered
treating injured rat spinal cords with the enzyme sialidase
not only improved nerve regrowth, it also aided motor re-
covery and nervous system function. "This is the first
functional study showing behavioral improvement below a
spinal cord injury by the delivery of sialidase," says
Professor Ronald Schnaar, who led the study. "Sialidase
has properties that are appealing from the human drug devel-
opment point of view." Sialidase is a bacterial enzyme that
removes specific chemical groups found on the surface of
nerve cells, the researchers said. "The positive is that
we have shown functional recovery in a relevant animal
model of spinal cord injury," says Schnaar. "That being
said, we haven't done full toxicity studies on these rats,
which definitely needs to be done before we think about
taking the long road into using this as a drug in people;
efficacy in animals also doesn't necessarily translate to
humans." The study appears in the early online edition of
the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, prior
to print.
Drug trial shows promise in ovarian cancer
INDIANAPOLIS - U.S. cancer investigators say they've found
combining two drugs -- decitabine and carboplatin -- appears
to help women who have late-stage ovarian cancer. The Indiana
University researchers said four of 10 patients who partici-
pated in a phase I clinical trial had no disease progression
after six months of treatment with the drugs and one patient
experienced complete resolution of tumor tissue for a period
of time. Advanced ovarian cancer is often diagnosed too late
for treatment to be effective. Patients are often told they
have virtually no chance of recovery and only months to live.
The trial was designed to increase the patients' sensitivity
to the commonly prescribed ovarian cancer drug, platinum-
based carboplatin. "Carboplatin is the most efficient drug
therapy for ovarian cancer," said Dr. Daniela Matei, an
associate professor of medicine who led the study at the
Indiana University School of Medicine. "Unfortunately, pati-
ents with recurrent disease become resistant to the drug
after one or two rounds." In the trial, Decitabine was first
used intravenously daily for five days followed on the eighth
day with carboplatin. After a month, the regimen begins
again. Six months after the trial began, four of the patients
had no disease progression. At 8 1/2 months, seven patients
were alive and are still alive. Cancerous tissue in one of
the patients shrank completely. The study appears online
ahead of print in the journal Cancer.
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TV/computer may contribute to teen pain
BERGEN, Norway - The amount of time teens spend with TV and
computer screens may contribute to some physical complaints,
a researcher in Norway suggests. Researchers, led by Torbjorn
Torsheim of the University of Bergen in Norway, suggest the
length of time spent in front of television and computer
screens, as well as ergonomic aspects of such activity, is
more important than the specific type of screen activity
when it came to increased teen back pain, headaches and
other complaints. The study of 30,000 Nordic teenagers,
published in the journal BMC Public Health, finds little
interaction between screen-based activity types and partic-
ular physical complaints -- although headache in girls was
associated with computer use and TV viewing, but not gaming.
"The consistent but relatively weak magnitude of associations
is in line with the interpretation that screen time is a
contributing factor, but not a primary causal factor, in
headache and backache in the general population of Nordic
school-aged teenagers," Torsheim says in statement.
Scientists try to grow replacement livers
BOSTON - U.S. scientists say they've developed a technique
that might some day allow the growth of transplantable re-
placement livers. Massachusetts General Hospital researchers
in Boston said they've used structural tissue from rat livers
as scaffolding to grow tissue regenerated from liver cells.
"Having the detailed microvasculature of the liver within a
biocompatible, natural scaffold is a major advantage to
growing liver tissue in a synthetic environment," said re-
search associate Basak Uygun, the paper's lead author. She
said the technique of "decellularizing" organs leaves the
vascular system intact, facilitating repopulation of the
structural matrix and the subsequent survival and function
of the introduced liver cells. The scientists said their
procedure is a refinement of an approach to re-engineering
replacement rat hearts reported in 2008 by University of
Minnesota researchers. Since liver tissue is more delicate
than heart tissue, the team developed "a gentler way" of
flushing living cells from the liver's structural matrix.
They then reintroduced hepatocytes, the cells that perform
most of the liver's primary functions, and those cells
penetrated the vascular network and became embedded in the
matrix, leaving major vessels clear to carry the blood
supply. The repopulated matrix displayed normal liver
function for up to 10 days in culture, and recellularized
grafts were successfully connected to the circulation of
live rats with minimal cellular damage and normal hepatocyte
function. "Even though this is very exciting and promising,
it is a proof-of-concept study only," researcher Korkut
Uygun, the paper's senior author, said. "Much more work will
be required to make long-term functional liver grafts that
can actually be transplanted into humans." The study appears
in the early online edition of the journal Nature Medicine.
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Scientists study body's 'good' bacteria
MAYWOOD, Ill. - U.S. medical scientists say they've discov-
ered how some types of bacteria boost the effectiveness of
the human immune system. Loyola University Professor
Katherine Knight and colleagues said while some bacteria
cause infections, most are harmless or perform beneficial
functions. Such beneficial pathogens are called commensal
bacteria and one of their most important functions is
boosting the immune system. But until now, scientists have
not known how such bacteria accomplish that. Knight, a pro-
fessor of microbiology and immunology at the university's
Stritch School of Medicine, said she and her team studied
bacteria called Bacillus, found in the digestive tract. They
found that when they exposed immune system cells called B
lymphocytes to bacterial spores, the B cells began dividing
and reproducing. The researchers said they also found mole-
cules on the surfaces of the spores bind to molecules on the
surfaces of B cells, causing the B cells to divide and multi-
ply. And B cells are one of the key components of the immune
system, producing antibodies that fight harmful viruses and
bacteria. The scientists said their findings suggest the
possibility that some day, bacterial spores could be used
to treat people with weakened or undeveloped immune systems
and might be able to boost the immune system to fight tumors.
The study that included Associate Professor Adam Driks, Kari
Severson and Michael Mallozzi appears in the June 15 issue
of the Journal of Immunology.
AIDS gene therapy may help cancer, HIV
DUARTE, Calif. - U.S. medical researchers say they have
demonstrated the first successful gene therapy in patients
with AIDS-related lymphoma. City of Hope researchers in
California said their study showed the long-term persistence
of anti-HIV genes in patients with the AIDS-related cancer.
In the investigational therapy, patients underwent autologous
hematopoietic cell transplantation in which their own blood
stem cells were harvested, genetically engineered with three
ribonucleic acids that block the human immunodeficiency virus
from infecting new cells and then returned to them. The gene
therapy was developed by City of Hope Professor John Rossi,
with technology that uses ribozymes and short strands of RNA
to selectively silence specific genes against HIV infection.
The scientists said the goal of the therapy is to reboot the
immune system to once again identify HIV and mount a response
to the infection by lowering the viral load. "While highly
active antiretroviral drugs have managed to turn HIV infec-
tion from an immediate death sentence to a long-term manage-
able chronic condition, we are still seeking a cure," said
Professor David DiGiusto, lead author of the study. "Our
research and clinical trials are showing promise for this
novel approach to treating HIV patients." The research, led
by Dr. John Zaia, appears in the early online edition of the
journal Science Translational Medicine.
--------------- Health Tip Video of the Week ---------------
Is it a Migraine Headache?
Rating: 3.45
Migraine. For the 28 million Americans who suffer from
migraine headaches, the word alone can make them wince. But
what exactly is a migraine headache? How do you know if YOUR
headache is a Migraine? Find out now?
http://www.evtv1.com/player.aspx?itemnum=7359
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