Tag: medical advances

Wait for Prostate Treatment May Be Over

April 18, 2010

By: Shelly Hwang

Prostate cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death in men, with men having a one in six chance that they will get prostate cancer in their lifetime. While prostate cancer can be treated with surgery, a new treatment similar to radiation is being tested that may be able to more effectively target proteins on the surface of prostate tumors, providing hope even for patients with advanced prostate cancer.

Human prostate cancer cells can be recognized by overexpression of some proteins on their surface. The abundance of certain proteins provides a way to target these cancer cells by using antibodies. The antibodies will be binded to the isotope 212-lead, which is an altered form of the common element lead. When this antibody is injected into a patient’s veins, it will bind to a tumor’s surface and release particles and radiation that will destroy only the tumor cells.

Researchers in Zhongyun Dong’s laboratory at the University of Cincinnati are getting ready to test this new agent over the course of this year. They will measure how toxic and effective the treatment is in slowing down or blocking cancer cell growth. Then, the treatment will be used in clinical trials with patients with advanced prostate cancer.

Original Press Release

UC Academic Health Center

Change Your Mind: How Stress Reshapes Your Brain

The hippocampus in a human brain.

By Kelly Lohr

It has been known for a while that too much stress can be bad for your health.  A new study now shows that it can affect your brain too.  Research through a collaboration between Rockefeller University and Cornell University suggests that stress can been linked to harmful changes in some brain structures.  Sometimes these brain changes can be advantageous, such as making new synaptic connections to remember and learn from a stressful, life-threatening event.  However, some changes can  be detrimental.

A mouse hippocampus labeled with NeuroTrace® green fluorescent Nissl stain

The project has identified a protein possibly involved in remodeling the brain under stress.  It was found that the brains of mice lacking the protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) look like the brains of stressed mice.  The study examined changes in the neurons of the hippocampus, a brain area important in memory, mood, and cognition.  When normal mice were stressed through confinement to a small space, the tiny projections on their neurons called dendrites retracted in the hippocampus.  The hippocampus itself was also reduced in overall volume.  The study compared these mice to other mice that were missing a copy of the gene that produces BDNF.  It was found that these genetically-altered mice had brains resembling those of stressed mice.

Not only does this finding show that stress can produce brain changes.  Bruce McEwan of Rockefeller University suggested that BDNF also may be “one of the proteins that play a role in mediating the brain’s plasticity.” This holds promise for a better understanding of the role of neuronal remodeling in the hippocampus and its importance in memory and emotion.

Written April 13, 2010

For more information, visit http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/123249229/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0.

Could we re-grow lost limbs?

Researchers discover gene deletion that allows tissue regeneration in mammals.

By: Nicole M. Myers 

     Mar. 2010- Researchers at the Wistar Institute, a international leader in biomedical research, have discovered a gene that could regulate regeneration in mammals, bringing the possibility of re-growing amputated extremities one step closer to reality. The lab identified a gene called p21, that when turned off confers to mice the ability to regenerate lost tissue.

          The ability to regenerate lost appendages is common but sporadically observed in nature, as in animals such as flatworms, sponges, and salamanders, but the phenomenon was previously unknown in mammals. Mammals are capable of replacing some types of tissue, such as liver lobes, damaged skeletal muscle cells, epithelium, the gut lining, and even brain cells to some extent. Typically though, the mammalian healing process involves the formation of scar tissue, rather than new cells. Animals like salamanders begin healing with the formation of a blastema, a structure that allows cells to rapidly proliferate and differentiate as embryonic stem cells do, until the appendage is replaced without scarring.

          This research began with a chance observation in a particular strain of laboratory mice, known as MRL mice. Researchers used the standard technique of piercing holes in the mice’s ears for identification. However, within a couple weeks, the holes had unexpectedly closed without a trace. The researchers then began to investigate the genetics of the MRL mice to see what might be behind their unique healing ability, and they found that the p21 gene was inactivated. Further research indicated that mice lacking the p21 gene were able to completely regenerate lost or damaged tissue without forming a scar, re-grow cartilage, and partially regenerate amputated digits.

          The p21 gene is a cell cycle regulator that blocks the cell cycle progression when there is damage to the DNA, preventing the cells from dividing and potentially becoming cancerous. Similar to naturally regenerative creatures, mice that lack p21 show an increase in DNA damage, but also an increase in apoptosis, or the programmed death of impaired cells. Researchers suggest that “The combined effects of an increase in highly regenerative cells and apoptosis may allow the cells of these organisms to divide rapidly without getting out of control and becoming cancerous.”

         Amputation injuries are some of the most devastating and debilitating wounds soldiers sustain in combat. According to the Army Office of the Surgeon General, between September 2001 and January 2009, 1,286 soldiers suffered amputation injuries in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. This is the first research to succeed in this degree of tissue regeneration in mammals, giving hope that someday, we may have the ability to restore these lost limbs.

To read the original research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, click: http://www.pnas.org/content/107/13/5845.full

Got milk? Vitamin D, a key player in multiple sclerosis

By Kelly Lohr

Drinking milk may do a lot more than just strengthen our bones. A study out of the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston recently suggested drinking milk during pregnancy may markedly reduce the chance of the child developing multiple sclerosis (MS) later in life.

Vitamin D can be found in dairy, fatty fish, and supplements. Exposure to sunlight also produces this helpful vitamin.

Lead by Fariba Mirzaei, MD, the study examined over 35,000 female nurses whose mothers had completed questionnaires recording their diets during their pregnancies with their now-grown daughters.  The work occurred over a 16-year period, during which 199 women developed MS.

MS is a degenerative disease that attacks the central nervous system (CNS), including the brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves. The symptoms vary, ranging from numbness in the arms and legs to paralysis and loss of vision. Unfortunately for its sufferers, the progress and severity of MS are often unpredictable. The neurons in our body are partially covered in a fatty substance called myelin in order to insulates the cells and  to allow them to transmit signals quickly. If the myelin is damaged, these signals can be delayed. MS results in the destruction of this insulating myelin in the CNS. This breakdown is thought to be caused by the body’s immune system attacking the myelin sheath.

Normal and damaged myelin in neurons.

The researchers lead by Dr. Mirzaei found that the risk of MS was lower in women whose mothers had high milk or vitamin D diets during pregnancy. Women whose mothers drank four glasses of milk per day had a 56% less chance of developing MS than those whose mothers drank less than three glasses per month. In general, women in the top 20% of vitamin D intake had a 45% less chance of having a child develop MS than those in the bottom 20% of vitamin D intake.

Vitamin D can come in many forms including fatty fish, milk and dairy products, and exposure to sunlight. Supplements could also be used to counter vitamin deficits in the diet. This study serves as evidence of a growing role for vitamin D in the pathology of MS. Prevention may play an important part in the disease, perhaps starting as early as pregnancy.

Source: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/716913

Making new connections: Stem cells as treatment for ALS

By Kelly Lohr

The motor cortex in the human brain is mapped to match specific body parts. Body parts with more devoted cortex area are generally more sensitive or have finer motor control.

              Imagine slowly losing control of your muscles, first with a few twitches in your arms and legs or a slurred word here or there. Muscle failure will continue until it eventually stops your ability to move, speak, and breathe.  This is the life of a patient suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, a progressive neurodegenerative disorder.  Currently, there is little treatment for the rapid course of this disease, but James Weimann, PhD, of Stanford Medical School provides a new hope.

            Weimann is part of a team of neuroscientists using transplanted neurons grown from embryonic stem cells to replace damaged cells in young animals.  This finding is the first of its kind in that the stem cells can be directed to take on the jobs of specific brain cells while also making the correct connections with other cells. Weimann’s cells transmit information from the cortex, the neural tissue that is outermost part the mammalian brain, specifically areas needed for motor function.

             Up until this point, the issue of stem cell transplantation in the brain was making the proper neuronal connections.  As an adult organism, creating the accurate connections in the nervous is extremely complex.  During development, superfluous neural connections deteriorate with lack of use. Only the pathways with the most activity remain in adulthood.  The chemical or physical signals that once lead the way in development are no longer present.  Without such cues, it is difficult for neurons to reach their target areas. For example, the stem cells created in Weimann’s lab must make connections with motor cortex in order to be an effective treatment for disorders like ALS or a traumatic brain injury.  Incorrect connections could result in further erratic brain function.

A step in the processing of human embryonic stem cells.

           While Weimann’s work holds a lot of potential for further progress and treatments, the studies have involved transplantation in young animal models.  Since the majority of neurodegeneration takes place in older adults, the next step will be to explore stem cell transplantation in adult animals.  Weimann and his team are hopeful that these newest findings will soon be used in treatment of neurons that are lost or damaged due to spinal cord injuries or diseases like ALS.

New Drug Shown to Heal Back Pain in 3 Days

By Johnathan Nieves

Source: Belmar-Fitness

Lower back pain is the fifth leading cause for doctor visits in the U.S. and over 85 percent of people suffer at least one bout of lower back pain in their lifetime. SOMA®, a new drug under development by, Meda Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a Somerset, N.J. based company, has been shown to improve functionality and reduce disability associated with lower back pain in as few as three days as confirmed by patient outcomes data.

The “outcomes data differentiates SOMA® 250 mg among the diverse treatment choices for patients with acute low back pain,” said Steven M. Simon, MD, RPh, Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Kansas School of Medicine and Biosciences.

“Almost all acute low back pain is mechanical in origin and one in five patients with this condition suffers from significant limitations in activity.  Treatment of acute low back pain with SOMA® 250 mg has been shown to improve functionality, as measured by an internationally validated tool.”

Meda Pharmaceuticals, Inc. claims that SOMA® is the only skeletal muscle relaxant proven to significantly improve functionality in patients with acute low back pain as measured by the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ), an internationally validated standard for measuring the degree of disability and functionality in patients with lower back pain.

The Company’s approach to assessing patient symptom progression during SOMA® treatment via the RMDQ is unique in that it is a form of outcomes-based healthcare. Outcomes-based health care has become an increasingly popular and comprehensive approach to healthcare with goals of providing high quality care and reducing treatment costs.

“Overall, the greatest cost savings from a societal perspective may be obtained from interventions that promote early return to work and minimize lost productivity,” said Al Moorad, MD, Medical Director, Integris Jim Thorpe Rehabilitation, Oklahoma City. “This may be accomplished by appropriate drug utilization to allow patients to actively participate in rehabilitation therapy and return to daily activities.”

Meda Pharmaceuticals’ will present its findings this week at the 26th annual meeting of the American Academy of Pain Medicine in San Antonio, TX.

To learn more about SOMA®, you may visit www.SOMA250.com. The original press release pertaining to this article may be viewed at www.prnewswire.com.