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September 2008

Digest

Digest: Scientific

Telomeres and cancer: biomarkers, and the suggestion of a revolutionary breakthrough

http://www.genome-technology.com/issues/blog/general/148754-1.html
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/health/article-1050920/Gene-tests-man-live-healthy-125-remove-threat-cancer.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-news/enzyme-discovery-may-hold-key-to-cancer-treatments-914754.html

University of Ulm scientists have identified biomarkers that are indicative of . The relevance and potential usefulness of this work are shown by the demonstration of an increase in these markers in people with age-related disease.

Meanwhile, a tantalizing announcement from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre, from a team working on genetically modified mice. The researchers introduced an extra copy of three genes: one was telomerase, which helps prevent telomere shortening, and can therefore theoretically increase lifespan, but can be associated with increased cancer risk. The others were p53 and p16, and the combination of the three brought about both increased healthy lifespan, along with reduced cancer incidence. The incidence of cancer, in fact, is practically zero, while the 45% lifespan increase, in the words of the lead researcher “opens the door to [the possibility] that humans could live 125 years and without cancer.”

Taking a different tack, broad-spectrum anti-cancer therapies that target telomerase have moved a step closer as scientists have deciphered the enzyme’s active region and its atomic-level structure.

Ageing of an entire organ is stopped for the first time

http://www.worldhealth.net/news/scientists_stop_the_aging_process
http://www.genome-technology.com/issues/blog/general/148734-1.html

As we age it is difficult to get rid of damaged protein, as a result of which toxic material builds up and causes many of the disorders considered ‘age-related’. By stopping the harmful protein buildup inside the livers of mice, this aspect of ageing was halted by researchers. The long term implications of this are clear and potentially enormous. Lead researcher Ana Maria Cuervo commented that “our findings are particularly relevant for neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s”

A crop of other genetic discoveries around cancer, firstly that skipping of exons in encoded transcripts cause10-20% of cancer-related gene mutations. PAttern-based Correlation (PAC) is a strategy used to screen such exon-skipping. PAC has been tested on human cancer samples also.

In America, breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women. Cysteine-rich intestinal protein 1 (CRIP1) has now been identified for the early detection of breast cancers. Meanwhile, a study on 18 breast cancer-related genes with 340 SNPs has revealed that BRCA1 serves to provide protection against this form of cancer.

Studies into salamanders point the way to greater powers of regneration

http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/21265/?a=f

Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies are trying to study the axolotl salamander. It has the capacity to grow almost any part of its body which is damaged or amputated. Scientists are motivated by this amazing power of regeneration, and its potential application to humans in the longer term. On first results, many of the genes allowing this remarkable capability do have direct analogues in humans.

Prevention is better than cure?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/12/health/12well.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
http://www.worldhealth.net/news/is_stroke_prevention_surgery_worth_the_r

According to recent studies the old maxim does not hold true for early detection for prostate cancer. “Cancer screening can do more harm for older people” is what is detected by the United States Preventive Services Task Force. The complex risk factors around cancer screening always pose problems, and this study would seem to have direct implications for today’s elderly population.

Similarly, another study gives warning of the dangers associated with stroke prevention surgical procedures.

New antibiotics for MRSA

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/7543930.stm

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a bacterium responsible for difficult-to-treat infections in humans. MRSA often claims the lives of hospital patients whose immune systems are not at full strength, and as such is of concern to the elderly population. Researchers at Swansea University are developing the antibiotic from maggot secretions from the common green bottle fly into a medicine to tackle 12 strains of MRSA, as well as E.coli and C.difficile.

Enucleated stem cells poduced in the lab

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14565-first-red-blood-cells-grown-in-the-lab.html ?DCMP=ILC-hmts&nsref=news5_head_dn14565

Another item not specifically age-related, but of potential benefit to the aged as well as anyone else: the first production of enucleated red blood cells grown from stem cells in the lab. Enucleated cells have expelled their nuclei, which prevents them turning cancerous, leaving them ready for transfusion.

Digest: Economic, Political and General

An Experiment in Research Funding

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121814080611321763.html

An interesting approach to the funding of science, in part a response to the restrictiveness of US federal funding of human stem cell research, spearheaded by Alan Trounson, a pioneering Australian embryologist at the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine. Public bonds are being used for funding this research for the first time in the US. While nobody can say what therapies may result in the field of ageing, we wish Dr Trounson well in his novel approach.