Novel Compound Found Effective Against Avian Influenza Virus
February 28, 2010
A novel compound is highly effective against the pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus, including some drug-resistant strains, according to new research led by a University of Wisconsin-Madison virologist.
The work, published in the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Pathogens on Feb. 26, suggests that the compound CS-8958 is a promising alternative antiviral for prevention and treatment of bird flu.
Antiviral drugs are a primary countermeasure against human influenza viruses, including the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus, which causes bird flu. Emerging strains resistant to existing drugs, particularly oseltamivir (Tamiflu), pose a threat and make the development of alternate antivirals a pressing public health issue, says Yoshihiro Kawaoka, a professor of pathobiological sciences at the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine and senior author of the new study.
Flower Power May Reduce Resistance to Breast Cancer Drug Tamoxifen
February 26, 2010
Combining tamoxifen, the world’s most prescribed breast cancer agent, with a compound found in the flowering plant feverfew may prevent initial or future resistance to the drug, say researchers at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The finding, reported online Feb. 12 in FASEB, provides new insight into the biological roots of that resistance, and also tests a novel way to get around it.
“A solution to tamoxifen resistance is sorely needed, and if a strategy like this can work, it would make a difference in our clinical care of breast cancer,” says the study’s lead investigator, Robert Clarke, PhD, DSc, a professor of oncology and physiology & biophysics at Lombardi, a part of Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC). Clarke is also the interim director of GUMC’s Biomedical Graduate Research Organization.
Clarke added that the purified research chemical they tested, parthenolide, a derivative of feverfew, is being tested by other scientists as treatment for a variety of cancers, as well as other health conditions. Feverfew has long been a staple of natural medicine, and is particularly known for its effects on headaches and arthritis. Latin for “fever reducer,” feverfew is a common garden bush with small daisy-like flowers.
Study Finds Higher Omega-3 Fatty Acid Levels Associated With Less Biological Aging in Cardiovascular Disease Patients
February 26, 2010
UCSF scientists have discovered that higher blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids correspond to a lower rate of shortening of telomere length in patients with coronary artery disease.
The finding, they say, indicates the possibility that omega-3 fatty acids may protect against cellular aging.
The study is reported online and in the Jan. 20 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Telomeres are tiny units of DNA that seal off the ends of chromosomes, which contain the body’s genes — similar in concept to the tips that keep shoelaces from unraveling. Telomeres protect the integrity of genes and maintain chromosomal stability and accurate cell division. They also determine the number of times a cell divides, and thus determine life span.
New Cancer Fighting Strategy Emerges from Antibody Signaling Discovery
February 26, 2010
The research also suggests that a drug already in use for more than a decade to treat non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma might also be useful in treating some solid tumors.
This strategy is unusual in that it would employ drugs that target cells or functions of the immune system to fight solid tumors, rather than cancers that arise in cells of the immune system.
A research team led by Lisa Coussens, PhD, a professor of pathology at UCSF and a pioneer in studies of inflammation and cancer, has found a cancer-promoting role for a specific molecule of the immune system. The study appears online in the scientific journal Cancer Cell. Already Coussens is collaborating with pharmaceutical industry scientists to explore therapeutic strategies arising from this molecular discovery.
Blacks Much Less Likely to Know They Have Heart Condition or to Use Treatment for It
February 26, 2010
A large nationwide study that includes neurologists from Mayo Clinic has found that blacks are substantially less likely than whites to know that they have atrial fibrillation or to use warfarin, the most common treatment for the condition. Atrial fibrillation, an abnormal heart rhythm, significantly increases risk of stroke. Warfarin is known to reduce that risk.
Researchers say the findings could help explain why the black population in the U.S. has a higher incidence of both stroke and death from strokes, compared to the white population. They presented their findings at the American Heart Association’s 2010 International Stroke Conference in San Antonio. The study will also be simultaneously published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
“The reasons for the racial discrepancy are not known,” says James Meschia, M.D., Mayo Clinic neurologist and director of the Comprehensive Stroke Center at Mayo’s campus in Florida. “But they are consistent with other studies that show blacks are less likely to receive the care they need to treat stroke risk factors such as diabetes and hypertension.”
Drug Delivery Breakthroug
February 25, 2010
A team of scientists led by Dr Simon Richardson at the University of Greenwich has got a step closer to one of the holy grails of drug delivery.
The goal – to find a vehicle that can carry drugs not just to a specific cell but a specific organ (organelle) inside the cell, and accurately measure how it behaves when it gets there – has proved elusive despite two decades of research, according to the Journal of Controlled Release, a top international scientific publication.
Now the journal has given the new research front page billing, saying in an editorial that Richardson and colleagues provide direct evidence, for the first time, that nanomedicines can be delivered to select organelles and manipulated to carry beneficial agents like genes.
Dr Richardson says: “Drug delivery is important for everyone because it has the potential to deliver new treatments for diseases which are currently incurable; and to deliver existing drugs more effectively.”
Use of Acetaminophen in Pregnancy Associated with Increased Asthma Symptoms in Children
February 25, 2010
Children who were exposed to acetaminophen prenatally were more likely to have asthma symptoms at age five in a study of 300 African-American and Dominican Republic children living in New York City. Building on prior research showing an association between both prenatal and postnatal acetaminophen and asthma, this is the first study to demonstrate a direct link between asthma and an ability to detoxify foreign substances in the body. The findings were published this week in the journal Thorax.
The study, conducted by the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, found that the relationship was stronger in children with a variant of a gene, glutathione S transferase, involved in detoxification of foreign substances. The variant is common among African-American and Hispanic populations. The results suggest that less efficient detoxification is a mechanism in the association between acetaminophen and asthma.
The researchers assessed the use of analgesics during pregnancy and found that 34 percent of mothers reported acetaminophen use during pregnancy, and 27 percent of children had wheeze, an asthma-related symptom. The children whose mothers had taken acetaminophen were more likely to wheeze, visit the emergency room for respiratory problems, and develop allergy symptoms, compared to those children whose mothers did not take acetaminophen. The risk increased with increasing number of days of prenatal acetaminophen use. The children in this study live in neighborhoods of New York City that have been the hardest hit by the asthma epidemic: Northern Manhattan and the South Bronx.
Combined Drug Therapy to Treat TB and HIV Significantly Improves Survival
February 25, 2010
Initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART) during tuberculosis therapy significantly reduced mortality rates by 56 percent in a randomized clinical trial of 642 patients co-infected with HIV and tuberculosis. The study, which provides further impetus for the integration of TB and HIV services, lays to rest the controversy on whether co-infected patients should initiate ART during or after TB treatment. Findings are published in the February 25th issue of The New England Journal of Medicine.
Tuberculosis is the most common opportunistic disease and the most frequent cause of death in patients with HIV infection in developing countries, and the number of patients with co-infection continues to grow rapidly.
“Despite World Health Organization(WHO) guidelines supporting concomitant treatment of the two diseases and urging more aggressive management initiation of antiretroviral therapy, treatment often has been deferred until completion of tuberculosis therapy because of concern about potential drug interactions, overlapping side effects, a high pill burden, and programmatic challenges,” said Salim S. Abdool Karim, MD, PhD, professor of clinical epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, pro vice-chancellor (research) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, and principal investigator of the study.
Vitamin B3 Shows Early Promise in Treatment of Stroke
February 24, 2010
An early study suggests that vitamin B3 or niacin, a common water-soluble vitamin, may help improve neurological function after stroke, according to Henry Ford Hospital researchers.
When rats with ischemic stroke were given niacin, their brains showed growth of new blood vessels, and sprouting of nerve cells which greatly improved neurological outcome.
Now research is underway at Henry Ford to investigate the effects of an extended-release form of niacin on stroke patients. Henry Ford is the only site nationally conducting such a study.
“If this proves to also work well in our human trials, we’ll then have the benefit of a low-cost, easily-tolerable treatment for one of the most neurologically devastating conditions,” Michael Chopp, Ph.D., scientific director of the Henry Ford Neuroscience Institute.
Pinch Away the Pain
February 21, 2010
Scorpion venom is notoriously poisonous — but it might be used as an alternative to dangerous and addictive painkillers like morphine, a Tel Aviv University researcher claims.
Prof. Michael Gurevitz of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Plant Sciences is investigating new ways for developing a novel painkiller based on natural compounds found in the venom of scorpions. These compounds have gone through millions of years of evolution and some show high efficacy and specificity for certain components of the body with no side effects, he says.
Peptide toxins found in scorpion venom interact with sodium channels in nervous and muscular systems — and some of these sodium channels communicate pain, says Prof. Gurevitz. “The mammalian body has nine different sodium channels of which only a certain subtype delivers pain to our brain. We are trying to understand how toxins in the venom interact with sodium channels at the molecular level and particularly how some of the toxins differentiate among channel subtypes.
“If we figure this out, we may be able to slightly modify such toxins, making them more potent and specific for certain pain mediating sodium channels,” Prof. Gurevitz continues. With this information, engineering of chemical derivatives that mimic the scorpion toxins would provide novel pain killers of high specificity that have no side effects.