SATURDAY - June 30, 2007-------------------------------Previous News Archive/ Return to Today's News Alerts

Adult Stem Cells Can Be Used to Create Soft Tissue.
Researchers from Columbia University Medical Center received a $2.5 million grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering to use stem cells to engineer soft tissue, and have developed a process that should ultimately allow scientists to use a patient’s own stem cells to develop tissue for facial reconstruction following disfiguring injuries from war, cancer surgery or accidents. The Columbia research team, led by Jeremy Mao, D.D.S., Ph.D., associate professor of dental medicine, using mice as the model system, wanted to create long-lasting soft tissue implants from mesenchymal stem cells harvested from the patient’s own bone marrow or adipose (fat) tissue. Mesenchymal stem cells can differentiate into bone, fat, cartilage and other types of cells. Currently, surgeons often graft tissue from the patient’s own body, which creates additional wounds. Grafted cells also fail to stay alive, causing implants to shrink up to 70 percent and lose their shape and volume. Attempts have also been made to use fat cells left over after liposuction, but those cells also have a limited lifespan. The Columbia team has shown that human mesenchymal stem cells can create long-lasting implants in mice. The implant is created by placing the stem cells into an FDA-approved scaffold that mimics the conditions needed to turn stem cells into fat cells. Because stem cells have the ability to replicate and differentiate, they can regenerate the soft tissue, keeping the implant from shrinking. In mice, these cells have successfully created fat cells that could be implanted and retain their size and shape for at least a month. Because the implants can be molded into any size or shape, they could be used for breast reconstruction as well.

First Bacterial Gene Transplant Changing One Species to Another.
Researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) announced the results of work on genome transplantation methods allowing them to transform one type of bacteria into another type dictated by the transplanted chromosome. The work, published online in the journal Science, by JCVI’s Carole Lartigue, Ph.D. and colleagues, outlines the methods and techniques used to change one bacterial species by replacing one organism’s genome with the other one’s genome. “The successful completion of this research is important because it is one of the key proof of principles in synthetic genomics that will allow us to realize the ultimate goal of creating a synthetic organism,” said J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., president and chairman, JCVI. “We are committed to this research as we believe that synthetic genomics holds great promise in helping to solve issues like climate change and in developing new sources of energy.”

Cambridge Researchers Find ‘Missing Link' Stem Cells.
Two independent teams of researchers based at the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford have discovered a new type of embryonic stem cell in mice and rats which is very similar to human embryonic stem cells. Both papers are published online this week in Nature. Up until now, embryonic stem cells derived in humans and mice had looked different and had not behaved in the same way. The main thing they had in common was their pluripotency, that is - their ability to turn into any type of cells: nerve cells, blood cells, among others. But researchers had found that mouse and human stem cells maintained this state in quite different ways, which required distinct techniques for their growth in culture. The two teams found that when mouse stem cells are derived from the innermost cell layer (epiblast) of the one week old rodent embryo, rather than from the more usual early blastocyst stage (3-4 days after conception), they actually resembled human embryonic stem cells and had many of the same properties. The new mouse stem cells taken from this later stage of development could be maintained using the same growth factors as those used in the culture of human embryonic stem cells. The two British teams were able to produce stable cell lines which were used to work out how the novel cells remain pluripotent or begin to specialise during early development. Finally, these new stem cells also looked very similar to human embryonic stem cells under the microscope. The ‘epiblast stem cells', as they have been named, constitute the “missing link between mouse and human embryonic stem cells” according to Professor Roger Pedersen whose Medical Research Council-funded laboratory led the Cambridge team. “On a molecular level, epiblast stem cells are more similar to human embryonic stem cells than to mouse embryonic stem cells. The differences between mouse and human embryonic stem cells that we had attributed to species differences may actually come down to the developmental stages from which the cells emerge,” added Professor Pedersen. “Our hope is that pinpointing the developmental stage when human embryonic stem cells originate will help scientists who are using stem cells to develop cures for injuries and disease,” said Professor Pedersen. Published: June 29, journal Nature.

Nanoscale Flashlights to See Inside of Cells.
A Researchers may soon be able to use a nanoscale flashlight to peer within cells and see everything from DNA to proteins, thanks to a new advance in nanotechnology. In the June 29, 2007 issue of Nature, researchers describe a novel nanowire-based light source. Although only tested on nonliving materials so far, the device has the potential to take visible light microscopy where it's never been before: inside cells. Electron microscopes and scanning probes have long imaged biological structures at the nanoscale, but the electron beams kill the organism. Researchers have struggled to accomplish the same resolution with visible light, a potentially less invasive source. The biggest problem is that diffraction normally makes it impossible to see features much smaller than the wavelength of light used in the process. Optics researchers have found a variety of ways around that limit, using light to image features as small as 20 nanometers. But all of these methods damage or poison cells, which makes them impractical for studying biological structures. “This nanowire light source is like having a tiny flashlight that we can potentially scan across a living cell, visualizing the cell while mechanically interacting with it,” says Jan Liphardt a biophysicist who holds a joint appointment with Berkeley Lab's Physical Biosciences Division and University of California Berkeley’s Physics Department. Featured on the cover of the June 28, 2007 edition of the journal Nature, entitled: “Tunable Nanowire Nonlinear Optical Probe.” Authors include Yuri Nakayama, Peter Pauzauskie, Aleksandra Radenovic, Robert Onorato and Richard Saykally.

Breast Cancer Risks Grow with # of Atypical Hyperplasia Sites.
Women with atypical hyperplasia in three or more places in the breast have a sharply increased risk of developing breast cancer, researchers say. Atypical hyperplasia ( also called atypia) is well known to increase the risk of breast cancer by about four times that faced by women who don't have the condition, according to Amy Degnim, M.D., of the Mayo Clinic. While the Mayo Clinic study found that family history did not further increase risk, age at diagnosis of atypia did affect risk, with younger women (under age 45) more than twice as likely to develop breast cancer compared to women diagnosed with atypia after 55. The number of areas of atypical hyperplasia was significant as well. With one area of atypia, breast cancer risk was 2.3-fold compared to the general population; this risk more than doubled when two sites were found and increased to nearly eightfold as sites increased to three or more. The group of women with the highest risk had three or more areas of atypia and calcification - with a 10.4-fold risk over the general population.



FRIDAY - June 29, 2007---------------------------------Previous News Archive/ Return to Today's News Alerts

University of Illinois Scientists Detail Epididymis Development.
Scientists have found a gene and a related mechanism are essential to development of the epididymis - a coiled tube between the testes and penis. Human sperm cells travel up to nearly 20 feet during their transit from testes to penis and most of the journey occurs in the epididymis, which primes the cells for fertilization. Now, University of Illinois graduate student Jessica Tomaszewski, Professor Humphrey Hung-Chang Yao and colleagues have detailed the development of the epididymis. Yao's team determined the gene for one component of a growth factor, inhibin beta A, spurs activity in the cells that form the walls of the epididymal tube, while a lack of inhibin beta A leads to stasis in those cells. The researchers said their findings add to the evidence that while testosterone is the master switch that triggers the development of male reproductive structures, it doesn't work alone, The scientists say the research might also provide new insights into the problem of male infertility. The study, which included graduate students Avenel Joseph and Denise Archambeault, is reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Lupus Treatments Increase Risk of Infertility in Men.
Men with systemic lupus erythematosus, especially those who begin treatment with intravenous cyclophosphamide after puberty, are at risk for sperm abnormalities associated with infertility. Compared with healthy males, lupus patients had significantly lower sperm volume (P=0.015), a lower sperm count (P=0.002) and less motile sperm (P=0.004), according to findings reported in the July issue of Arthritis & Rheumatism. Pollyanna Maria F. Soares, M.D., of the University of Sâo Paulo, and colleagues, said it is not possible to predict which patients will become infertile but, they said, abnormal testicular function appears to be persistent after five or more years of IV cyclophosphamide therapy. The authors conclude that because "this disease occurs mainly during reproductive age, a multidisciplinary approach is essential to identify the potential risk factors for infertility and to offer preventive measures for these patients."

Cell Therapy Key to Staunching Stress Incontinence.
A novel treatment to relieve stress incontinence in women, strengthening the urinary rhabdosphincter with cultured autologous tissue, is working. A year after the procedure, 38 of the 42 women who underwent the procedure were completely continent, according to Hannes Strasser, M.D. of the University of Innsbruck. He and colleagues used autologous muscle and connective tissue cells - extracted, grown in culture, and re-implanted - and found the approach safe and effective, they reported in the June 30 issue of The Lancet. In contrast, only two of 21 women in a control group given standard collagen injections became continent. Dr. Strasser and colleagues said that after a median follow-up of three years no severe side-effects or scars have been reported in any of the 63 volunteers, and postoperative results have not changed. They added that long-term post-operative data are needed and more studies are needed before the procedure can be established as a standard incontinence treatment.

Aastrom Biosciences Uses Stem Cells for Limb Ischemia.
U.S. firm Aastrom Biosciences said it has treated the first patient with its adult stem-cell therapy for critical limb ischemia. The company said the first patient with CLI - the most severe form of peripheral arterial disease - was treated with its Vascular Repair Cell product at the Malcom Randall Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Gainesville, Fla. The treatment improves blood flow to the limbs. The stem-cell regeneration therapy is currently being tested in a U.S. phase 2b clinical trial involving CLI patients. "Current surgical or endovascular techniques for limb revascularizations are often limited by anatomic constraints in patients with CLI," said Scott Berceli, lead investigator in the study. "They come to us with severe pain, and on evaluation typically have long segments of their arteries blocked so that it is impossible for us to reestablish blood flow by any conventional means. Unfortunately, these patients often go on to develop gangrene of the toes, requiring successive amputation surgery." According to Aastrom, about 900,000 people have CLI, leading to 100,000 major amputations each year in the United States.

Glucose Molecules 'Seal' Diabetes Memory.
British medical scientists have discovered how the body's metabolism is "locked" into a diabetic state after only limited high glucose exposure. University of Warwick Medical School researchers said they were aware there seems to be a point of no return in the onset of diabetes and scientists have speculated exposure to high glucose levels quickly creates a metabolic memory in which diabetes persists long after the glucose levels are corrected. The Warwick team, led by Dr. Antonio Ceriello, has proven the damage occurs during a process called glycation, when high glucose molecules bind with proteins in the mitochondria of cells - the parts of cells governing the production and regulation of energy. The damage persists, even if glucose levels later fall to normal. The researchers said their finding confirms the need for very early tight control of glucose levels to avoid diabetic complication. Papers concerning the study appear in the current issue of the journal Diabetologia and are soon to be published in the journal Diabetes Care.

ADA: Investigational Diabetes Drug Rids Glucose Via Urine.
Dapaglifozin, a novel investigational antidiabetic agent that increases excretion of glucose in urine, appeared safe and effective in early clinical trials, researchers reported. In a randomized double-blind study, dapagliflozin in each of three doses significantly increased the excretion of excess glucose in urine compared with placebo, reported Bernard Komoroski, PharmD., Ph.D., an investigator for drug-maker Bristol-Myers Squibb, at the American Diabetes Association meeting. Dapagliflozin (BMS-512148), developed jointly by Bristol-Myers Squibb and AstraZeneca, is the first drug to reach clinical trials in a new category of agents, called selective inhibitors of the sodium-glucose uptake transporter 2 (SGLT2). The novel action in this class involves inhibition of glucose reabsorption in the proximal renal tubule, although glucose reabsorption still occurs farther downstream in the kidney, Dr. Komoroski said. The authors found that on day 13, the fasting serum glucose was significantly reduced in participants receiving dapagliflozin with or without metformin, compared with levels measured two days before they received their first doses. There were no discontinuations due to adverse events and no serious adverse events reported, Dr. Komoroski said.

A Second HPV Vaccine Found 90% Effective.
About 90% of early signs of cervical cancer in young women can be prevented by an investigational vaccine against human papillomavirus, according to interim data. The interim results from PATRICIA (PApilloma TRIal against Cancer In young Adults), an international phase III investigation, are comparable to those reported in May from the FUTURE study of the quadrivalent papillomavirus vaccine known as Gardasil. The FUTURE study found between 98% and 100% efficacy in preventing lesions caused by the oncogenic HPV 16 and 18 virus strains - the same strains targeted by the PATRICIA vaccine. The scientists added that neither this vaccine nor the already-approved Gardasil vaccine do much to prevent disease in women already exposed to the targeted strains. That is why, they noted, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) has urged vaccination for young girls before they enter sexual maturity and thus remain unexposed to the virus. For sexually active young women, health official making policy decisions about vaccination will have to consider other prevention strategies, such as cytological screening and HPV DNA testing, they said.



THURSDAY - June 28, 2007-------------------------------Previous News Archive/ Return to Today's News Alerts

Evo-Devo Covered in The New York Times.
Tuesday is the day The Science Times section appears in The New York Times newspaper - online as well. This week is devoted to evolutionary development (Evo-Devo) which combines the study of multiple scientific disciplines in the study of all living things. Embryonic development is a critical period expressing evolutionary change, allowing scientists to track evolution through DNA mutations. For a fascinating look into the fields of evo-devo, check out the following articles:

From a Few Genes, Life’s Myriad Shapes
Darwin Still Rules, but Some Biologists Dream of a Paradigm Shift
Humans Have Spread Globally, and Evolved Locally
Fast-Reproducing Microbes Provide a Window on Natural Selection
The Human Family Tree Has Become a Bush With Many Branches
In Parasite Survival, Ploys to Get Help From a Host
Science of the Soul? ‘I Think, Therefore I Am’ Is Losing Force

Mom's Antidepressant Use Poses Little Danger to Baby.
Pregnant women who use antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are not increasing the risk of most birth defects for their newborns, new research suggests. Drugs within this class - which include Celexa, Paxil, Prozac and Zoloft - may increase the risk for certain defects, but, even then, the absolute risk is extremely small, concluded two studies published in the June 28 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The issue of maternal use of antidepressants, particularly those known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) is a charged one. Last November, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended that women avoid the SSRI Paxil if they are pregnant or planning on becoming pregnant, due to a potential heightened risk of birth defects. The initial FDA warning came in September of 2005. In December of the same year, the FDA instructed Paxil's maker, GlaxoSmithKline, to reclassify the drug from a Category C to D (a stronger warning) for pregnant women. Category D means studies in pregnant women have demonstrated a risk to the fetus. Other reports had indicated that SSRIs may cause newborns to have withdrawal symptoms. The first study, conducted by Carol Louik, lead author and an assistant professor of epidemiology at Boston University's Slone Epidemiology Center, looked at almost 10,000 infants with birth defects and close to 6,000 infants without birth defects. The researchers wanted to see if there was an association between defects that had been previously linked to SSRIs and the use of these drugs by mothers during their first trimester of pregnancy. Overall, SSRI use was not associated with significantly increased risks of craniosynostosis (when connections between skull bones close prematurely), omphalocele (when intestines or other abdominal organs protrude from the navel) or heart defects. There were, however, associations between maternal use of Zoloft (sertraline) and omphalocele and septal defects (defects in the walls that separate the chambers of the heart) and between Paxil and defects that interfere with blood flow to the lungs. But even if a certain drug increased rates by a factor of four, the risk of having a child affected by the problem would still be less than 1 percent, the researchers said. A second study, this time conducted by scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta, found that the use of SSRIs during the first trimester of pregnancy was not associated with any increased risks of most categories of birth defects, including congenital heart defects. The researchers looked at four SSRIs: fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), Paxil and citalopram (Celexa). There were some associations between maternal SSRI use and anencephaly (a brain defect), craniosynostosis and omphalocele, but, again, the absolute risk was very small. These defects had not previously been associated with SSRI use during pregnancy, the study authors noted. Louik said she did not anticipate any labeling changes based on these studies, but that she did anticipate more research. "These studies make a large contribution to the field, but they're not the final word by any means," said Dr. Louik.

Researchers ID New Type of Mouse Stem Cell.
Scientists have discovered a new type of rodent embryonic stem cell that is more akin to its human counterparts than current mouse stem cells - and it was found after implantation of the embryo into the uterine wall. "The real advantage is that you now have another model to look at the underlying mechanisms related to stem cells becoming differentiated," said Paul Sanberg, distinguished professor of neurosurgery and director of the University of South Florida Center for Aging and Brain Repair in Tampa. "It's not a clinically oriented study, but it can be used for core research." The findings, by two different groups of researchers, are published online June 27 in the journal Nature. Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, which means they have the ability to develop into virtually any cell type in the body. The hope is that these cells may one day lead to treatments or cures for diseases such as diabetes, liver failure, spinal injury, stroke, Alzheimer's disease and heart disease. Another research group in the United Kingdom also succeeded in harvesting the same epiblast stem cells. The newly discovered cells were isolated from rodent embryos after they had implanted into the uterine wall. Previously, scientists had thought that embryonic stem cells could only be obtained before implantation into the uterus. The new mouse cells, called EpiSCs (post-implantation epiblast-derived stem cells), grow like human cells, have similar patterns of gene expression and cell surface markers and, of course, are pluripotent.

The Proteins Among Us
Frog Molecule May Lead to Brain Tumor Treatment.
British researchers have synthesized a frog molecule that might lead to the world's first drug treatment for brain tumors. Researchers determined a molecule known as Amphinase, found in the egg cells of the Northern Leopard frog, recognizes the sugary coating found on a tumor cell. It binds to the cell's surface before invading the cell and inactivating the RNA it contains, causing the tumor to die. Scientists at Britain's University of Bath and the Alfacell Corporation in the United States have produced the first complete analysis of the structural and chemical properties of that molecule. "It is rather like Mother Nature's very own magic bullet for recognizing and destroying cancer cells," said Professor Ravi Acharya of Bath University. "It is highly specific at hunting and destroying tumor cells, is easily synthesized ... and offers great hope as a therapeutic treatment of the future." However, Acharya noted Amphinase is in the very early stages of development, so it's likely to be several years before it is used as a treatment. The research by Acharya, Umesh Singh and Daniel Holloway appears in the Journal of Molecular Biology.

Colorectal Cancer Protein News.
Danish scientists have determined new information about a protein called clusterin, which is responsible for colorectal cancer. Clusterin has been linked with the development of tumor cells and resistance to cancer therapy but how it works isn't well understood. Claus Lindbjerg Andersen, Torben Falck Orntoft and colleagues at Aarhus University Hospital have discovered clusterin isn't expressed in normal cells, while in 25 percent of colorectal tumors, the cancer cells contain the protein. The researchers also have determined clusterin is actually made by the cancer cells. The scientists said their findings should help improve therapies against colorectal cancer, especially for patients with tumors producing clusterin. The study appears in the journal Molecular & Cellular Proteomics.

Coronary Heart Disease Proteins Identified.
U.S. scientists have created a technique to provide the first large-scale identification of the proteins that are involved in coronary heart disease. David Han and colleagues at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine said the new information will help scientists better understand the progression of the disease, improve diagnosis and detect early pathological signs more efficiently. Coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States but exactly what occurs inside the walls of diseased blood vessels has not been completely understood. The new technique called direct tissue proteomics identifies the proteins expressed in the coronary arteries of heart disease patients, allowing researchers to compare those proteins with ones present in healthy blood vessels. Han and his team found about 800 proteins, some of them not previously known to be involved in heart disease. The researchers also used another proteomics method to detect cytokines directly from diseased coronary arteries - an approach they said might uncover important biomarkers relevant to other diseases. The research appears in the June issue of the journal Molecular & Cellular Proteomics.


WEDNESDAY - June 27, 2007---------------------------------Previous News Archive/ Return to Today's News Alerts

Gene Therapy Restores Sight in Blind Dogs.
University of Pennsylvania medical scientists believe gene therapy might be successful in restoring sight in people genetically blind since birth given the results of their latest research. The researchers used functional MRI to measure brain activity in blind dogs born with a mutation in gene RPE65, an essential molecule in the retinoid-visual cycle. The same mutation causes a blindness in humans called Leber congenital amaurosis. It is the first human eye-retinal disorder slated for gene therapy. Visual responses dramatically improved after retinal gene therapy in the canine model of RPE65-LCA. Human RPE65-LCA patients have preserved visual anatomy and detectable cortical activation despite limited visual ability. Taken together, the results of this research support the potential for human benefit from retinal therapies aimed at restoring vision to the congenitally blind with genetic retinal disease. This article was published in PLoS Medicine.

Fine Particulate Matter From Traffic May Influence Birth Weight.
Together with colleagues from the French Institute for Health and Medical Research INSERM scientists at the GSF - National Research Center for Environment and Health in Neuherberg near Munich have shown that exposure of pregnant women to fine particulate matter from traffic may reduce their children's birth weight. The scientists had investigated the effects of the exposure of adults and children to particulate matter in the past, and now are focussing on the risks to the fetus in this recent study. The biological mechanisms which explain the influence of air pollution on fetal growth is still not known. Fine particulate matter consists of hundreds of chemical substances. It is conceivable that a minor fraction of the fine particulate matter reaches maternal blood through the lungs and influences the placenta or other organs which are responsible for regulating the growth of the fetus. Studies from the US and Poland have shown that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), are produced during incomplete combustion processes and can reach the fetus negatively influencing growth. Article available online.

Stem Cell License Deal Positions Toronto As World Leader.
A $20-million deal has been announced to license Canadian stem cell technology in the U.S. This underscores the Toronto area's global leadership in stem cell research. Under the agreement, Tissue Regeneration Therapeutics Inc. (TRT), an emerging Canadian life sciences company, will exclusively license its human umbilical cord perivascular cell (HUCPVC) technology to Stem Cell Authority Ltd. for families who want to bank their stem cells in the U.S. The licensing fees and annual minimum royalties will exceed $20-million (Canadian) over the next four years. The technology originated at the University of Toronto and has been offered to the public in Canada since March 2007 through a licensing agreement between TRT and Toronto-based CReAte Cord Blood Bank (CCBB). While the HUCPVC technology is still in the pre-clinical stage, TRT CEO Dr. Jeffrey Turner says that its development program designed to treat auto-immune and inflammatory diseases offers parents a type of 'biological life insurance' that could one day treat all the diseases mentioned above and more. "What excites me is that our growing stem cell company in Canada is now offering its services to the U.S., which is essentially half the world market," Turner says. "We are now currently looking to expand into the Middle Eastern and Australian markets."

Home Visitation Program May Lower Infant Mortality.
Intensive home visiting by social workers, child development specialists, or related professionals, is associated with a reduced risk of infant death, according to findings published in the current issue of the journal Pediatrics. "Infant mortality in the U.S. is much higher than in other countries despite large investments in care and prevention," said Dr. Edward F. Donovan, of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Ohio. "This study suggests that we may want to divert some of these resources to intensive home visiting that begins during pregnancy," he suggested. The investigator found that the risk of infant death was 2.5 times higher in infants whose families did not receive home visits compared with those whose families did.

IVF Pregnancies May be Happier Than Natural Ones.
Women who conceive through in vitro fertilization (IVF) are just as happy in late pregnancy as women who conceive naturally - maybe even more so, new research from Israel suggests. It had been thought that IVF moms were more stressed than those who conceived naturally. "A lot of studies have come out and said that they were indeed more anxious and they were having a worse time of it," Dr. Marsha Kaitz of Hebrew University in Jerusalem. "My paper says that that isn't necessarily the case. The women that I interviewed were really quite positive." Women with IVF pregnancies reported fewer negative feelings and showed a more positive mood regarding themselves, their baby, and their spouse compared to women who had conceived naturally, the researchers found. The IVF situation in Israel is unique, the researchers note, given that the government provides unlimited funding for fertility treatment until a woman has given birth to two children. Nonetheless, according to Kaitz, the findings are probably more or less generalizable to women elsewhere in the world, and also suggest that women who conceive through IVF will be just as happy being parents as women who conceive naturally. SOURCE: Fertility and Sterility, June 2007.



TUESDAY - June 26, 2007---------------------------------Previous News Archive/ Return to Today's News Alerts

Baby Poop Gives Stanford a Scoop!
Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine are as interested in a baby’s poop as doting parents are, and for good reason. When a baby is born, so too is a new microbial ecosystem in the baby’s gut. The Stanford team has made the most extensive survey yet of how the microbes establish flourishing communities in what began as a sterile environment. Their findings will be published in the July issue of Public Library of Science-Biology. A baby's gut has no inhabitants before birth. Within days of an infant’s delivery, the microbial immigrants in the gut establish a thriving community whose population soon outnumbers that of the baby’s own cells tenfold, a ratio that persists throughout life. The researchers had one set of fraternal twins in their study, the only babies delivered by a planned caesarean section and thus without any exposure to the mother’s vaginal or rectal environments. They had much lower bacterial levels than the other babies for the first week of life. Although microbes’ reputation for causing disease usually gets top billing, the tiny critters play a number of critical roles in health, including processing nutrients, defining host body-fat content and providing protection against invading pathogens. Other factors for future inquiry include looking at breast-fed babies compared to those who are formula-fed, and comparing premature babies to full-term ones. All the babies in this study were full-term and breast-fed. The work was supported by funding from the Horn Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Cord Blood Helps in Type 1 - Childhood - Diabetes
Giving children with type 1 diabetes an infusion of blood saved from their own umbilical cords helped reduce the severity of their disease, U.S. researchers said on Monday. The blood is rich in immune regulatory cells and may re-start the children's immune systems, but the effect likely will not last and will need more study. "They are getting back their own cells and nothing else. We knew it would be very safe and the fact that we are seeing any benefit is a big bonus," said Dr. Michael Haller of the University of Florida College of Medicine, who presented the study at the American Diabetes Association meeting in Chicago. Type 1 diabetes occurs when the immune system goes haywire and starts attacking itself, destroying insulin-producing cells in the pancreas needed to control blood sugar. Children given the cord blood had lower blood glucose levels and needed much less daily insulin therapy to control their diabetes than children with the disease who did not get the therapy. The children who got cord blood had measurable increases in regulatory T cells which can differentiate into insulin-producing cells.

The Mathematics of Tumor Growth.
A U.S. mathematical study has led researchers to a better understanding of how cancer cells alter their genetic makeup to accelerate tumor growth. University of California-Irvine scientists said the study has shown, for the first time, why such alternations occur and how they allow cancerous tumors to thrive. University of California-Irvine mathematicians Natalia Komarova, Alexander Sadovsky and Frederic Wan focused on the phenomenon of genetic instability, a common feature of cancer in which cells mutate at an abnormally fast rate. Those mutations can cause cancer cells to grow or they can cause the cells to die. The scientists found tumors grow best when they are very unstable during the early stages of development and become stable in later stages. In other words, tumors thrive when cancerous cells mutate to speed up malignant transformation and stay that way by turning off the mutation rate. "Mathematical theory can help us understand cancer," said Komarova. "If we know what cancer is doing, we might be able to find ways to fight it." Published in the Royal Society journal Interface.

Why Anti-inflammatories Hurt Intestines.
New versions of drugs like buffered aspirin and Vioxx could produce fewer harmful side effects, say researchers at Kansas State University. Researchers at the Kansas State University's College of Veterinary Medicine are examining how non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, damage the tissue that lines the gastrointestinal tract. Study leader James Lillich says NSAIDs are some of the most commonly used prescription and over-the-counter drugs for relieving ailments from headaches to arthritis by blocking a type of enzyme called cyclooxygenase, or COX, which is needed for healthy cellular function. When tissue becomes inflamed, isoforms of the enzyme produce prostaglandins, which are responsible for the pain associated with inflammation. Although drugs inhibiting COX-2 reduce inflammation, their targets can spill over and also inhibit the gastrointestinal tract's ability to heal itself, leading to problems like ulcers. Lillich found that in addition to blocking COX, NSAIDs also are affecting other important enzymes called calpains, required for cell maintenance. Calpains are vital to white blood cells in epithelial cell migration. "Calpains are a good starting point, because they play important roles for a variety of cells, and you're not just looking at one or two cell types when it comes to ulcer formation," Lillich said in a statement. "This will teach us about wound healing, cell migration and what the white blood cell does."

Gila Monster Spit Could Be a Weight-Loss Hit.
Overweight people with diabetes may not find the Gila monster, a venomous lizard that lives in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, quite so monstrous anymore - thanks to a new weight-loss drug that mimics a compound in the creature's spit. The drug - a synthetic form of a hormone called exendin-4 found in the lizard's saliva - helped people with type 2 diabetes shed pounds, a three-year study found. "Overweight and weight gain is an almost universal problem for people with diabetes," lead researcher Dr. John Buse, chief of endocrinology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, said in a prepared statement. Buse is also the ADA's president-elect for medicine and science and will become president in September. The findings were to be presented Monday at the annual scientific sessions of the American Diabetes Association, in Chicago.

'Altruistic' chimps act for the benefit of others
Chimps happily help out unrelated chimps and unfamiliar humans, even if it means exerting themselves for no reward, a new study shows. True altruism – unselfish acts for another's benefit – was until recently considered uniquely human. Usually when animals cooperate, they either help relatives – thereby increasing chances of passing shared genes to the next generation – or they count on having favours returned in the future. Now Felix Warneken and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, have found that 12 out of 18 semi-wild chimpanzees went out of their way to help an unfamiliar human who was struggling to reach a stick. Watch a video of a chimp helping retrieve the stick (MPG format). Journal reference: PLoS Biology (DOI:10.1371/journal.

Discovery in Fish May Aid Human Blood Cell Transplants.
The discovery that zebrafish produce natural chemicals that enhance production of blood-forming stem cells may translate rapidly into new treatments to increase the success of bone marrow or cord blood transplants in humans. The research team, led by Leonard Zon, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute researcher at Children's Hospital in Boston, published its findings in the June 21, 2007 issue of the journal Nature. Trista North, a postdoctoral fellow in Zon's laboratory, was lead author. In their experiments, the researchers were searching for compounds that would increase the production of blood-forming, or hematopoietic, stem cells (HSCs). One of the aims of bone marrow transplantation is to restore the immune systems of patients whose blood cells have been depleted by cancer therapy. The scientists identified 35 compounds that increased HSC production and 47 that decreased it. The result of the screening also yielded an important discovery about the regulatory mechanism for stem cells. Their exploration revealed that the prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in the zebrafish played a central role in regulating HSC formation. When they administered a long-acting version of PGE2 to fish embryos, they saw a considerable enhancement of stem cell production. In particular, when they transplanted both PGE2-treated and untreated stem cells into mice, the treated cells far outperformed the untreated cells in their ability to proliferate. The researchers also found that decreasing expression of two regulators of PGE2—cox 1 and cox 2—also decreased stem cell production. This finding is important for human bone marrow recipients, because pain medications such as aspirin and ibuprofen are cox inhibitors. Adults may need transfusions from two cords while a child may find one sufficient. However, “When adult patients are given two cords from unrelated donors, this chance of failure is reduced, but there may be immunological problems from interaction between the two sources. “Using drugs that enhance PGE2 to amplify the number of stem cells in a cord sample could enable use of only one cord in such patients,” said Zon. “And it may even help patients who don't engraft.” Clinical trials are being planned of such HSC-enhancement using the long-acting version of PGE2.



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Latest Advances in Stem Cell and Gene Therapy Treatments:
A new way to boost stem cells?
Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston report finding a new way to increase stem cells in blood. The study suggests a possible treatment to help patients who undergo chemotherapy or bone marrow transplant for leukemia and other cancers recover their immune function more quickly. The discovery, made possible through high-volume drug screening in zebrafish, marks the first time stem-cell production has been induced by a small-molecule drug, according to senior author Dr. Leonard Zon, of the Children's Hospital Boston Stem Cell Program and Division of Hematology & Oncology. Currently, patients undergoing bone marrow transplant must wait for marrow from a matched donor to replenish their stem cells and reproduce the full array of blood cell types. Knowing that two genes, RUNX1 and CMYB, are required for blood stem cells to develop in vertebrate embryos, the researchers looked for compounds that altered the activation of these genes. A variety of experiments confirmed that prostaglandins, particularly dmPGE2, promote blood stem cell formation, according to the study published in Nature.

Parkinson's Link to Urate in the Blood.
Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston found a link between levels of urate in the blood and risk of Parkinson's disease. Urate (uric acid) is a normal component of blood, and although high levels can lead to gout, urate might also have beneficial effects because it is a potent antioxidant. "This is the strongest evidence to date that urate may protect against Parkinson's disease," lead author Marc Weisskopf said in a statement. The researchers examined data on 18,000 men without Parkinson's disease who had provided blood samples between 1993 and 1995. The study, published online in The American Journal of Epidemiology, found men in the top quartile of blood urate concentration had 55 percent lower risk of developing Parkinson's disease than men in the bottom quartile. The authors hypothesize that urate's antioxidant properties may help dampen the effects of oxidative stress, which appears to contribute to the progressive loss of the dopamine-producing brain cells that occurs in individuals with Parkinson's disease.

Paving the Way Toward a Vaccine Against Alzheimer's Disease.
Bethesda, MD Researchers have provided new details about how proteins used to destroy bacteria and viruses may help treat Alzheimers disease. Gunnar K. Gouras, associate professor of neurology and neuroscience at Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, and his colleagues provide new insights into how these proteins, called antibodies, reduce the main hallmarks of Alzheimers disease and raise hopes for a vaccine against the disease. Antibodies are probably the most promising experimental approach to fight Alzheimers disease at this time, Gouras says. The discoveries made using antibodies are so encouraging that results of ongoing vaccine trials against the disease are much anticipated. More than 4.5 million people in the United States live with the disease and more than 26 million people are affected worldwide. By 2050, the number of people who will suffer from the disease is estimated to nearly triple in the United States and to be four times as high worldwide. One of the main goals of such therapys is to destroy clumps of a protein called beta amyloid, which are found in the brains of people with the disease, either inside the nerve cells or around them. Antibodies have been shown to be effective at removing these clumps but how they do it is not completely understood.

How Enzymes Work: UB Chemists Publish A Major Discovery.
In a publication selected as a "2007 Hot Article" by the journal Biochemistry, University at Buffalo chemists report the discovery of a central mechanism responsible for the action of the powerful biological catalysts known as enzymes. University at Buffalo chemists report "The more that is known about catalysis, the better chances we have of designing active catalysts," said John P. Richard, Ph.D., professor of chemistry in the UB College of Arts and Sciences and co-author of the paper with Tina L. Amyes, Ph.D., UB adjunct associate professor of chemistry. Richard explained that protein catalysts are distinguished by their enormous molecular weights, ranging from 10,000 to greater than 1,000,000 Daltons, whereas a synthetic molecule with a weight of 1,000 would be considered large. The recent results by Richard and Amyes provide critical insight into why effective catalysis requires such large molecules. "A flexible loop on the enzyme wraps around the substrate, burying it in an environment that's favorable for catalysis," he said. "In order to bury the substrate, certain interactions are necessary that allow the loop to wrap around the substrate and that's what the phosphate groups on the substrate are doing." The critical experiment by the UB researchers was to clip the covalent bond that links the phosphate groups to the substrate.