GBP Health / Biotech News 04-01-2010:
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EurekAlert - Biology:
Public Release: 31-Mar-2010
Science Translational Medicine
Improved device provides more rapid, comprehensive analysis of circulating tumor cells
Technical improvements to a microchip-based device for detecting and analyzing tumor cells in the bloodstream are revealing cellular differences that may reflect a tumor's aggressiveness and long-term response to treatment.
Stand Up to Cancer, Prostate Cancer Foundation, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, NIH/National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, NIH/National Cancer Institute, American Cancer Society, Ellison, Martell and Monell Foundations, AstraZeneca
Contact: Sue McGreevey
smcgreevey@partners.org
617-724-2764
Massachusetts General Hospital
Public Release: 29-Mar-2010Journal of Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer's rat created for human research
Professor Claudio Cuello at McGill University and his collaborators have genetically manipulated rats that can emulate Alzheimer's disease in humans, enabling research that will include the development of new treatments.Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Charles E Frosst/Merck Postdoctoral Fellowship Fund
Contact: William Raillant-Clark
william.raillant-clark@mcgill.ca
514-398-2189
McGill University
Public Release: 31-Mar-2010FASEB Journal
Making the blind see: Gene therapy restores vision in mice
Take a look at this: Scientists made a huge step toward making the blind see, and they did it by using a form of gene therapy that does not involve the use of modified viruses. In a research report published in the April 2010 print issue of the FASEB Journal, scientists describe how they used a nonviral, synthetic nanoparticle carrier to improve and save the sight of mice with retinitis pigmentosa.
Contact: Cody Mooneyhan
cmooneyhan@faseb.org
301-634-7104
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
Public Release: 31-Mar-2010
Society for General Microbiology's Spring Meeting 2010
Stem cell therapy to tackle HIV
A novel stem cell therapy that arms the immune system with an intrinsic defense against HIV could be a powerful strategy to tackle the disease. Professor Ben Berkhout speaking at the Society for General Microbiology's spring meeting in Edinburgh today explains how this new approach could dramatically improve the quality of life and life expectancy for HIV sufferers in whom antiviral drugs are no longer effective.
Contact: Laura Udakis
l.udakis@sgm.ac.uk
44-118-988-1843
Society for General Microbiology
Source - Science Daily :
Please note : Due to the format restrictions of Science Daily articles, you must click on the URL (web address) below the article summary , rather than the article title.
Chemical Exposure Before Mid-30s May Be Critical in Breast Cancer Development
April 1, 2010 — Occupational exposure to certain chemicals and pollutants before a woman reaches her mid-30s could treble her risk of developing cancer after the menopause, suggests new ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100331201539.htm
Scientists Find Therapeutic Target to Stop Cancer Metastases
April 1, 2010 — Scientists have uncovered what could be a very important clue in answering one of the most perplexing questions about cancer: why does it spread to the liver more than any other organ? In a new ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100331104919.htm
How Breast Cancer Cells Evade Therapeutic Attacks
April 1, 2010 — Understanding the mechanisms involved in the appearance of resistance of breast cancer cells to tamoxifen is essential to develop new therapeutic approaches. A new study reveals how cancer cells ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100331173140.htm
Treatment Resistance in Some Cancer Cells May Be Reversible
April 1, 2010 — The ability of cancer cells to resist treatment with either targeted drug therapies or traditional chemotherapy may, in some cases, result from a transient state of reversible drug ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100401125920.htm
April 1, 2010 — Providing patients with direct access to their imaging test results could improve patient satisfaction and clinical outcomes. However, physicians are concerned that it could lead to increased patient ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100401085552.htm
Personalizing Medicine to Prevent Pandemics
March 31, 2010 — What makes some viral infections fatal and others much less severe is largely a mystery. It is thought that a part of the variability can be attributed to differences in how individuals respond to ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100329203220.htm
Improved Device Provides More Rapid, Comprehensive Analysis of Circulating Tumor Cells
March 31, 2010 — Technical improvements to a microchip-based device for detecting and analyzing tumor cells in the bloodstream are revealing cellular differences that may reflect a tumor's aggressiveness and ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100331141619.htm
Dangerous Custodians: Immune Cells as Possible Nerve-Cell Killers in Alzheimer’s Disease
March 30, 2010 — Progressive dementia of Alzheimer’s patients is due to an inexorable loss of nerve cells from the brain. Neuroscientists have now shown that microglia may actually make a significant ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100322083855.htm
Mutations in One Gene Can Cause Many Cancers, Study Shows
March 30, 2010 — An important gene that normally protects the body from cancer can itself cause a variety of cancers depending on the specific mutation that damages it. People who inherit a mutated copy of the PTEN ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100329203545.htm
Tomato Genes Produce Promising Results Against Brain Tumours
March 29, 2010 — Tomato genes could be used as a future treatment in gene therapy, according to new ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100329104416.htm
A New Strategy Normalizes Blood Sugars in Diabetes
March 29, 2010 — Researchers have identified a new strategy for treating type 2 diabetes, identifying a cellular pathway that fails when people become ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100328170249.htm
Coronary Artery Development Mystery Solved, May Lead to Better Bypasses
March 29, 2010 — Scientists studying cardiac development in mouse embryos have identified the source of cells that become the coronary arteries -- the vessels that deliver blood to nourish the continuously pumping ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100324142008.htm
Using Nanotechnology in Cancer Research
March 29, 2010 — Biomedical researchers in Norway are applying nanotechnology to mimic the body's natural processes, create new blood vessels to supply engineered tissue, and deepen our understanding of ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100324184604.htm
Possible New Treatment for Pancreatic Cancer?
March 28, 2010 — A new technique will deliver cancer treatments directly to certain tumors. One of the cancers this could have particular benefit in targeting is pancreatic cancer, which is currently very difficult ...
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100326124917.htm
Source - Health Day:
Health Highlights: April 1, 2010
- Unsanitary Conditions at Egg Roll Producer: FDA
- Hospital Charges Increase for Uninsured
- U.S. Drug Sales Rose 5.1 Percent in 2009
- Pfizer Discloses Payments for Clinical Trials
Hundreds of Donor Kidneys Tossed Away Each Year
But organs infected with hepatitis C are fine for patients with the disease, study finds.
Clinical Trials Update: April 1, 2010
- Overactive Bladder (Ages 65+)
- Asthma
- Depression
Source - Yahoo Biotech News:
Federal judge upholds patent protecting Lilly drug - AP - Thu 11:37 am ET
Drugmaker Eli Lilly and Co. said Thursday a federal judge has upheld one of the patents protecting its blockbuster cancer treatment Gemzar, but the drug still faces another challenge in a separate court.
Source - Google Health News:
Gene therapy closer to restoring vision
Times of India
WASHINGTON: Scientists made a huge step towards making the blind see, by using a form of gene therapy that does not involve the use of modified viruses. ...
Influenza Vaccines, Therapeutics, and Monoclonal Antibodies
TechCombo
The second technology relates to H5N1 influenza vaccine candidates in which mutations have been introduced to increase affinity of the hemagglutinin (H or ...
Will Regulation of Gene Therapy for Parkinson's Disease Be the Next Big Thing?
Gerson Lehrman Group
While regulated gene expression has become a more commonly used experimental strategy in the management of various disorders with gene therapy, ...
GeneVec's Pancreatic Cancer Therapy Crashes
Corante (blog)
Another promising Phase II oncology idea goes into the trench in Phase III: GenVec has been working on a gene-therapy approach ("TNFerade") to induce ...
Immunizations are a go as Ottawa approves H1N1 vaccine
Victoria Times Colonist
Much of the groundwork for approving the vaccine had already been done, because of a prototype vaccine that had been made in anticipation that the H5N1 ...
Source - Medical News Today :
Using Stem Cell Therapy To Tackle HIV
A novel stem cell therapy that arms the immune system with an intrinsic defence against HIV could be a powerful strategy to tackle the disease. Professor Ben Berkhout speaking at the Society for General Microbiology's spring meeting in Edinburgh explained how this new approach could dramatically improve the quality of life and life expectancy for HIV sufferers in whom antiviral drugs are no longer effective.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/184186.php
Decision Resources, one of the world's leading research and advisory firms focusing on pharmaceutical and healthcare issues, finds that while approximately 70 percent of surveyed physicians' newly diagnosed patients have mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease , only 52.2 percent of first-line patients are prescribed an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (AChEI). Instead, 28.1 percent of first-line patients are prescribed an antidepressant. The new report entitled Treatment Algorithms in Alzheimer's Disease finds that 65.8 percent of these patients take antidepressants as a monotherapy in this line. First-line prescribing of antidepressants is largely driven by primary care physicians; 45 percent of surveyed primary care physicians indicate they prescribe antidepressants first line as a monotherapy, compared with only 27 percent of surveyed neurologists.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/184148.php
New Cancer Therapy May Fight Cardiovascular Disease
New drugs that are helping fight a multi-front war on cancer may do the same for cardiovascular disease, Medical College of Georgia researchers said. Cancer and cardiovascular disease, both among top U.S. killers, share inflammation as a cause. Heat shock protein 90 inhibitors as a treatment could become additional common ground, said Dr. John Catravas, director of MCG's Vascular Biology Center.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/184102.php
Nearly one in 10 adults in China have diabetes and most Type 2 cases remain undiagnosed, according to research published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study found diabetes to be more endemic than previously thought with figures suggesting China has more than 92 million people diagnosed with the condition and that nearly 150 million more were showing early symptoms.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/183718.php
Researchers from the University of Montreal, Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital and Laval University have discovered a channel to attack leukemia and other cancer cells, reports a new study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. This discovery of a previously hidden channel may alter the way doctors treat cancer patients. Senior author Dindial Ramotar, a professor at the University of Montreal Faculty of Medicine and a scientist at the affiliated Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital, said "We found a gateway, which is present in all humans, that allows anti-cancer agents such as Bleomycin to enter the body so they may reach and attack leukemia cells."
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/183768.php
Source - MIT's Technology Review :
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/24943/?a=f
Prostate Cancer Results While You Wait
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/24932/
Glaucoma Test in a Contact Lens
http://www.technologyreview.com/business/24931/?a=f
Brain Maps for Stroke Treatment
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/24890/
http://www.technologyreview.com/biomedicine/24889/
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