The human microbiome – the new frontier in our fight against obesity

Is obesity the result of a complex interplay between the human brain and a range of biological processes?

That’s the question Massey University researchers at the School of Food and Nutrition are investigating as obesity rates continue to rise in New Zealand, despite many other unsuccessful interventions to halt the epidemic.

Current studies to combat obesity focus on food and nutrition policies, making healthier food more readily available along with community-based initiatives fostering healthy eating habits.

But Massey researchers say the conventional wisdom that obesity is simply caused by consuming more energy than we expend does not explain the substantial increase in obesity around the world. Nor is obesity solely due to a lack of willpower or the wrong lifestyle choices. Instead, scientists now believe that obesity is the result of a complex interplay between the brain and a series of intricate biological processes.

Researchers at Massey University are building on knowledge that in a healthy human body, microbial cells outnumber human cells by about ten to one. This, they believe, could ultimately change the outcome for millions of obese people.

New research to fight obesity

A new study, The gut microbiome: a new pathway to obesity prevention and metabolic health, with researchers from Massey University and the University of Otago, has been funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand. It is looking for new ways to fight the increase in obesity by exploring how the microbial populations in our gut and their genetic endowment alter how our bodies extract energy from food and influence energy metabolism and fat storage in our body.

Lead researcher Professor Bernhard Breier from Massey University’s School of Food and Nutrition hopes to untangle the hidden role of billions of microbes in the human bowel. “Microbial communities in our intestines change how we balance glucose levels in our blood, how we store fat, and how we respond to hormones that make us feel full or hungry. The wrong combination of members of the microbial community can set the stage for obesity and metabolic disease.

“Advances in DNA sequencing technology let us analyse genetic material harvested directly from these microbial communities [microbiome] in our intestines, providing unprecedented insights into how the gut microbiome and the human host interact to support a healthy bodyweight or trigger obesity and disease,” says Professor Breier.

What can modify the gut microbiome?

Researchers will test whether taste perception, food choice and dietary intake, eating behaviour, sleep and physical activity modify the gut microbiome and its impact on obesity.

“The outcomes will help us to understand how to combat obesity –and they will guide future intervention studies involving specific microbiota-based strategies to design foods that offer health benefits through changes of the gut microbiome. Our theory is that the more diverse the microbial communities and their genetic makeup are, the better we are equipped to withstand the pressures of our Western environment. We are particularly interested in identifying which dietary patterns are most protective,” he says.

Professor Breier says this new knowledge will help us understand the development of obesity and how best to prevent it. “Although the causes of obesity are complex, key drivers include the over-consumption of highly palatable energy-dense and nutrient-poor foods, such as Western dietary patterns with high intakes of processed foods. These dietary changes have had a profound impact on our gut microbiome. New evidence suggests the microbial communities in the gut may play a crucial role in obesity.”

New study participants needed

This research, a first for New Zealand, will study the gut microbiome in two populations with markedly different metabolic disease risk — Pacific and European women.

“We are focusing on women because trends in obesity show a significant rise in women with major weight gains between the ages of 20 and 40. The long-term health impact is alarming. Increased obesity in women of child-bearing age is associated with acute and chronic adverse health outcomes, including increased obesity risk for their children,” Professor Breier says.
Who can apply for this study?Two groups of women (140 Pacific women and 140 New Zealand European women) between 20 and 40 years of age will be recruited. Half in each group will have a normal Body Mass Index (BMI) and the other half will have an obese BMI.

Study requirements

Study participants will make two visits to the Human Nutrition Research Unit at Massey University’s Auckland campus, two weeks apart. They will provide a fasting blood sample (they will receive breakfast after this), and undergo testing in a sensory booth to test their taste perception. They will provide information regarding their dietary intake and habits, and keep food and sleep records, and wear an accelerometer and a sleep monitor for seven days. They will also provide a blood, faecal and urine sample. Several body composition measurements will be taken to determine body weight and body fat status (including a DXA scan). Blood pressure will also be measured.

Who cannot participate?

Women who are pregnant or breast feeding, smokers, those with food allergies or those who have taken antibiotics in the past month will not be eligible for this study.

How long will the study run?

The study will continue until December 2016. Women aged between 20 and 40 years are invited to contact the study team at the Human Nutrition Research Unit at Massey University’s Auckland campus directly:

Phone: 09 212 7013
Email: [email protected]
Study website: http://ift.tt/299pO7S

Let's block ads! (Why?)

The human microbiome – the new frontier in our fight against obesity

Calculator can predict psychosis risk

An individual’s risk for developing psychosis can be measured as accurately as a prognosis for heart disease and cancer, according to a new Yale-led study published July 1 in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

The new risk calculator assesses the risk of developing psychosis after a person experiences an early warning sign of schizophrenia — such as hearing a voice calling out the individual’s name even though he or she is aware no one is there.

“Right now, individuals and their families asking for feedback and advice after such episodes are only told about the average risk — that 15% to 25% of this group will go on to develop psychosis,” said Tyrone Cannon, professor of psychology and psychiatry at Yale and principal investigator of the study. “But with this tool, doctors can give people who have experienced early warning symptoms of schizophrenia a much more individualized assessment of risk.”

Cannon and colleagues at eight trial sites analyzed data from interviews with 596 subjects who were diagnosed with Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome — that is, people who have experienced some recent changes in perception and/or developed unusual thoughts. These individuals recognize their perceptions or beliefs are not based in reality and do not meet definition of psychosis.

In collaboration with investigators at the Cleveland Clinic, Cannon and colleagues then developed a risk calculator that analyzes known risk factors for schizophrenia. They followed up with the subjects two years later.

They found that 16% went on to develop psychosis. Those at the greatest risk of developing psychosis were individuals who were younger when their initial symptoms began and had higher levels of unusual thought content and suspiciousness, greater decline in social functioning, lower verbal learning skills, and slower speed of mental processing.

An individual’s level of risk is determined by his or her profile across these five factors, together with family history of schizophrenia and experiencing stressful or traumatic life events.

Cannon stressed that the accuracy of the calculator depends upon a trained professional’s evaluation that a patient suffers from Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome. The calculator will be particularly valuable in clinical trials testing interventions that may prevent onset of full psychosis, Cannon said.

Primary funding for the research was provided by the National Institutes of Health.

Contact

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Calculator can predict psychosis risk

Influenza outbreak would cost country billions of dollars in losses

USC-led study finds that U.S. would lose as much as $45 billion in gross domestic product

Missed work and decreased travel are ways a flu pandemic could negatively effect the economy. (Illustration/istock)

n influenza pandemic would cost the nation tens of billions of dollars in economic losses — nearly double what previous estimates showed, a new study reveals.

Published on June 28 in Risk Analysis: An International Journal, the USC-led study found that the nation would lose as much as $45 billion in gross domestic product if Americans failed to get vaccinated for the flu, compared with $34 billion if they were vaccinated.

GDP measures the size of nation’s economy.

“We’re on much more solid ground now with anticipating the potential losses from influenza and identifying factors that most affect them,” said Adam Rose, study team leader and research professor at the USC Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE) and in the USC Price School of Public Policy. “Flu seasons do result in deaths and economic loss, but once in a while, such as the Spanish flu of 1918, you have a season that really affects tens of millions of people.”

Using a new method

The new estimates differ significantly from prior studies because Rose and his fellow researchers used a new methodology that accounts for losses from several “avoidance behaviors” such as people choosing to shun movie theaters or sporting events to avoid infection. They also accounted for “resilience” — the ways in which businesses offset the loss of workers such as through overtime or extra shifts.

Rose and other scientists already have used this methodology to estimate economic losses of terrorism events. It also can apply to other health threats such as the mosquito-borne Zika virus and natural disasters. Because it is more accurate than methods that are more limited in scope, governments, businesses and organizations can develop much better plans to anticipate and manage disaster.

Avoidance behaviors and resilience comprise a significant portion of potential economic losses. When the scientists omitted those factors from their calculation, they found that the influenza pandemic, if Americans vaccinated, would result in a $19 billion loss of GDP, versus $25 billion if they had included avoidance behaviors and resilience.

"Our study did three things beyond the standard that economists at public health institutions often do."

Adam Rose

“Our study did three things beyond the standard that economists at public health institutions often do,” Rose said. “We looked at, in addition to health care costs, lost work days, avoidance behaviors and resilience, and then translated those into dollar terms.

“It’s an expanded framework to take into account some things that have never been factored into these studies,” he added.

Other “avoidance behaviors” included in the study were staying home from work, keeping children from school, reducing international and domestic travel, and decreasing public transportation use.

A typical flu season

Scientists also estimated economic losses for two other scenarios during a typical flu season — one in which Americans were vaccinated and one in which they weren’t. Taking into account resilience and avoidance behaviors, the scientists estimated that a flu season normally results in a loss of $7 billion if Americans vaccinate, compared with $9 billion if they do not vaccinate.

The differences in costs reveal problems that could be targeted by policymakers to minimize losses.

“Attempting to influence avoidance behavior through public messaging and information campaigns, so-called ‘nudges’ and other incentives may hold the potential for greatly reducing the economic costs of an influenza outbreak at a relatively low cost,” the scientists wrote.

The study was funded by the National Biosurveillance Integration Center of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The study co-authors were USC CREATE and USC Price affiliates Dan Wei and Fynnwin Prager, who also is with California State University, Dominguez Hills.

BY Emily Gersema

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Influenza outbreak would cost country billions of dollars in losses

Tracking brain atrophy in MS could become routine, thanks to software developed at UB

International UB study starting next month aims to validate software to assess brain atrophy in more than 1,000 MS patients

BUFFALO, N.Y. – The loss of brain tissue, called brain atrophy, is a normal part of aging, but multiple sclerosis (MS) accelerates the process. Such atrophy is a critical indicator of physical and cognitive decline in MS, yet because measuring brain atrophy is expensive and complicated, it’s done primarily in research settings.

That may be changing. Starting next month, University at Buffalo researchers will be testing in the U.S., Europe, Australia and Latin America a new software tool they developed that could make assessing brain atrophy part of the clinical routine for MS patients. The research is funded by Novartis, as part of its commitment to advance the care for people with MS with effective treatments and tools for assessment of disease activity.

According to the UB researchers, being able to routinely measure how much brain atrophy has occurred would help physicians better predict how a patient’s disease will progress. It could also provide physicians with more information about how well MS treatments are working in individual patients. These and other benefits were outlined in a recent review study the researchers published in Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics.

“Measuring brain atrophy on an annual basis will allow clinicians to identify which of their patients is at highest risk for physical and cognitive decline,” said Robert Zivadinov, MD, PhD, professor of neurology and director of the Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB.

Over the past 10 years, he and his colleagues at UB, among the world’s most prolific groups studying brain atrophy and MS, developed the world’s largest database of magnetic resonance images of individuals with MS, consisting of 20,000 brain scans with data from about 4,000 MS patients. The new tool, Neurological Software Tool for Reliable Atrophy Measurement in MS, or NeuroSTREAM, simplifies the calculation of brain atrophy based on data from routine magnetic resonance images and compares it with other scans of MS patients in the database.

More than lesions

Brain scans of patients scanned with different MRI machines. The ventricles — the cavity between brain tissue, and a key predictor of disability progression in multiple sclerosis — are highlighted in red in each scan, with a 3-D rendering in red added to each set of images. A new software tool developed by University at Buffalo researchers enables the accurate identification and quantification of each person's ventricular volume despite variability in the shape of each person’s brain and in the scanning technology used to produce such scans. Credit: Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center, Department of Neurology, University at Buffalo

Without measuring brain atrophy, clinicians cannot obtain a complete picture of how a patient’s disease is progressing, Zivadinov said.

“MS patients experience, on average, about three to four times more annual brain volume loss than a healthy person,” he said. “But a clinician can’t tell a patient, ‘You have lost this amount of brain volume since your last visit.’”

Instead, clinicians rely primarily on the presence of brain lesions to determine how MS is progressing. “Physicians and radiologists can easily count the number of new lesions on an MRI scan,” said Zivadinov, “but lesions are only part of the story related to development of disability in MS patients.”

And even though MS drugs can stop lesions from forming, in many cases brain atrophy and the cognitive and physical decline it causes will continue, the researchers say.

“While the MS field has to continue working on solving challenges related to brain atrophy measurement on individual patient level, its assessment has to be incorporated into treatment monitoring, because in addition to assessment of lesions, it provides an important additional value in determining or explaining the effect of disease-modifying drugs,” Zivadinov and co-authors wrote in a June 23 editorial that was part of a series of commentaries in Multiple Sclerosis Journal addressing the pros and cons of using brain atrophy to guide therapy monitoring in MS.

Soon, the UB researchers will begin gathering data to create a database of brain volume changes in more than 1,000 patients from 30 MS centers in the U.S. and around the world. The objective is to determine if NeuroSTREAM can accurately quantify brain volume changes in MS patients.

The software runs on a user-friendly, cloud-based platform that provides compliance with privacy health regulations such as HIPAA. It is easily available from workstations, laptops, tablets, iPads and smartphones. The ultimate goal is to develop a user-friendly website to which clinicians can upload anonymous scans of patients and receive real-time feedback on what the scans reveal.

NeuroSTREAM measures brain atrophy by measuring a certain part of the brain, called the lateral ventricular volume (LVV), one of the brain structures that contains cerebrospinal fluid. When atrophy occurs, the LVV expands.

Canary in the coal mine

“The ventricles are a surrogate measure of brain atrophy,” said Michael G. Dwyer III, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Neurology and the Department of Bioinformatics in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB. “They’re the canary in the coal mine.”

Dwyer, a computer scientist and director of technical imaging at the Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center, is principal investigator on the NeuroSTREAM software development project. At the American Academy of Neurology meeting in April, he reported preliminary results showing that NeuroSTREAM provided a feasible, accurate, reliable and clinically relevant method of measuring brain atrophy in MS patients, using LVV.

“Usually, you need high-resolution research-quality brain scans to do this,” Dwyer explained, “but our software is designed to work with low resolution scans, the type produced by the MRI machines normally found in clinical practice.”

To successfully measure brain atrophy in a way that’s meaningful for treatment, Zivadinov explained, what’s needed is a normative database through which individual patients can be compared to the population of MS patients. “NeuroSTREAM provides context, because it compares a patient’s brain not just to the general population but to other MS patients,” said Dwyer.

The UB database was developed with patients seen at the Jacobs MS Center for Treatment and Research, a clinical partner of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences Department of Neurology, located at the Buffalo General Medical Center.

Founded in 1846, the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo is beginning a new chapter in its history with the largest medical education building under construction in the nation. The eight-story, 628,000-square-foot facility is scheduled to open in 2017. The new location puts superior medical education, clinical care and pioneering research in close proximity, anchoring Buffalo’s evolving comprehensive academic health center in a vibrant downtown setting. These new facilities will better enable the school to advance health and wellness across the life span for the people of New York and the world through research, clinical care and the education of tomorrow’s leaders in health care and biomedical sciences. The school’s faculty and residents provide care for the community’s diverse populations through strong clinical partnerships and the school’s practice plan, UBMD Physicians’ Group.

Media Contact Information

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Tracking brain atrophy in MS could become routine, thanks to software developed at UB

No more sneaking sugar into packaged foods

The iconic black-and-white Nutrition Facts label you find on packaged foods in the United States is getting its first makeover in two decades. The federal government decided last month to update the food label beginning in 2018 by listing how much sugar has been added to a product.

The current label lumps added sugar with naturally occurring sugars in the foods themselves, which is a deceptive practice, said Dr. John Swartzberg, a UC Berkeley clinical professor emeritus and editorial board chair of the UC Berkeley Wellness Letter. So listing added sugar “will hopefully guide people away from consuming products with a lot of added sugar,” he said.

UCLA

Michael Roberts

With the label change, consumers will be very surprised to see the percentage of daily value of added sugar, for example, in one soda drink, said Michael Roberts, executive director of the UCLA Resnick Program for Food Law and Policy and UC Global Food Initiative subcommittee member.

“Time will tell whether this information changes human behavior, i.e., consuming less soda,” Roberts said. “To be fair, sugar pops up everywhere, not just soda, so the impact that these changes will have on consumers and manufacturers will be interesting to watch.”

UC food experts praise the labeling changes and offer some key takeaways to consumers.

Listing added sugar is the most important label change

The new label will list the amount of added sugar in a product, both in grams and as a percentage of the daily recommended allowance.

Added sugar — any sugar added in the preparation of foods such as table sugar, high fructose corn syrup and others — can be found in hundreds of products such as cereal, yogurt, pasta sauce and salad dressing. But the biggest source is sugar-sweetened beverages, which account for nearly half of Americans’ intake of added sugar. One 20-ounce soda will take you over the recommended amount of sugar for an entire day, said Pat Crawford, senior director of research for the Nutrition Policy Institute of UC’s division of agriculture and natural resources.

“The new label will allow people to reasonably see what they’re doing when they’re consuming high-sugar products,” Crawford said.

Americans need to consume less sugar

More than one out of three adults in the United States is obese. Nearly half of U.S. adults have prediabetes or diabetes, raising their risk of heart attacks, kidney failure, blindness and amputations. Among U.S. children, more than one in six is obese, and diabetes and prediabetes rates are rising. Amid these alarming statistics, there’s a growing concern about too much added sugar in diets.

“It’s important to give the public the information they need in order to modify their diets,” Crawford said. “We are now finding significant effects on diabetes and heart disease rates for those who regularly consume sugary beverages. A large study of women over an eight-year period found that the risk of diabetes among women who consumed one or more servings of sugar-sweetened beverages per day was nearly double the risk among women who consumed less than one serving per month. Further, drinking one 12-ounce soda a day increases the risk of cardiovascular mortality by almost one-third.”

Crawford noted that the new federal dietary guidelines for the first time recommend limiting added sugars in the diet to no more than 10 percent of one’s daily calories.

“The average amount of added sugar in the American diet is more than 20 teaspoons per day, nearly all of which is added to our foods during processing,” Crawford said. “Since about half of this sugar comes in the form of beverages, we have to rethink our beverage choices. Water should be the beverage of choice.”

Expect manufacturers to make product changes

When the federal government required that manufacturers add trans fat information on the label a decade ago, the food industry responded by marketing more products with lower trans fats.

“Trans fats are now not allowed to be added to foods during processing, but it all began with labeling,” Crawford said. “We’re going to see some big shifts in the marketplace with products lower in sugars, such as cereals, yogurts, spaghetti sauces and beverages, of course. We can look forward to recipe reformulation, which will make products more competitive. It’s a great first step for reducing sugar consumption. In preparation for the new labels, manufacturers are working on creating products with lower levels of added sugars.”

The trick will be to keep food tasting good to consumers while reducing sugar, said UCLA’s Roberts. “Other large manufacturers will pursue new products that are not heavy on added sugars.” In fact, that’s already happening. “For example, Coke and Pepsi sell bottled water,” he said.

“There is a push to at least re-size products,” Schmidt added. “There certainly will be an effort for front-of-package labeling that says ‘low sugar.’”

The new label could lead to regulations limiting sugar

“Including added sugar on the label will be a game-changer for those debates about what is a healthy diet for people in the federal food-assistance programs,” said Schmidt, lead investigator on the UC San Francisco-led sugar science research and education initiative. “Once you’ve got added sugar on the label along with a daily reference value, policymakers will be in the position to set standards for the quantity of added sugar allowed in school lunches and other federal food programs.”

Changes like this have happened before, Schmidt noted. “In the U.K., the government said salt consumption is way too high and mandated that packaged food manufacturers reduce the amount of sodium in their products. It worked like a charm – they just gradually reduced the excess salt in foods to everyone’s benefit.”

The new label makes changes beyond sugar

The new label also will list more realistic serving sizes and will list calories in a larger and bolder font. “This will help people assess how many calories they are actually consuming,” Swartzberg said.

Further steps could help consumers

While praising the label changes, UC experts say further steps could help consumers make more informed choices:

• Adding front-of-package labeling that states whether the product is high in sugar, salt or fat: “This banner on the front of packages would make it simple for a consumer to see whether a food is healthy or whether it has ingredients that contribute to risk of heart disease, stroke, obesity or cancer,” Crawford said.
• Having food vendors add “stoplight” stickers: “Green for the low-sugar products and red for the high-sugar ones,” offered Schmidt.
• Promoting environmentally sustainable food practices: “(We should) consume more plant-based foods and less meat,” Swartzberg suggested.
• Increasing research: “The label change is not enough: Further research, education and sound policies will need to be developed to motivate more healthy eating,” Roberts said.

Here’s a complete list of label changes that are coming.

Media Contact

Kathy Wyer
310-206-1766
[email protected]

Let's block ads! (Why?)

No more sneaking sugar into packaged foods

Women with BRCA1 Gene Mutation at Higher Risk of Deadly Uterine Cancer

DURHAM, N.C. -- Women who carry the BRCA1 gene mutation that dramatically increases their risk of breast and ovarian cancers are also at higher risk for a lethal form of uterine cancer, according to a study led by a Duke Cancer Institute researcher.

This newly defined risk -- the first to show a conclusive link between the BRCA1 gene mutation and a small but significant chance of developing an aggressive uterine cancer -- could become a consideration in weighing treatment options. 

Currently, women with the BRCA1 mutation often have preventive surgeries to remove both breasts, as well as their ovaries and fallopian tubes, based on studies showing that the gene mutation elevates their risk for cancers in those organs. 

  “This is the study that has been needed,” said lead author Noah D. Kauff, M.D., who leads the Clinical Cancer Genetics Program at the Duke Cancer Institute. “Our study presents the strongest evidence to date that women with this genetic mutation should at least discuss with their doctors the option of having a hysterectomy along with removal of their ovaries and fallopian tubes.” (Image at left: Histology slide of serous endometrial cancer. Credit: Rex Bentley.)

But conflicting evidence has created controversy over the need to remove the uterus. Smaller studies identified a link between the gene mutation and uterine cancer, but the evidence to change practice has hinged on results from a well-designed study using a larger patient population from multiple sites.In the current study, published online June 30 in the journal JAMA Oncology, Kauff and colleagues from nine other institutions in the U.S. and the United Kingdom analyzed data from 1,083 women. All had BRCA1 or BRCA2 genetic mutations, had undergone removal of their ovaries and fallopian tubes, and were followed for a median 5.1 years.

Incidences of uterine cancer in the BRCA-positive women in the study were compared to the rates that would be expected in the general population, based on data from the U.S. government’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results program, or SEER.

Among the BRCA-positive women, there were eight uterine cancers reported within the study period -- a rate that was slightly higher but not statistically different than the national norm. 

Of those eight cancers, however, five were of an uncommon subtype called serous endometrial cancer, which is especially aggressive. All but one of the serous endometrial cancers occurred in women with the BRCA1 genetic mutation (one occurred in a patient with BRCA2 mutation).

Given the incidence of this cancer in the wider population, only about .18 cases would be expected among women with the BRCA1 mutation over the time period analyzed, putting these women with the BRCA1 trait at significantly higher risk.

“We were surprised when we saw the data,” Kauff said. “This is an event that should not occur in the over 600 women with BRCA1 mutations in our study. Even if we followed these women for 25 years, you would only expect to see no more than one serous cancer.”

Kauff said the findings are especially important because serous endometrial cancer has a mortality rate of 50 percent and is preventable for women who are already undergoing surgical procedures to remove their ovaries and fallopian tubes.

“Our findings suggest that it may be important for women with BRCA1 mutations to consider removing their uterus at the time they are considering removing their ovaries and fallopian tubes, unless they are hoping to still have children using assisted reproductive methods or have other medical reasons,” Kauff said.

Kauff cautioned that for women with BRCA1 mutations who have already undergone surgeries to remove their ovaries and fallopian tubes, the findings are less clear.

“We need additional studies to address whether a 25-year risk of serous uterine cancer of 2.6 percent to 4.7 percent justifies the costs and potential complications of a second surgery,” Kauff said.

In addition to Kauff, study authors include Catherine A. Shu; Malcolm C. Pike; Anjali R. Jotwani; Tara M. Friebel; Robert A. Soslow; Douglas A. Levine; Katherine L. Nathanson; Jason A. Konner; Angela G. Arnold; Faina Bogomolniy; Fanny Dao; Narciso Olvera; Elizabeth K. Bancroft; Deborah J. Goldfrank; Zsofia K. Stadler; Mark E. Robson; Carol L. Brown; Mario M. Leitao, Jr.; Nadeem R. Abu-Rustum; Carol A. Aghajanian; Joanne L. Blum; Susan L. Neuhausen; Judy E. Garber; Mary B. Daly; Claudine Isaacs; Rosalind A. Eeles; Patricia A. Ganz; Richard R. Barakat; Kenneth Offit; Susan M. Domchek; and Timothy R. Rebbeck.  

This study received support in part from the Department of Defense Ovarian Cancer Research Program (DAMD17-03-1-0375); the National Institutes of Health (R01-CA083855 and R01-CA102776); and the NIH/NCI Cancer Center Support Grants (P30 CA008748, P30 CA016520, P30 CA51008, P30 CA16042). Additional funding sources are listed in the study.

Contact: Sarah Avery
Phone: 919-660-1306
Email: [email protected]
http://ift.tt/1UJFQHD

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Women with BRCA1 Gene Mutation at Higher Risk of Deadly Uterine Cancer

Medical Discovery News Knocking out acute lymphocytic leukemia

Every now and then things go right, really, really right. In an immunotherapy clinical trial, 27 of the 29 leukemia patients went into sustained remissions, which is a whopping 93 percent success rate.

Acute lymphocytic leukemia, or ALL, is a cancer that arises in the bone marrow, the soft center of flat bones. In the bone marrow, blood stem cells give rise to all blood cells. ALL arises from the cells that become lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell. Acute in the name means that it can progress quickly and, if not treated, can be fatal within a few months. If the ALL cancer cells occupy more than 25 percent of the bone marrow, the disease is called leukemia.

Lymphocytes are a major part of the immune system found in lymphoid tissues as well as circulating in the blood. Lymphocytes come from immature cells called lymphoblasts and mature into two main types of cells, B cells and T cells. T cells serve a variety of functions, from orchestrating the immune response to an invader, to killing infected cells or killing microbes directly.

This cancer does not form masses, but rather takes over the bone marrow and spreads to the lymph nodes, spleen and liver. The prognosis for ALL depends on age — the younger you are, the better. Prognosis also depends on the numbers of cancer cells, abnormalities and how quickly the leukemia responds to treatment. Treatment usually involves chemotherapy, targeted therapy or stem cell transplants and can last about two years. About 80 to 90 percent of adult patients have complete remissions, but about half relapse giving an overall cure rate of about 40 percent.

The study with the 93 percent response rate involved patients whose other treatments had failed, and they had only a few months to live. Scientists isolated what are called killer T-cells from the patients. These cells can attack and kill cancers cells. The researchers engineered these T cells to target the patients ALL cells. They genetically engineered the T cells with synthetic molecules called chimeric antigen receptors, or CARs, that enable them to target and destroy tumor cells. Cells were expanded and then infused into the patients. More than 90 percent of the patients achieved remission of their cancers within 30 to 60 days; however, seven developed a severe immune response that required time in intensive care and an additional two patients died. Adjusting T cell dosages infused eliminated these unwanted effects. Unlike other treatments, the T cells will continue to grow and provide ongoing protection. These results from patients with such advanced stages of ALL is impressive.

This is a relatively new type of approach called immunotherapy by which our body’s own immune system is programmed to attack a cancer. An advantage of this type of therapy is that it is likely to have fewer side effects and would have long lasting cancer-killing abilities should cancer cells arise later. For those patients that relapse or for whom conventional treatments fail, this approach provides new hope. So stay tuned, we will undoubtedly be hearing much more about immunotherapy in the future and the future looks pretty good already.

Medical Discovery News is a weekly radio and print broadcast highlighting medical and scientific breakthroughs hosted by professor emeritus Norbert Herzog and professor David Niesel, biomedical scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Learn more at http://ift.tt/1YrINAm.

By DRS. DAVID NIESEL AND NORBERT HERZOG

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Medical Discovery News Knocking out acute lymphocytic leukemia

Of rats and men: The gut-brain axis can affect mood, behavior

Does it seem hard to believe that your gut, in particular the bacteria in your gut, can affect your mood and behavior? Indeed, the gut-brain axis has become increasingly well understood through studies on experimental rats.

We all are familiar with the relationship between gut and brain. We hear such expressions as “He makes me sick to my stomach,” “I have a bad feeling in my gut about this” or even “She is such a pain in the …” Such visceral, earthy metaphors give testimony to how our feelings and gut are related.

Through fascinating scientific research in germ-free rats, mechanisms are being discovered that offer promise for future gut and brain therapies. Our microbiota, the 1,000 or so species making up 3 to 6 pounds of protoplasm in our gut, turn out to be major players in this bidirectional communication between gut and brain.

Studies in germ-free rats, whose gut has been purged of all bacteria, are revealing that mood issues like anxiety and depression can be linked to gut bacteria profiles. Microbiota affect development of nerve sensitivity, contractility and immune processes in the developing gut. Cutting the vagus nerve blocks the effects of gut bacteria on the brain. The vagus is so-called because it wanders from the brain to the gut (think vagabond, vagrant, etc.) It has many important effects on gut function and is a direct satellite feed to the brain. Hormonal and neurochemical changes elicited by gut bacteria also communicate to the brain and affect mood mediated by, among other chemical signals, serotonin, the neurotransmitter targeted by mood altering drugs like Prozac.

Scientific studies have given strong evidence that irritable bowel syndrome, a bothersome condition known to be triggered by stress, is also related to abnormal microbiota. Changes in immune response, gut permeability, as well as activation and regulation of pain receptors in the gut result from changes in gut bacteria profiles. In some cases, reinoculating the gut bacteria with probiotics can improve this condition.

So the next time you have a gut feeling, you might want to trust it. Our bacteria have collectively more DNA than all our other cells combined and seem to be thinking and feeling for us.

How do we keep these bacteria and thus ourselves healthy and happy? Rat studies shown that alterations in food, stress management, birthing methods, breast feeding, antibiotic and drug use are significant.

Here is what can we do to support our gut-brain axis:

1. Eat more fermented foods, plant fibers and probiotics that support gut microbiota.

2. Eat probiotics like whole grains, bananas, onions, garlic, honey and artichokes that serve as food for our microbiota.

3. Avoid antibiotics, powerful antacids, steroids and anti-inflammatories whenever possible; if medically necessary, add probiotics to your diet for a month or more, usually 10 to 30 billion units daily.

4. Manage stress effectively to protect your gut; learn to meditate, practice mindfulness, engage in regular exercise, prayer and cultivate social support.

5. If you are a pregnant mom, do your best to have a safe vaginal birth rather than a C-section, and breast feed as long as possible.

Dr. Victor S. Sierpina is the WD and Laura Nell Nicholson Family Professor of Integrative Medicine and Professor of Family Medicine at UTMB.

By DR. VICTOR S. SIERPINA

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Of rats and men: The gut-brain axis can affect mood, behavior

Can Acupuncture Improve Quality of Life for People with Traumatic Brain Injury-Related Headaches?

New Rochelle, NY, June 30, 2016—A study comparing the effectiveness of usual care alone to usual care plus either auricular or traditional Chinese acupuncture in treating patients with headaches due to a previous traumatic brain injury (TBI) showed a significant improvement in headache-related quality of life (QoL) with the addition of acupuncture. Auricular acupuncture had a greater overall impact on headache-related QoL than did traditional Chinese acupuncture, according to the study published in Medical Acupuncture, a peer-reviewed journal from by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free for download on the Medical Acupuncture website until July 29, 2016.

In the article “A Randomized Exploratory Study to Evaluate Two Acupuncture Methods for the Treatment of Headaches Associated with Traumatic Brain Injury," Wayne Jonas, MD, and coauthors from Samueli Institute (Alexandria, VA), Integrative Healing, LLC (Hyattsville, MD), Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (Bethesda, MD), and Fort Belvoir Community Hospital (Fort Belvoir, VA), conducted the study in previously deployed members of the U.S. military who had mild to moderate TBI and headaches. Chronic or recurrent headache is reported by 80% of Service members with TBI. Participants in the 6-week study received usual care alone, or usual care plus either 10 auricular acupuncture sessions involving six to nine needled points and indwelling needles left in for up to three days, or 10 Traditional Chinese acupuncture sessions with placement of up to 22 needles on the limbs, head, and torso.

“Chronic concussion headaches are a clinical challenge. Acupuncture appears promising to avoid the opioid gateway for these patients,” says Richard C. Niemtzow, MD, PhD, MPH, Editor-in-Chief of Medical Acupuncture and Director, Director of the United States Air Force Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine Center, Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.

Contact: Kathryn Ryan
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers
914-740-2100
[email protected]

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Can Acupuncture Improve Quality of Life for People with Traumatic Brain Injury-Related Headaches?

NIH-led effort uses implementation science approaches to reduce mother-to-child HIV transmission

Studies investigate best practices to ease major disease burden in Sub-Saharan Africa.

An emerging field, known as implementation science, may help reduce the nearly 150,000 instances of mother-to-child HIV transmissions that occur annually around the world, mostly in developing countries. A team of scientists and program managers, led by the National Institutes of Health, has been studying a variety of implementation science approaches to prevent mother-to-child transmission and has published the results in a 16-article open-access supplement to the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes (link is external). In implementation science, scientists study how to integrate research findings and other evidence-based practices into routine care and services.

“We have the tools at this moment to further decrease incidence of new infections, but we need to apply these tools more effectively to reach the undiagnosed and untreated mothers,” Fogarty Director, Dr. Roger I. Glass, and U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, Dr. Deborah Birx, wrote in a foreword to the supplement.

Preventing mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) involves a cascade of factors that is inherently complex, crossing multiple biological phases for women and their infants — during pregnancy and after delivery — and requires deployment of multiple health services. Some studies used systems engineering approaches to examine treatment workflow, identify bottlenecks and gaps, task shifting options and other issues. Facility-level problems were considered, including drug shortages, overburdened staff, lack of service integration, insufficient mentoring, and poor patient-provider interactions. The scientists also identified domestic violence, abandonment and stigma as key barriers.

The authors reported on the effectiveness of a variety of interventions:

• Collaborating with churches to invite pregnant women to “baby showers,” which included HIV testing and gifts, was nearly twice as effective for screening and recruiting for treatment those who tested positive for HIV, than were invitations to clinic visits providing the same benefits.
• Offering HIV testing and counseling for breastfeeding, family planning and other issues in the homes of study participants made it twice as likely the male partners — who often report feeling uncomfortable making clinic visits but are key to reducing HIV transmission — would be tested.
• Training lay volunteers or “feeding buddies,” to provide information about breastfeeding, infant health and HIV treatment protocols may diminish the damaging impact of stigma on an HIV positive mother’s ability to safely feed her child and adhere to World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, which recommend exclusive breastfeeding, antiretroviral therapy and early infant testing.
• Providing cash incentives for prenatal clinic visits appeared to help keep women in care, but did not boost adherence to antiretroviral therapy.
• Initiating drug therapy during pregnancy caused rapid declines in viral load, but more than 95 percent of women studied reported at least one side effect before delivery, which may lower adherence.
• Deploying a point-of-care test for infant diagnosis of HIV using a portable, battery-operated device may result in more timely initiation of drug therapy, decreasing the number of children who are diagnosed with HIV weeks or months after birth and never receive treatment.
• Administering pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention among pregnant and breastfeeding women in sub-Saharan Africa is likely cost-effective, economic modeling indicates.

Researchers and policymakers from the United States and Africa who contributed to the supplement articles were part of the PMTCT Implementation Science Alliance, created and supported by the NIH and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, to investigate the role implementation science can play in enhancing the quality and effectiveness of PMTCT efforts. Research projects described in the supplement were funded by NIH grants from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Mental Health and the Office of Research on Women’s Health.

The alliance was led by the Fogarty’s Center for Global Health Studies. In addition to the funders, other participants in the alliance include, the Office of AIDS Research at NIH, along with outside agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, South Africa’s Anova Health Institute, the United States Agency for International Development and the WHO.

Despite enormous successes in PMTCT, important challenges remain. The scientists have identified priority areas for future study, including how to optimize linkage of HIV-positive infants into early treatment, improve models for retention and adherence of children receiving antiretrovirals, and prioritize locally driven research questions and processes that engage end users throughout.

“Continuing to find innovative ways to foster collaboration of implementation science researchers with decision makers and program implementers will be critical to speed the translation of effective PMTCT interventions in the local context and health system programs,” the authors concluded.

About the Fogarty International Center: the Center addresses global health challenges through innovative and collaborative research and training programs and supports and advances the NIH mission through international partnerships. For more information, visit www.fic.nih.gov.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

NIH…Turning Discovery Into Health^®

Contact

301-496-2075

Let's block ads! (Why?)

NIH-led effort uses implementation science approaches to reduce mother-to-child HIV transmission

Proteins can be used to predict prediabetes - Patent from the KORA study

Neuherberg - A team of researchers at the Helmholtz Zentrum München, partner in the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), has developed a new method of predicting the early stages of type 2 diabetes mellitus. Their findings, published in the journal Diabetologia, show that the presence of certain proteins in blood plasma may hold the vital clue to the development of the disease.

Dr. Christine von Toerne und Dr. Cornelia Huth, Source: Helmholtz Zentrum München

Type 2 diabetes does not develop from one day to the next. Often patients progress through lengthy preliminary stages, during which initial metabolic alterations occur. A team of researchers led by Dr. Stefanie Hauck and Dr. Barbara Thorand, the respective heads of the Research Unit Protein Science and the Diabetes Epidemiology working group at the Helmholtz Zentrum München, has now succeeded in identifying specific proteins which serve as biomarkers for these processes, and which may also cause them.

The scientists examined a total of 439 randomly selected blood plasma samples obtained from men and women between the ages of 47 and 76 as part of the population-based KORA (Cooperative Health Research in the Region of Augsburg) study. For several years now, this cohort study, in which a large number of volunteers have participated, has examined the causes of widespread diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. In this instance, the scientists were able to refer to data from Augsburg residents who had undergone oral glucose tolerance testing between 2006 and 2008 in cooperation with the German Diabetes Center (DDZ) in Düsseldorf, another DZD partner, in order to identify previously undiscovered type 2 diabetes and its pre-stages.

New biomarkers revealed by mass spectrometry

The scientists subjected the samples to a special type of mass spectrometry known as Selected Reaction Monitoring (SRM-MS), and searched for a total of 23 proteins that they had selected based on literature mining and their own, previously unpublished results. “We were able to identify associations between four proteins and so-called prediabetes, which had hitherto not been described,” explain Dr. Christine von Toerne and Dr. Cornelia Huth, the two first authors of the study.*

According to the authors, this is the largest-ever proteomic study of type 2 diabetes based on mass spectrometry to be described. However, how exactly the proteins contribute to diabetes remains unclear, and this is a question that the authors plan to address in future studies.

Patent application pending

The scientists are confident that their observations will not just be of theoretical interest. For that reason, they have already applied for the respective patent. “In the long term, we plan to channel our results into the development of a kit for the early diagnosis of type 2 diabetes,” says research team leader Dr. Stefanie Hauck. To ensure that this development is founded on solid data, she and her team are currently examining the samples from a further 600 Augsburg residents obtained within the framework of the KORA study.

Further Information

Background:
The study was supported by an internal funding program of Helmholtz Zentrum München which aims to enhance “translational and clinical projects”.

* Specifically, the researchers found that the proteins mannan-binding lectin serine peptidase 1 (MASP1), thrombospondin 1 (THBS1), glycosylphosphatidylinositol specific phospholipase D1 (GPLD1) and apolipoprotein A-IV (APOA4) correlated with the onset of prediabetes (positively or negatively). In particular, MASP1 showed highly significant effects.

Original publication:
Von Toerne, C. & Huth, C. et al. (2016). MASP1, THBS1, GPLD1, APOA4 – novel biomarkers associated with prediabetes: the KORA F4 study, Diabetologia, doi: 10.1007/s00125-016-4024-2

The Helmholtz Zentrum München, the German Research Center for Environmental Health, pursues the goal of developing personalized medical approaches for the prevention and therapy of major common diseases such as diabetes and lung diseases. To achieve this, it investigates the interaction of genetics, environmental factors and lifestyle. The Helmholtz Zentrum München is headquartered in Neuherberg in the north of Munich and has about 2,300 staff members. It is a member of the Helmholtz Association, a community of 18 scientific-technical and medical-biological research centers with a total of about 37,000 staff members. 

The independent Research Unit Protein Science (PROT) investigates the composition of protein complexes and their integration into cellular processes and protein networks. One focus is the analysis of the interaction of genetic variance and environmental factors in neurodegenerative and metabolic diseases. The aim of this research is to identify biological systems and disease-associated disorders on a systemic level, thus contributing to a molecular understanding of diseases. 

The Institute of Epidemiology II (EPI II) focuses on the assessment of environmental and lifestyle risk factors which jointly affect major chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and mental health. Research builds on the unique resources of the KORA cohort, the KORA myocardial infarction registry, and the KORA aerosol measurement station. Aging-related phenotypes have been added to the KORA research portfolio within the frame of the Research Consortium KORA-Age. The institute’s contributions are specifically relevant for the population as modifiable personal risk factors are being researched that could be influenced by the individual or by improving legislation for the protection of public health.

For almost 30 years, the research platform Cooperative Health Research in the Augsburg Region (KORA) has been collecting and analyzing data on the health of thousands of people living in the Augsburg region. The objective is to elucidate the effects of environmental factors, behavior and genes. KORA focuses on the development and course of chronic diseases, in particular myocardial infarction and diabetes mellitus. Risk factors are analyzed with regard to individual health behavior (e.g. smoking, diet, exercise), environmental factors (e.g. air pollution, noise) and genetics. From the perspective of health care research, questions regarding the utilization of health care resources and the cost of health care are also studied. 

The German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) is a national association that brings together experts in the field of diabetes research and combines basic research, translational research, epidemiology and clinical applications. The aim is to develop novel strategies for personalized prevention and treatment of diabetes. Members are Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health, the German Diabetes Center in Düsseldorf, the German Institute of Human Nutrition in Potsdam-Rehbrücke, the Paul Langerhans Institute Dresden of the Helmholtz Zentrum München at the University Medical Center Carl Gustav Carus of the TU Dresden and the Institute for Diabetes Research and Metabolic Diseases of the Helmholtz Zentrum München at the Eberhard-Karls-University of Tuebingen together with associated partners at the Universities in Heidelberg, Cologne, Leipzig, Lübeck and Munich.

Communication Department

Helmholtz Zentrum München - 
Deutsches Forschungszentrum für Gesundheit und Umwelt (GmbH)
Ingolstädter Landstraße 1
85764 Neuherberg
Germany
Phone: +49 89 3187-2238
E-Mail

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Proteins can be used to predict prediabetes - Patent from the KORA study

Successful mimicking the development of the whole eye with human iPS cells

Prospects for development of new techniques in regenerative medicine to treat intractable corneal disease

Development of the world’s first 2D culture system*¹ to generate an eye from human iPS cells

Use of this culture system to generate functional corneal epithelium from concentric rings of cells (an SEAM) for the first time

Using iPS cells to reconstruct the corneal epithelium in humans and to facilitate the development of techniques to reconstruct various portions of the eye

Overview

Research groups of Professor Kohji Nishida of the Department of Ophthalmology, Endowed Associate Professor Ryuhei Hayashi of the Department of Stem Cells and Applied Medicine, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, and others developed a 2D culture system to promote cell-autonomous*² differentiation of human iPS cells. This system mimics the development of the whole eye (Fig. 1). In the past, studies have only described techniques to generate the posterior portion of the eye (the retina, the pigmented epithelium of the retina, etc.). In contrast, the current study is the first to ever describe a technique that can generate both the anterior portion (the cornea, lens, etc.) and the posterior portion of the eye (the retina, the pigmented epithelium of the retina, etc.) at the same time.

Donor cornea is used to perform a corneal transplantation to treat serious diseases of the corneal epithelium that lead to blindness, but this approach is hampered by rejection and a shortage of donors. In the past, there were no techniques to induce human iPS cells to differentiate into corneal epithelial cells and to then isolate those cells to create functional corneal epithelium.

The culture system developed in this study can use human iPS cells to generate a 2-dimensional structure (a self-formed ectodermal autonomous multi-zone (SEAM)) consisting of 4 concentric zones of cells. Major groups of cells that comprise the eye during development (e.g. corneal epithelium, the retina, and the epithelium of the lens) are produced at specific locations in the SEAM. The current study successfully isolated corneal epithelial progenitor cells from the 3rd zone of the SEAM, and this study also successfully generated functional corneal epithelium. Corneal epithelium produced from human iPS cells was transplanted in an animal model, where that corneal epithelium was therapeutically effective (Fig. 2).

Results of this study should greatly help to facilitate reconstruction of the corneal epithelium with iPS cells in humans. In addition, the SEAM has the potential to facilitate the development of techniques to reconstruct the cornea as well as other portions of the eye.

Figure 1. A self-formed ectodermal autonomous multi-zone (SEAM)

(A) A SEAM generated from human iPS cells consists of 4 concentric zones that mimic the natural development of the whole eye.

(B) Major groups of cells that comprise the eye during development (e.g. corneal epithelium, the retina, and the epithelium of the lens) are produced at specific locations in the SEAM.

Figure 2. Generation of functional corneal epithelium from a SEAM
A SEAM was generated from human iPS cells and corneal epithelial progenitor cells were isolated from the SEAM. Stratified human corneal epithelium was then generated. This corneal epithelium from human iPS cells was then transplanted in an animal, indicating that the corneal epithelium was therapeutically effective.

Background for the study

When corneal epithelial stem cells are lost due to trauma or diseases, the surrounding conjunctival tissue invades the cornea and blood vessels. The cornea then loses its transparency, leading to blindness. Corneal allo-transplantation has been performed with an allograft donor cornea (from an eyebanked eye donated by someone else) to treat serious diseases of the corneal epithelium, but treatment outcomes are limited because of rejection. A shortage of donors is also a problem. To resolve these problems, Professor Nishida and colleagues previously developed a technique known as cultivated oral mucosal epithelial cell transplantation (COMET) and they used this technique in clinical settings. COMET reconstructs the corneal epithelium by transplanting oral mucosal epithelial cells as replacements, i.e. transplantation of sheets of cultivated autologous oral mucosal epithelial cells. This technique has proven superior to conventional corneal allo-transplantation. However, long-term observation has revealed that COMET has limited effectiveness since phenomena occur due to differences in the properties of the cornea and the oral mucosa. As an example, vascular invasion of the cornea occurs, sometimes causing the cornea to cloud.

If corneal epithelial cells could be produced from a patient’s own cells, then these problems could be resolved. Human iPS cells are pluripotent and can differentiate into any given cell lineage. These cells can also serve as a source of autologous cells that can avoid immunological rejection, so iPS cells could be used in regenerative medicine to treat intractable corneal disease. In the past, there were no techniques to induce human iPS cells to differentiate into corneal epithelial cells and to then isolate those cells to create functional corneal epithelium. Thus, Professor Nishida and colleagues worked to develop a technique to use human iPS cells to obtain corneal epithelial cells that could be used to reconstruct the cornea.

The effect of the study’s results on society (the significance of the study’s results)
Results of this study should greatly help to facilitate reconstruction of the corneal epithelium with iPS cells in humans. The significance of this study is that the mechanism for development of the human eye was unclear, but the SEAM allows detailed analysis of this mechanism. In addition, the SEAM has the potential to facilitate the development of techniques to reconstruct the cornea as well as other portions of the eye.

Note

The results of this study are scheduled to be featured in the online version of Nature at 6:00 PM (UK time) on Wednesday, March 9, 2016.

Title of the paper: Co-ordinated ocular development from hiPSCs and recovery of corneal function

Authors: Ryuhei Hayashi, Yuki Ishikawa, Yuzuru Sasamoto, Ryosuke Katori, Naoki Nomura, Tatsuya Ichikawa, Saori Araki, Takeshi Soma, Satoshi Kawasaki, Kiyotoshi Sekiguchi, Andrew J. Quantock, Motokazu Tsujikawa, and Kohji Nishida

Also, this study was implemented mainly under the support of “Research Center Network for Realization of Regenerative Medicine - Highway Program for Realization of Regenerative Medicine” sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the Japan Science and Technology (JST), and the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED).

Explanation of terms

*1　2D culture system: A monolayer of cells cultured in a culture dish is referred to as a 2D culture.  In contrast, cells cultured at a certain thickness are referred to as a 3D culture.

*2　Cell-autonomous: Cell-autonomous means that cells do something (e.g. differentiate or proliferate) themselves without help from other cells or factors.

Related link

Department of Ophthalmology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Successful mimicking the development of the whole eye with human iPS cells

Researchers say a new test to detect Lyme disease is highly inaccurate

A new microscopy technique (LM-method) developed to detect Lyme disease is unable to distinguish infected patients from healthy controls, yielding false-positive results that could lead doctors to over-diagnose a patient, according to new research published in the journal Infectious Diseases.

The new research follows up on a previous study suggesting that modified microscopy techniques (LM-method) could detect active cases of Lyme disease (caused by Borrelia bacteria) and Babesia (a tick-borne malaria-like parasite) in just one to two days. Despite considerable publicity and patient demand for this test in Norway, earlier studies did not include a control group and methods were not validated and ready for use in patients.

To investigate the reliability of the new test, Dr Audun Aase, from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, and his colleagues collected blood samples both from people who had been suffering from Lyme disease-like symptoms for several years and previously tested positive for Borrelia and/or Babesia by the LM-method (21 people), and healthy controls with no known history of tick bites (41 people). The samples were then masked and analyzed in independent laboratories using a range of diagnostic tests including the LM-method, conventional microscopy, genetic fingerprint testing (PCR), and serology.

The results indicate that the new LM-method can trigger false positives, suggesting people have Lyme disease when they really don’t. Using the LM-method, 14 (66%) patient group blood samples and 35 (85%) control group samples were judged positive for Borrelia and/or Babesia. However, only one sample (5%) of the patient group and eight samples (20%) of the control group tested positive for Borrelia DNA by PCR. None of the samples were positive for Babesia DNA, and conventional microscopy did not identify Babesia in any of the samples.

In an accompanying editorial commentary, Dr Ram B. Dessau, an expert on infectious diseases and Senior Consultant at Slagelse Hospital, Slagelse, Denmark, writes, “I hope the study serves as a warning against non-validated microscopic procedures and helps prevent mismanagement of patients with chronic complaints, who are lured to seek improper diagnosis in the future.”

Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne infection in Europe and North America, with 360,000 cases reported over the last 20 years in Europe alone. While most people who contract the Lyme disease recover quickly after antibiotic treatment, up to a fifth of patients report persistent symptoms years after they have been told standard tests are negative for the disease. Interest in new diagnostic tests is therefore high.

MEDIA ENQUIRIES
If you would like further information, please contact:

Emma Cianchi
Marketing Executive, Taylor & Francis Medical Journals
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN, UK
Telephone: 44 (0) 207 551 9590
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.tandfonline.com

-----------------------------------------

About Taylor & Francis Group

-----------------------------------------

Taylor & Francis Group partners with researchers, scholarly societies, universities and libraries worldwide to bring knowledge to life.  As one of the world’s leading publishers of scholarly journals, books, ebooks and reference works our content spans all areas of Humanities, Social Sciences, Behavioural Sciences, Science, and Technology and Medicine.

From our network of offices in Oxford, New York, Philadelphia, Boca Raton, Boston, Melbourne, Singapore, Beijing, Tokyo, Stockholm, New Delhi and Johannesburg, Taylor & Francis staff provide local expertise and support to our editors, societies and authors and tailored, efficient customer service to our library colleagues.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Researchers say a new test to detect Lyme disease is highly inaccurate

Cancer drug designed at Bath shows continuing clinical impact

As one of the most common cancers, breast cancer represents a large unmet medical need, with more than 50,000 new cases diagnosed in the UK every year.

The orally active drug, Irosustat, was first designed and chemically synthesised in the Department of Pharmacy & Pharmacology. Irosustat formed part of the assets of the Bath-Imperial College spin-out company Sterix Ltd that was co-founded by Professor Barry Potter and was acquired by the pharmaceutical company Ipsen in 2004.

Image: Irosustat (red) binding to its drug target

New clinical trials

Irosustat is a ‘first-in-class’ inhibitor of the enzyme steroid sulfatase, designed to block the production of oestrogen, which fuels cancer development in two-thirds of all cases. It has already been in numerous international clinical trials in both men and women. The new data relate to a Phase II study in postmenopausal breast cancer in combination with a well-established clinical therapy, a so-called “aromatase inhibitor”, that also blocks the production of oestrogen by a different pathway.

Currently, women who have had surgery for breast cancer are often prescribed aromatase inhibitors for five years to prevent tumours returning. Aromatase inhibitors made worldwide news at ASCO last week with a major study on 2000 women showing that taking them for an extra five years greatly increased protective effects. Women were 34 per cent less likely to have a recurrence and a fifth less at risk of dying.

The new clinical trial, the IRIS study, carried out at nine UK NHS Trusts, led by Imperial College Clinical Trials Unit and supported by CRUK, investigated whether adding Irosustat to an aromatase inhibitor can further reduce oestrogen and control the cancer better. 27 Postmenopausal women with locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer not controlled by aromatase inhibitor treatment received Irosustat once daily in addition to the aromatase inhibitor on which they were progressing.

When added to an aromatase inhibitor Irosustat was well-tolerated and resulted in clinical benefit in cancer patients, stable disease and added progression-free survival. These data validate the underpinning science and provide exciting evidence that blocking steroid sulfatase in combination in such advanced breast cancer settings can result in clinical activity. A second trial IPET using Irosustat alone also showed responses and is the first to demonstrate clinical activity of the drug in early breast cancer.

Image: drug target steroid sulfatase

Novel approach for hormone-responsive breast cancer

Professor Potter’s group is already pursuing a novel approach for hormone-responsive breast cancer with the design of dual aromatase-sulfatase inhibitors in a single drug molecule and has already shown that the concept will work. The present clinical data support this approach and the aim is to translate such a new agent rapidly into clinical trials.

Commenting on the developments Professor Potter said: 'The most rewarding thing for any Medicinal Chemist and Drug Discovery Group is to see a drug synthesized in the lab overcome the multitude of hugely difficult hurdles and finally be administered in clinical trials to patients in need. This requires considerable diverse teamwork, comes at a multi £M cost and is an extremely rare event in academia, as opposed to the pharmaceutical industry.

'Only the tiniest fraction of all such development candidates ever make it this far in any setting. I am truly delighted that our approach is translating into continuing real clinical benefit for cancer patients. Larger studies are now needed for this drug.'

Source: University of Bath

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Cancer drug designed at Bath shows continuing clinical impact

FDA clears first test to detect specific genetic markers for certain antibiotic-resistant bacteria directly from clinical specimens

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today cleared for marketing the Xpert Carba-R Assay, an infection control aid that tests patient specimens to detect specific genetic markers associated with bacteria that are resistant to Carbapenem antibiotics. Carbapenem antibiotics are widely used in hospitals to treat severe infections. These resistant organisms are commonly referred to as Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, and have been reported in almost all states within the U.S.

“By using a specimen taken directly from a patient to test for the presence of genetic markers, hospitals can more quickly identify these dangerous bacteria resistant to certain antibiotics,” said Alberto Gutierrez, M.D., director of the FDA’s Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health within the Center for Devices and Radiological Health.

Current methods to identify colonization with CRE or other resistant organisms rely on growing bacteria from fecal material in cultures, which are then subjected to antimicrobial susceptibility testing to determine in vitro susceptibility to antimicrobial agents. Bacterial culture methods and susceptibility testing may take up to four days, and additional testing is often also required to confirm that carbapenemase, an enzyme that inactivates carbapenem antibiotics, is present. The Xpert Carba-R Assay tests specimens directly taken from patients, which are usually obtained by rectal swabs, for the presence of five different genetic markers that are associated with carbapenemase, the enzyme produced by CRE.

The Xpert Carba-R Assay is intended as an aid in infection control and can be used in conjunction with other clinical and laboratory findings. Although the Xpert Carba-R Assay tests for the most prevalent carbapenemase genes associated with resistance to carbapenem antibiotics, it does not detect the bacteria, carbapenemase activity or other possible non-enzymatic causes of carbapenem resistance. The Xpert Carba-R Assay tests only for genetic material.

The Xpert Carba-R Assay also does not detect all types of carbapenemase genes, and it is important to recover bacteria for accurately tracking the spread of carbapenem resistance. Labs should continue to perform standard bacterial culture in conjunction with the Xpert Carba-R Assay. In addition, concomitant cultures are necessary to recover organisms for epidemiological typing, antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and for confirmatory bacterial identification.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CRE infections most commonly occur in people with exposure to health care settings, like hospitals and long-term care facilities. Because of this, these types of infections often occur among patients who are receiving treatment for other serious conditions. Patients whose care requires devices like ventilators, urinary catheters, or intravenous catheters, and patients who are taking long courses of certain antibiotics are among those at risk for CRE infections.

CRE are usually resistant to many other antibiotics in addition to carbapenems, and several CRE outbreaks of these highly resistant bacteria have been reported in the U.S. When bacteria become resistant to carbapenems, few treatment options may remain. Some CRE bacteria have become resistant to almost all available antibiotics and present a significant public health threat.

The FDA’s decision to provide clearance was based on data from two clinical studies. A prospective study used rectal swabs from 755 patients in hospitals or long-term care facilities to compare results from the Xpert Carba-R Assay with results from reference cultures and automated real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) sequencing. A second study designed to test the clinical performance of the Xpert Carba-R Assay used 432 rectal swabs that were artificially prepared with specific concentrations of bacteria containing the genes detected by the test. The results of these studies demonstrated similar performance between the Xpert Carba-R Assay and culture method.
The Xpert Carba-R Assay is manufactured by Cepheid, located in Sunnyvale, Calif.

The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The Agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nations’ food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products.

Media

Lyndsay Meyer
240-402-5345

Let's block ads! (Why?)

FDA clears first test to detect specific genetic markers for certain antibiotic-resistant bacteria directly from clinical specimens

FDA approves implantable device that changes the shape of the cornea to correct near vision

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today approved the Raindrop Near Vision Inlay, a device implanted in the cornea (the clear, front surface) of one eye to improve near vision in certain patients with presbyopia. It is the second FDA-approved implantable corneal device for correction of near vision in patients who have not had cataract surgery and the first implantable device that changes the shape of the cornea to achieve improved vision.

Presbyopia is the loss of the ability to change the focusing power of the eye, resulting in diminished near vision. The focusing power of the eye decreases in nearly all adults over the course of their lifetime. It usually occurs in the fourth or fifth decade of life due to normal aging. Some people may develop symptoms of presbyopia sooner than others, but nearly everyone will eventually develop symptoms and may require some method of near vision correction. Bifocals and reading glasses are a common correction method. Corneal inlay surgery is an elective option for those who may not want to wear glasses.

“Given the prevalence of presbyopia and the aging of the baby boomer population, the need for near vision correction will likely rise in the coming years,” said William Maisel, M.D., M.P.H., deputy director for science and chief scientist in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. “The Raindrop Near Vision Inlay provides a new option for surgical, outpatient treatment of presbyopia.”

The Raindrop Near Vision Inlay is a clear device made of a hydrogel material and resembles a tiny contact lens smaller than the eye of a needle. It is indicated for use in patients 41 to 65 years old who, in addition to not having had cataract surgery, are unable to focus clearly on near objects or small print and need reading glasses with +1.50 to +2.50 diopters of power—but do not need glasses or contacts for clear distance vision.

To insert the device, an eye surgeon uses a laser to create a flap in the cornea of the patient’s non-dominant eye, implants the device into the opening, and puts the flap back in place. The inlay provides a steeper surface that can help the eye focus on near objects or print. The natural lens of the eye typically performs this function by changing shape, but in patients with presbyopia the lens becomes hardened and ineffective at focusing on close-up objects, which causes poor near vision. By reshaping the curvature of the cornea, the inlay corrects the refractive error that results in near vision problems.

The safety and effectiveness of the Raindrop Near Vision Inlay were studied in a clinical trial of 373 subjects implanted with the device. Two years after implantation, 92 percent of patients included in the analysis (336 out of 364) were able to see with 20/40 vision or better at near distances with the inlay-implanted eye.

The Raindrop Near Vision Inlay implantation may cause or worsen problems with glare, halos, foreign body sensation and pain. There is a risk of developing infection, inflammation, a new dry eye condition or exacerbation of an existing dry eye condition, retinal detachment, or a decrease in distance vision. The device may cause complications of the cornea, such as corneal scarring, swelling, inflammation, thinning, clouding or melting. The device may cause certain tissue in the eye to grow into the cornea (epithelial ingrowth), causing clouding. Some patients may require a second surgery to remove or replace the inlay.

The Raindrop Near Vision Inlay is not recommended for patients who: have severe dry eye or an active eye infection or inflammation; exhibit signs of corneal disease characterized by general thinning and cone-shaped protrusion in the center of the cornea (keratoconus); have abnormal features of the outer part of the eye (cornea) to be implanted; have certain autoimmune or connective tissue diseases; do not have enough corneal thickness to withstand the procedure; have a recent herpes eye infection or problems resulting from a previous infection or have uncontrolled glaucoma or uncontrolled diabetes.

The Raindrop Near Vision Inlay is manufactured by Revision Optics, Inc. of Lake Forest, California.

The FDA, an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, protects the public health by assuring the safety, effectiveness, and security of human and veterinary drugs, vaccines and other biological products for human use, and medical devices. The agency also is responsible for the safety and security of our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, dietary supplements, products that give off electronic radiation, and for regulating tobacco products.

Media

Angela Stark
301-796-0397

Let's block ads! (Why?)

FDA approves implantable device that changes the shape of the cornea to correct near vision

Group of rare blood cancers respond to new treatment pioneered by Stanford physician

About 90 percent of patients with advanced SM have a particular mutation known as D816V in the gene that encodes a protein called KIT that controls the growth of mast cells. KIT is a member of a class of proteins called tyrosine kinases that modulate the activity of many signaling pathways within a cell. Mutations that cause kinases to be “always on” are responsible for many types of cancers, including advanced SM. Drugs known as protein kinase inhibitors are often used to block the activity of the mutated kinases in order to slow or stop disease progression.

However, the only currently approved treatment for advanced SM, a kinase inhibitor marketed by Novartis as imatinib, or Gleevec, is not active against the KIT protein with the D816V mutation — leaving most patients without an effective treatment.

Lack of options motivates researcher

Gotlib, a hematologist, pioneered the testing of midostaurin for advanced SM after becoming frustrated with the lack of treatment options.

In 2002, as a hematology fellow at Stanford, he treated a patient who was severely ill with another type of blood cancer caused by a mutated tyrosine kinase. The patient initially responded to imatinib, but developed another mutation in his cancer cells within a few months that led to resistance to the drug. Although Gotlib was unable to save that patient, the experience remained with him.

Shortly thereafter, researchers at Harvard showed that the imatinib-resistant cancer that Gotlib’s patient developed could be overcome by midostaurin in a mouse model of the disease.

“I wondered if midostaurin could work for other patients resistant to imatinib,” Gotlib said. He realized that advanced SM might be a good disease in which to test the drug, given that the majority of patients suffering from it carry the mutated KIT D816V protein resistant to imatinib.

‘A dramatic response’

“I didn’t have any patients with advanced SM at the time, but another physician in my division was treating someone with mast cell leukemia, a highly fatal variant of systemic mastocytosis,” Gotlib said. He convinced Novartis to allow him to give the patient midostaurin under the company’s compassionate-use program. “We saw a dramatic response. The patient, who was near death, improved enough to be released from the hospital, go home and begin cooking meals again.”

Although the patient’s disease was controlled for only a few months, the experience established the potential activity of midostaurin in advanced SM. As a result, Gotlib, along with colleagues from Stanford and elsewhere, initiated further trials of midostaurin in the United States in 2005, as well as the current, international trial, which was launched in 2009.

Study findings

Sixty percent of patients in the current trial experienced complete or partial resolution of organ damage related to the disease. As a result, responding patients were less likely to need red blood cell or platelet transfusions and they experienced improvements in liver function and fewer signs of malabsorption such as weight loss.

Patients treated with midostaurin who experienced improvement in organ damage or a significant decrease in the percentage of abnormal mast cells in the bone marrow survived significantly longer than those who did not demonstrate these responses. The median overall survival of patients was 28.7 months. The survival benefit among patients with a severe subtype of the disease called mast cell leukemia was particularly striking, according to Gotlib. Although most people succumb to this form of the disease within six months of diagnosis, the median overall survival of all midostaurin-treated mast cell leukemia patients was 9.4 months.

"We are very hopeful that midostaurin will soon be approved by the FDA for this rare disease."

Of 39 patients whose spleen size was evaluated, nearly 80 percent saw a reduction in the enlargement that is a common feature of advanced SM that contributes to abdominal pain and decreased appetite.

The most frequent side effects of midostaurin were low-grade nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, which were usually responsive to administration of the drug with meals and anti-nausea medicines. Patients otherwise reported a significant improvement in disease-related symptoms and quality of life.

Midostaurin is currently available on a compassionate-use basis for patients with advanced SM. Gotlib said the investigators hope to evaluate its use in earlier-stage patients whose disease is unresponsive to conventional clinical approaches or to prepare more advanced-stage patients for a bone marrow transplant in an attempt to cure the disease.

“This is an evolution of a treatment that originated in 2002 with a patient with an entirely different disease,” Gotlib said. “We hypothesized that midostaurin might work for patients with advanced SM, and that led to a case report and ultimately the current international trial. Our study represents more than a decade of work and collaboration between academia, the pharmaceutical industry, and the SM patient community, and we are very hopeful that it will lead to approval of a new treatment for this rare, devastating disease.”

The Charles and Ann Johnson Foundation and Stanford’s Department of Medicine also supported the work.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Group of rare blood cancers respond to new treatment pioneered by Stanford physician

Surgify technology to make cranial surgery safer and faster

An innovation refined at Aalto may aid physicians and patients in just over a year.

Petri Kuosmanen (left) and Visa Sippola thank Aalto for support and an inspiring atmosphere.

An estimated 770 000 skull opening procedures are performed worldwide every year. In approximately 30% of these surgeries, some degree of damage is caused to the tissues under the skull.

‘Drilling is one of the riskiest parts of bone and dental procedures, as it requires physical force while extreme care must be taken with vulnerable tissues or vessels and nerves within the bones’, says Visa Sippola, Project Coordinator.  Three years ago, Sippola worked as a researcher at HUS and the University of Helsinki and got the idea of less invasive bone surgery while talking with neurosurgeon Juha Hernesniemi.

‘I called Petri Kuosmanen, Professor of Machine Design, who partnered me with a great engineering student, Shahab Haeri. We also recruited Juho Carpén, who studies industrial engineering, and we got the “New knowledge and business from research ideas” funding from TEKES, says Sippola, recalling the beginning of the commercialisation project named Surgify.

Separating soft tissues from bone

The innovation patented by Surgify is actually an add-on that helps effectively but gently to separate the bone and the soft tissue beneath the bone at the drilling site. Especially with older patients, the sub-cranial tissue has often adhered to the skull.

‘Our technology can also be utilised, for example, in thoracic reoperations, which are high-risk operations at worst since the heart or aorta may be tightly attached to the chest’, explains Sippola.

The effort of the multidisciplinary Surgify team to develop less damaging bone surgery is supported by a steering group composed of significant players in the field. In addition to Juha Hernesniemi, the group includes Mika Niemelä, Head of Neurosurgery at HUS, and Chief Physician Jari Salo, Professor of Orthopaedics and Traumatology.

Sippola and responsible project leader Kuosmanen thank Aalto for support and an inspiring atmosphere.

‘It's clear that there is an emphasis on health technology, and there is a great “can do” spirit here’, Kuosmanen summarises.

The Surgify team has an ambitious schedule.

‘Our goal is to begin clinical trials next spring. We aim to enter the market after one year’, reveals Sippola while admitting that commercialisation does carry its challenges.

‘Juha Hernesniemi once said that it will be challenging to convince the surgeons – we have to conclusively show them that the technology works. Nevertheless, less invasive bone surgery is a major opportunity: it can reduce human suffering as well as generate considerable time and cost savings. According to Hernesniemi, this is a real breakthrough’.

More information:

Project Coordinator Visa Sippola
tel. +358 50 304 6045
[email protected]

Professor Petri Kuosmanen
tel. +358 500 448 481
[email protected]

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Surgify technology to make cranial surgery safer and faster

New Gene Therapy Protects Against Peanut Allergy

A new gene therapy developed by scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine could eventually prevent the life-threatening effects of peanut allergy with just a single dose, according to a new pre-clinical study.

Peanuts are the most common food that induces fatal or near-fatal reactions in those who are allergic to them, yet preventive treatment is limited. In their study, published June 29 in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Weill Cornell Medicine investigators demonstrate in mice that one dose of a gene therapy boosts the efficacy of a drug that has been proven effective against peanut allergy but in its original form wears off in a matter of weeks.

"It appears that we've developed a drug that, with a single administration, might one day cure peanut allergy," said Dr. Ronald Crystal, chairman of Genetic Medicine and the Bruce Webster Professor of Internal Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine. "If we prove that it is safe and that it works in humans, it could change the way we treat allergic people."

Peanut allergies occur when a person's immune system overreacts to the allergen by producing an antibody called Immunoglobulin E (IgE), which stimulates the release of inflammatory chemicals. The most serious allergic reaction is anaphylaxis, which can cause severe respiratory effects that can be fatal.

The drug omalizumab, which is a type of protein called a monoclonal antibody that binds to IgE and neutralizes it, has been shown to protect against peanut allergy. Unfortunately, it has significant limitations, Dr. Crystal said. The drug must be injected and is only effective for two to four weeks, he said. "And it is expensive. It's not a practical preventative treatment for peanut allergy, even though it works."

In their study, Dr. Crystal and colleagues describe a new version of the drug that is effective in peanut-allergic mice with just a single dose. They took the genetic sequence from the monoclonal antibody in omalizumab and placed it in a virus, which they then injected into allergic mice.

"We essentially use the virus as a Trojan horse," Dr. Crystal said, "to transfer the monoclonal antibody into the mouse."

The researchers found that one dose of the gene therapy effectively prevented allergic reaction both in mice that were allergic but had never had a reaction, as well as in mice that had already been exposed to peanuts and had anaphylactic reactions.

"This scenario mirrors that of an allergic person who is accidentally exposed to peanuts," Dr. Crystal said. "If the therapy works as well in humans as in rodents, a single therapy may provide protection against allergic reactions for a lifetime."

The technique could also be effective against other IgE-mediated allergies, such as bee sting and shellfish, he added.

All of the work in this study was supported by Department of Genetic Medicine internal funds. Subsequent to the completion of this work, Weill Cornell licensed a patent disclosure relating to this work to Adverum Biotechnologies, a biotechnology company.  Dr. Crystal holds equity in Adverum as well as serves as a member of its scientific advisory board and a paid consultant to the company.  Drs. Crystal, Odelya Pagovich and Maria Chiuchiolo are inventors on the patent disclosure.

Office of External Affairs

Phone: (646) 962-9564
Email: [email protected]
Address: Weill Cornell Office of External Affairs
1300 York Ave.
Box 314
New York, NY 10065

Let's block ads! (Why?)

New Gene Therapy Protects Against Peanut Allergy