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Researchers Develop Vaccine Candidate That Is Successful In Blocking Simian Version Of HIV
Researchers have successfully blocked SIV, the simian version of HIV, using a new technique that could help lead to the development of an effective HIV/AIDS vaccine, the reports. The research, published online in the journal Nature Medicine, was led by Phillip Johnson, chief medical officer at the Children"s Hospital of Philadelphia. The team also included scientists from Nationwide Children"s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, and the New England Primate Research Center in Boston.Johnson and colleagues developed a genetically altered virus that carried the vaccine candidate and injected it into the muscles of monkeys. The vaccine prompted the muscles to produce a protein that is designed to bind to SIV and prevent it from infecting cells (Goldstein, Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/18). After treating nine monkeys with the vaccine candidate for one month, the researchers injected them with SIV. Six monkeys were not administered the vaccine candidate before being injected with SIV. None of the immunized monkeys developed AIDS, while three showed indications of SIV infection. Researchers detected high concentrations of the proteins in their blood one year later. All six non-immunized monkeys became infected with SIV, and four died during the trial (Schmid, AP/Austin American-Statesman, 5/18). The DNA used in the carrier virus can deliver DNA into the cells of both monkeys and humans, according to the Inquirer. Johnson said that the results of the trials were so encouraging that he plans to request approval from FDA to begin clinical trials in humans, the Inquirer reports. However, he said that there is "no guarantee that things that work in monkeys will work in humans," adding that an HIV/AIDS vaccine could be 10 years away (Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/18). Recent HIV/AIDS vaccine failures prompted the researchers to try a different route that involved "bypassing the natural immune system that was the target of all previous HIV and SIV vaccines candidates," Johnson said. "Some years ago I came to the conclusion that HIV was different from other viruses ... and we might not ever be able to use traditional approaches," he added (AP/Austin American-Statesman, 5/18). Peggy Johnson -- head of the HIV Vaccine Research Branch at NIH"s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which helped fund the study -- said, "As a concept, I think this is very promising." She added, "We need to make the genes as humanized as possible so that the human body doesn"t react to that." According to Peggy Johnson, tests will be needed to prove that the vaccine candidate can protect against sexually acquired HIV (Fox, Reuters, 5/17). Beatrice Hahn, an HIV/AIDS researcher with the University of Alabama-Birmingham, said that the study"s findings indicate that there is "a light at the end of the tunnel," adding, "It shows thinking outside the box is a good idea and can yield results, and we need perhaps more of these nonconventional approaches" (AP/Austin American-Statesman, 5/18). Hildegund Ertl, a virus expert at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, said, "It is a very innovative approach but currently, in my mind, still far from clinical use." Ertl added that because most people have been exposed to adeno-associated viruses through cold viruses, they would be "likely to mount an immune response" to the vaccine. According to Phillip Johnson, most people have not been exposed to the strain of the adeno-associated virus that the researchers used as the carrier. He added that they "will be certainly looking at that as part of our Phase I testing in humans" (Philadelphia Inquirer, 5/18).
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Massachusetts' Individual Mandates, Insurance Exchanges Are Examples For National Plan
"Three years into its experiment with near-universal health care, Massachusetts has some "dos and don"ts" for the nation as it grapples with the best way to cover tens of millions of uninsured Americans," the Associated Press reports. "Do require that virtually everyone have health insurance, the overriding goal in Massachusetts. Don"t ignore rising costs, the single greatest threat to the law"s long-term affordability."
News of the day
All Party Parliamentary Group For Parkinson's Disease Announces Report & Parkinson's Disease Society Launches Fair Care For Parkinson's
When: 8 July 2009 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Cardiovascular

Variation In Prostate Stem Cell Antigen Gene Raises Bladder Cancer Risk

Researchers have pinpointed a specific gene variation that causes increased risk of urinary bladder cancer, according to a scientific team led by The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. These findings were reported recently in the advance online publication of Nature Genetics, and determined that people with the variant had a 30 percent to 40 percent higher risk for bladder cancer. Scientists hope the results of this large, multi-site international study may help determine who is at high risk to contract this deadly cancer, which may lead to better survival rates and the development of chemopreventive interventions. "With this research, we were able to find a novel specific gene and a functional variation that are independent of the previous suspects. We found a "why" to many of the questions about genetic causes of bladder cancer," said Xifeng Wu, M.D., Ph.D., professor in M. D. Anderson"s Department of Epidemiology, Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, the lead and corresponding author of this publication. "The neighboring genomic region has been identified previously as a possible problem for breast, prostate, colorectal and bladder cancer, but we didn"t know why." Genetic risk factors have been elusive Bladder cancer is the fourth most common cancer in men in the United States. In this country, it is projected that more than 68,800 new cases will be diagnosed and approximately 14,400 people will die because of the disease this year. Cigarette smoking and occupational exposure to certain chemicals are known risk factors, but almost one-third of people who get the disease have an inherited genetic susceptibility. People with first-degree relatives with bladder cancer have a 50 percent to 100 percent higher risk of getting the disease. However, the exact genetic explanation for bladder cancer has remained elusive, and this study may have helped to solve some of the puzzles, Wu said. Prostate stem cell antigen (PSCA) is over-expressed in prostate cancer, and the level of PSCA increases with tumor grade and stage. However, the cellular function of PSCA in prostate cancer is not clear. While PSCA"s involvement in bladder cancer had been suggested previously, this is the first time it has been linked definitively. 6,667 cases, 39,590 controls The first step of this study was a genomewide evaluation of 969 people with bladder cancer and 954 healthy people. To validate their findings, researchers evaluated patients from three additional U.S. and nine European groups, for a total of 6,667 people with bladder cancer and 39,590 healthy people. A variant in the PSCA gene (rs2294008) was associated consistently with bladder cancer. Researchers then re-examined the PSCA gene region and found rs2294008 was the only common missense genetic variation in the PSCA region. A missense mutation occurs at a single point in the genome and swaps one amino acid for another in a protein. Low levels of PSCA were found in the bladders of healthy people, but it was over-produced in the majority of patients with bladder cancer. Previous reports suggest that measurement of PSCA in urine may be a simple and accurate marker to help diagnose bladder cancer. Potential for chemoprevention, treatment Next, the group plans to fully analyze data jointly with other participating centers, possibly uncovering additional genes for bladder cancer. Wu said she hopes the group"s findings will help targeted bladder cancer prevention efforts. "When we"ve identified all the genes that are linked to bladder cancer, we plan to develop a web-based tool so physicians can calculate accurately and easily a patient"s risk of getting the disease," she said. "Early identification of risk may help save lives with chemoprevention or early treatment." In addition, Wu"s team is working with a hospital in Spain to compare findings of the study to clinical outcomes. "How do these genes affect survival, recurrence and progression of bladder cancer?" she said. "As we get more information, we hope to be able to predict clinical outcomes and optimize therapy." Other M. D. Anderson authors on the study included Yuanqing Ye, Ph.D., Jie Lin, Ph.D., David W. Chang, Ph.D., Christopher I. Amos, Ph.D., and Jian Gu, Ph.D., of the Department of Epidemiology; Colin P. Dinney, M.D., and H. Barton Grossman, M.D., of the Department of Urology; Bogdan Czerniak, M.D., Ph.D., and Tadeusz Majewski, M.D., Ph.D., of the Department of Pathology; and Gordon B. Mills, M.D., Ph.D., and Katherine S. Hale, Ph.D., of the Department of Systems Biology. This study was supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute and funding from M. D. Anderson"s Kleberg Center for Molecular Markers. Scott Merville University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center


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