Lifeboat Foundation

Ubiquitous Potential

While many gene-editing therapies are focused on fatal genetic diseases, epigenetic editing’s safety profile may enable the treatment of more common diseases. The fact that no underlying changes are made to the DNA sequence “offers some additional safety assurances for this approach compared to some others where the risk/benefit [ratio] needs to be maybe a little different before you would employ those technologies,” Kane told BioSpace.

Additionally, because most common diseases are not driven by genetic mutations, epigenetic editing may be a better fit. “Most of those diseases are driven from expression levels being at an unhealthy level,” Kane said. “That is something that a tool like epi[genetic] editing is uniquely well-suited to address.”

🧬🔬🎗

Research identifies vitamin D receptors (VDR) in breast cancer tumors as a promising prognostic marker, linking VDR presence to tumor characteristics, survival outcomes, and potentially informing treatment strategies.

Study uncovers proteomic signatures in blood plasma and cervicovaginal fluid that could lead to non-invasive detection methods for endometrial cancer, demonstrating significant potential for early diagnosis and improved patient outcomes.

Link :

The project has secured £1.7 million.

The Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI) reported new findings from the (GEMCAD)-1402 trial, which investigated the addition of aflibercept in the treatment of locally advanced rectal adenocarcinoma.

During cell division, a ring forms around the cell equator, which contracts to divide the cell into two daughter cells. Together with researchers from Heidelberg, Dresden, Tübingen and Harvard, Professor Jan Kierfeld and Lukas Weise from the Department of Physics at TU Dortmund University have succeeded for the first time in synthesizing such a contractile ring with the help of DNA nanotechnology and to uncover its contraction mechanism.

The results have been published in the journal Nature Communications (“Triggered contraction of self-assembled micron-scale DNA nanotube rings”).

In synthetic biology, researchers try to recreate crucial mechanisms of life in vitro, such as cell division. The aim is to be able to synthesize minimal cells. The research team led by Professor Kerstin Göpfrich from Heidelberg University has now synthetically reproduced contractile rings for cell division using polymer rings composed of DNA nanotubes.

In support of a major collaborative project to store massive amounts of data in DNA molecules, a Los Alamos National Laboratory–led team has developed a key enabling technology that translates digital binary files into the four-letter genetic alphabet needed for molecular storage.

“Our software, the Adaptive DNA Storage Codec (ADS Codex), translates data files from what a computer understands into what biology understands,” said Latchesar Ionkov, a computer scientist at Los Alamos and principal investigator on the project. “It’s like translating from English to Chinese, only harder.”

DNA offers a compact way to store huge amounts of data cost-effectively. Los Alamos National Laboratory has developed ADS Codex to translate the 0s and 1s of digital computer files into the four-letter code of DNA.

In the mid-1990’s, MEMS emerged in industrial manufacturing in a major way and MEMS components began appearing in numerous commercial products and applications including force sensors used to control brake deployment in vehicles, blood pressure sensors, inkjet printer heads, miniature analytical instruments, fiber-optic network components, air-and spacecraft control and of course military applications like surveillance and munitions guidance.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a rare and aggressive hematologic malignancy. AML progresses rapidly and is indicated by an excess of immature white blood cells. It is caused by high mutational burden over the span of a person’s life. One signature mutated gene includes the tumor suppressor gene TP53. Normally, TP53 helps make protein to stop oncogenesis or the formation of tumors. However, mutated TP53 loses that function and commonly results in AML. Unfortunately, those that have a TP53 mutation have an extremely aggressive tumor that is resistant to conventional chemotherapy drugs and results in poor prognosis. Other standard treatments include stem-cells transplants, and sometimes targeted drugs such as intracellular pathway inhibitors. Although many treatments are routine and help the patient reduce symptoms, there is no cure. Extensive research is currently being done by researchers and physicians to identify new approaches for AML treatment.

One novel therapy used in other hematologic malignancies includes chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy. This therapy takes immune T cells (responsible for lysing or kill infections) from the patient or a donor and engineers them to target the tumor. Normally, these T cells would not recognize tumor growth, therefore, the engineered CAR-T cells are programmed to elicit an immune response and recognize surface markers on the tumor to lyse it. This therapy has been successful in other leukemias such as B-cell acute leukemia, and researchers are working to overcome treatment resistant AML using the same approach.

A recent article in EMBO Molecular Medicine, by Drs. Markus Manz, Stephen Boettcher and others, demonstrate that TP53-mutated AML is resistant to CAR-T cell therapy as a single agent, but can be overcome through combination therapy. Manz and Boettcher are principal investigators from the University of Zurich and the Department of Medical Oncology and Hematology at the University Hospital Zurich (USZ) and focus on mechanisms surrounding hematological diseases. The Zurich team first reported why TP53-mutated AML is resistant to CAR-T cell therapy. Using various models, it was noted that the engineered T cells quickly become ‘exhausted’ or inactive due to overstimulation or surrounding stimuli. The team further studied the underlying mechanism in this disease by concluding that TP53-deficient cells caused resistance through several metabolic pathways. Moreover, these pathways including the mevalonate and Wnt pathways were identified to improve therapeutic efficacy.