When attacked by chemotherapy, all cancer cells have the ability to start hibernating in order to wait out the threat, finds new research.
Researchers discover that cancer cells go into hibernation to avoid chemotherapy effects.
Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,513
Papers referenced in the video:
Sirtuins, Healthspan, and Longevity in Mammals.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780124115965000034
Sirt1 extends life span and delays aging in mice through the regulation of Nk2 homeobox 1 in the DMH and LH
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24011076/
Resveratrol improves health and survival of mice on a high-calorie diet.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17086191/
Rapamycin, But Not Resveratrol or Simvastatin, Extends Life Span of Genetically Heterogeneous Mice.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20974732/
Sirt1 improves healthy ageing and protects from metabolic syndrome-associated cancer.
To keep the longevity train rolling it may not be enough to cure diseases. We may also need to address the underlying condition of aging itself, which is, after all, the primary risk factor for late-life decline.
What happens if we slow down aging?
Fate Therapeutics on Thursday reported new results from two early-stage studies testing two types of experimental leukemia treatments that use natural killer cells, an emerging form of cancer immunotherapy.
Research into NK cell treatments remains early, and the field has significant hurdles still to overcome, like proving how potent their effects are and how long they last. It’s unclear what role they’ll play in cancer care. But encouraging signs are emerging, most notably from a lymphoma treatment developed by the MD Anderson Cancer Center.
The field’s progress has led to the launch of multiple startups and elevated the profile of biotechs like Fate and Nkarta Therapeutics, the most advanced, publicly traded companies developing the technology. NK cells are “becoming a very important tool and cell type within this fight against cancer,” said CRISPR Therapeutics CEO Sam Kulkarni in an interview after the biotech formed a broad partnership with Nkarta last week.
Both Fate and Nkarta have begun with acute myeloid leukemia, for which there is a history of “naked,” or non-engineered donor, NK cells being successfully used to treat patients with the disease. The biotechs aim to prove engineered versions that are mass-produced as “off-the-shelf” therapies can be just as effective or better than NK cell transplants.
Scientists have been aware of the existence of stem cells since the 1900’s, but it wasn’t until the turn of the millennium that the medical community (and in turn the public) sat up and took notice of their potential. Unfortunately, the first public debut of stem cell therapy in the eyes of the public was through the political and moral minefield of deriving stem cell lines from human embryos. It was long before religious and secular objections lead to President Bush Banning any Federal funding for studies utilising newly created stem cell lines. The public opinion of stem cells was extremely polarised, with the public split heavily down the middle, between support and condemnation. What happened next was unfortunately as predictable as the tide coming in.
To compensate for the pushback against stem cell research, more and more extravagant claims were made in support of stem cells. Although most of these claims were based upon perfectly reasonable extrapolation from what was known of the potential for stem cells, the time frame in which these advances could be made was wildly underestimated. Confounding that problem was the fact that it would be many years until a method through which stem cells could be reverse engineered from a patient’s tissue, which meant that medical treatments had to based around stem cell lines derived from embryonic stem cell lines, which as discusses previously was an ethical nightmare, as well as being logically untenable for the majority of people (as most people don’t have embryonic tissue samples stored away for future use). Great promises were made to the public, without a full understanding of what was needed in order to get stem cell therapy to a functional level.
Check out this short educational video in which I explain some super exciting research in the area of nanotechnology: gigadalton-scale DNA origami! I specifically discuss a journal article by Wagenbauer et al. titled “Gigadalton-scale shape-programmable DNA assemblies”.
Here, I explain an exciting nanotechnology paper “Gigadalton-scale shape-programmable DNA assemblies” (https://doi.org/10.1038/nature24651).
Though I am not involved in this research myself, I have worked in adjacent areas such as synthetic biology, nanotechnology-based tools for neuroscience, and gene therapy. I am endlessly fascinated by DNA origami and would love to use it in my own research at some point in the future.
I am a PhD candidate at Washington University in St. Louis and the CTO of the startup company Conduit Computing. I am also a published science fiction writer and a futurist. To learn more about me, check out my website: https://logancollinsblog.com/.
“Because of this male-specific effect, we investigated the effects of MPH through the paternal line and observed the same behaviors in several generations of their descendants not directly administered the drug.”
Summary: A new study of male guppies reveals behaviors affected by methylphenidate hydrochloride (MPH), an active ingredient in common ADHD medications, can be passed along to future generations.
Source: University of Toronto
By studying guppies, scientists at the University of Toronto and Florida State University found that behaviors affected by methylphenidate hydrochloride (MPH) – the active ingredient in stimulants such as Ritalin and Concerta used to treat ADHD—can be passed along to several generations of descendants.
“We exposed male and female Trinidadian guppies to a low, steady dose of MPH and saw that it affected the anxiety and stress-related behavior of males, but not females,” said Alex De Serrano, a Ph.D. candidate in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology (EEB) in the Faculty of Arts & Science and lead author of a study published recently in Scientific Reports.
Summary: Researchers have identified significant differences in gene activity between the anterior and posterior areas of the hippocampus. Genes associated with depression and other mood disorders are more active in the anterior hippocampus, while genes linked to cognitive disorders, such as ASD, are more active in the posterior hippocampus.
Source: UT Southwestern Medical Center.
A study of gene activity in the brain’s hippocampus, led by UT Southwestern researchers, has identified marked differences between the region’s anterior and posterior portions.
## JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY • JUN 4, 2021.
# *A lovely single step bio-inspired process with some interesting complex benefits particularly for humans on Mars.*
*by holly ober, university of california — riverside*
A team led by UC Riverside engineers has developed a catalyst to remove a dangerous chemical from water on Earth that could also make Martian soil safer for agriculture and help produce oxygen for human Mars explorers.
Perchlorate, a negative ion consisting of one chlorine atom bonded to four oxygen atoms, occurs naturally in some soils on Earth, and is especially abundant in Martian soil. As a powerful oxidizer, perchlorate is also manufactured and used in solid rocket fuel, fireworks, munitions, airbag initiators for vehicles, matches and signal flares. It is a byproduct in some disinfectants and herbicides.
Because of its ubiquity in both soil and industrial goods, perchlorate is a common water contaminant that causes certain thyroid disorders. Perchlorate bioaccumulates in plant tissues and a large amount of perchlorate found in Martian soil could make food grown there unsafe to eat, limiting the potential for human settlements on Mars. Perchlorate in Martian dust could also be hazardous to explorers. Current methods of removing perchlorate from water require either harsh conditions or a multistep enzymatic process to lower the oxidation state of the chlorine element into the harmless chloride ion.
Doctoral student Changxu Ren and Jinyong Liu, an assistant professor of chemical and environmental engineering at UC Riverside’s Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering, took inspiration from nature to reduce perchlorate in water at ambient pressure and temperature in one simple step.