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Category: biotech/medical – Page 1,538

Scientists pinpoint protein that helps cancer-causing viruses evade immune response

The viruses Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) have been linked to several cancers. For the first time, UNC School of Medicine scientists have discovered that these viruses use a human protein called barrier-to-autointegration factor 1, or BAF, to evade our innate immune response, allowing the viruses to spread and cause disease.

These findings, published in Nature Communications, suggest that BAF and related proteins could be therapeutic targets to prevent these viruses from spreading and leading to cancers, such as Kaposi sarcoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, multicentric Castleman disease, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and gastric cancer.

“Viruses are in a constant battle with the cellular immune system, which includes the protein cyclic GMP-AMP synthase, or cGAS, which binds to viral DNA and sounds the alarm to trigger immune responses and fight the viral invaders,” said senior author Blossom Damania, Ph.D., the Boshamer Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and member of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. “We’ve discovered that KSHV and EBV use a different host cell protein, BAF, to prevent cGAS from sounding the alarm.”

Exclusive: Bill Gates On Advising OpenAI, Microsoft And Why AI Is ‘The Hottest Topic Of 2023’

The Microsoft cofounder talked to Forbes about his work with AI unicorn OpenAI and back on Microsoft’s campus, AI’s potential impact on jobs and in medicine, and much more.

In 2020, Bill Gates left the board of directors of Microsoft, the tech giant he cofounded in 1975. But he still spends about 10% of his time at its Redmond, Washington headquarters, meeting with product teams, he says. A big topic of discussion for those sessions: artificial intelligence, and the ways AI can change how we work — and how we use Microsoft software products to do it.

“Remarkable” Results — Scientists Discover That a Dietary Supplement Could Fix a Broken Heart

Osaka University researchers discover that taking tricaprin regularly in your diet leads to a reduction in coronary artery plaque and an improvement of symptoms for patients with triglyceride deposit cardiomyovasculopathy.

As children, our parents encouraged us to take vitamins for growth and strength. Now, Japanese researchers have found that a specific supplement may even repair a broken heart.

In a study that was recently published in the European Heart Journal, researchers from Osaka University discovered that a dietary supplement can significantly improve heart disease symptoms in a subset of patients.

Will Revitalizing Old Blood Slow Aging?

Rejuvenating an older person’s blood may now be within reach, based on recent findings from Passegué’s lab published in Nature Cell Biology(link is external and opens in a new window).

Passegué, with her graduate student Carl Mitchell, found that an anti-inflammatory drug, already approved for use in rheumatoid arthritis, can turn back time in mice and reverse some of the effects of age on the hematopoietic system.

Nature article:

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41556-022-01053-0

Young blood may be an elixir for older bodies, rejuvenating aging hearts, muscles, and brains. But how can old blood become young again? Columbia stem cell scientists may have found a way.

Depression and Anxiety Exhaust the Heart, Literally

A 1967 publication titled “Mortality of Bereavement” discovered that bereaved relatives had a 7-fold increased risk of dying within the following year. Despite that the cause of death was undetermined, this is the first scientific evidence indicating that extreme sadness kills.

Coined in 1991, Takotsubo cardiomyopathy — or broken heart syndrome — mimic aspects of a heart attack such as shortness of breath, fainting, and chest pain. But, oddly, they have no blocked arteries. Instead, some parts of the heart stopped moving and other heart muscles try to compensate for this. This turns the heart into an irregular shape, like that of an octopus pot — hence, the name “Takotsubo” (‘Tako’ means octopus and ‘tsubo’ means pot in Japanese). This condition is reversible but can be fatal at times. Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is triggered by intense emotions or stressful life events such as the death of a loved one and losing (or even winning) a lot of money. This is why “heartbroken” from sadness is a legitimate phenomenon.

Research advances further confirm that sadness, or more accurately emotional stress, destroy the heart in many ways. The mind-heart connection extends to far more than just the broken heart syndrome. Convincing epidemiological evidence ascertains that emotional pains can lead to heart diseases, the major killer worldwide, and this linkage is underpinned by biology.

Blobs of human brain planted in rats offer new treatment hope

The team behind the work suggest that eventually doctors might be able to grow blobs of brain tissue from a patient’s own cells in the lab and use them to repair brain injuries caused by stroke or trauma.

“This is incredibly exciting to me as a physician,” said Isaac Chen, a physician and assistant professor of neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania.

The study is the latest in the rapidly growing and ethically complex field of brain organoids. Scientists have shown that when cultivated in the right conditions, neurons begin to form tiny brain-like structures, allowing scientists to investigate developmental conditions such as autism and a wide range of basic neuroscience questions.

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