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Fears loom over the discovery of a new variant of COVID-19. What do we know so far?
Category: biotech/medical – Page 1562
Using CRISPR to alter the genetics of astrocytes in mice, researchers hope they’ve discovered how to regenerate neurons in patients with Parkinsons disease.
Using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tools, researchers introduced a common Parkinson’s disease mutation into stems cells of the marmoset monkey for a first time, paving the way toward a primate model of this disease.
As we approach the end of 2020, according to the U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI), we have had approximately 1, 806, 590 new cases of cancer diagnosed in the United States, with 606, 520 deaths. Cancer continues to be the leading causes of death worldwide. In 2018, there were 18.1 million new cases and 9.5 million cancer-related deaths worldwide.
By 2040, the number of new cancer cases per year is expected to rise to 29.5 million and the number of cancer-related deaths to 16.4 million.
Dr. Azra Raza, MD, is the Chan Soon-Shiong Professor of Medicine, in the Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology / Oncology, and Director of the Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) Center, at the Columbia University Medical Center.
Previously, Dr. Raza was the Chief of Hematology-Oncology and the Gladys Smith Martin Professor of Oncology at the University of Massachusetts.
Circa 2002
The potential threat of biological warfare with a specific agent is proportional to the susceptibility of the population to that agent. Preventing disease after exposure to a biological agent is partially a function of the immunity of the exposed individual. The only available countermeasure that can provide immediate immunity against a biological agent is passive antibody. Unlike vaccines, which require time to induce protective immunity and depend on the host’s ability to mount an immune response, passive antibody can theoretically confer protection regardless of the immune status of the host. Passive antibody therapy has substantial advantages over antimicrobial agents and other measures for postexposure prophylaxis, including low toxicity and high specific activity. Specific antibodies are active against the major agents of bioterrorism, including anthrax, smallpox, botulinum toxin, tularemia, and plague. This article proposes a biological defense initiative based on developing, producing, and stockpiling specific antibody reagents that can be used to protect the population against biological warfare threats.
Defense strategies against biological weapons include such measures as enhanced epidemiologic surveillance, vaccination, and use of antimicrobial agents, with the important caveat that the final line of defense is the immune system of the exposed individual. The potential threat of biological warfare and bioterrorism is inversely proportional to the number of immune persons in the targeted population. Thus, biological agents are potential weapons only against populations with a substantial proportion of susceptible persons. For example, smallpox virus would not be considered a useful biological weapon against a population universally immunized with vaccinia.
Vaccination can reduce the susceptibility of a population against specific threats provided that a safe vaccine exists that can induce a protective response. Unfortunately, inducing a protective response by vaccination may take longer than the time between exposure and onset of disease. Moreover, many vaccines require multiple doses to achieve a protective immune response, which would limit their usefulness in an emergency vaccination program to provide rapid prophylaxis after an attack. In fact, not all vaccine recipients mount a protective response, even after receiving the recommended immunization schedule. Persons with impaired immunity are often unable to generate effective response to vaccination, and certain vaccines may be contraindicated for them (1). For example, the vaccine against hepatitis B does not elicit an antibody response in approximately 10% of vaccines, and the percentage of nonresponders is substantially higher in immunocompromised persons (1).
O,.o circa 2018.
Bats’ extraordinary super-immunity long has fascinated virologists.
The U.S. military has a long history of enlisting the help of animals in warfare. The bottlenose dolphin’s sophisticated bio sonar enabled the Navy to detect and clear underwater bombs during the Iraq War, and homing pigeons played a vital role as secret messengers during both world wars, with some awarded medals for bravery.
But there is one animal the military has had significantly less success in conscripting, and that is the bat.
Hong Kong scientists claim they have made a potential breakthrough discovery in the fight against infectious diseases—a chemical that could slow the spread of deadly viral illnesses.
A team from the University of Hong Kong described the newly discovered chemical as “highly potent in interrupting the life cycle of diverse viruses” in a study published this month in the journal Nature Communications.
The scientists told AFP Monday that it could one day be used as a broad-spectrum antiviral for a host of infectious diseases —and even for viruses that have yet to emerge—if it passes clinical trials.
As reported online Oct. 2, 2019, by Molecular Cell, a Harvard team was able to use the gene editing tool CRISPR to kill certain viruses, including the influenza virus, in a laboratory dish.
Katalin Karikó saw her early research rejected but she persisted and is now tipped for a Nobel Prize together with her colleague Dr Drew Weissman. Their breakthrough invention is now the key to the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines, and could open the door to new medical cures. (Leer en español)
Dr. Steve Horvath, a professor of genetics and biostatistics at UCLA, has found a way to measure biological aging – a type of “clock” – based on the methylation pattern of an organism’s genome. Methylations are biochemical processes that modify the activity of a DNA segment without changing its sequence – a type of epigenetic change. This video primer explains the basics of epigenetic clocks, the topic of our interview with Dr. Steve Horvath, coming soon!
Get the show notes here:
https://www.foundmyfitness.com/episodes/epigenetic-clock/
Episode highlights:
• 00:00:09 — A person’s risk of disease is more dependent on their biological age than their chronological age.
• 00:00:09 — Epigenetics refers to processes that can affect gene expression without changing the DNA sequence. Methylation is a type of epigenetic change that occurs over a lifetime in a predictable way and can be used to measure biological age.
• 00:01:17 — The Horvath clock can accurately predict a person’s chronological age based on only the epigenetic information in their blood.
• 00:01:54 — The GrimAge clock can predict the risk and time of onset of cancer, heart disease, and death.
• 00:02:19 — Certain drugs can reverse a person’s epigenetic age, but the effects on biological age are unknown.
• 00:03:09 — The discovery of an anti-aging drug is on the horizon.