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Category: biotech/medical – Page 34

Russia Develops ‘Anti-Aging Vaccine’ Targeting Cellular Aging

Russia is developing what officials have described as a “vaccine against aging,” a gene therapy drug aimed at slowing cellular aging by blocking a receptor linked to age-related changes in the body, the deputy science minister said Thursday.

Denis Sekirinsky, Russia’s deputy science and higher education minister, said the experimental treatment would target the RAGE receptor, which he said triggers cellular aging when activated.

“The RAGE gene is a receptor whose activation launches the aging of the cell. Blocking this gene, on the contrary, can prolong its youth,” Sekirinsky said at a healthy longevity conference in the Volga city of Saransk, according to the state-run TASS news agency.

Women’s immune systems show bigger age-related changes than men’s, study reveals

Statistics show clear differences in the population’s immune system according to sex: men are more susceptible to infections and cancers, while women have stronger immune responses, which translate, for example, into better responses to vaccines. Even so, with a more reactive immune system, the probability of the body attacking itself also increases, causing 80% of autoimmune disease development to occur in women.

In this context, understanding the aging of the immune system is key since, with age, the composition of immune cells changes and their protective functions deteriorate, causing a greater susceptibility to diseases. However, understanding how sex influences this profound transformation was not possible until now.

A new study by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center—Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) published today in Nature Aging demonstrated, for the first time, that immunological aging follows different dynamics between men and women, identifying the cells and genes responsible for the process, and providing a molecular explanation for the differences that previously were only observed globally in the population.

The antimetastatic effects of calorie restriction are negated by voluntary exercise in an aggressive breast cancer mouse model

The role of lifestyle interventions in treatment success has become essential for nearly every disease. Healthy dietary habits, regular exercise, and stress management are key pillars that can improve quality of life during treatment, as well as delay disease onset and progression. In this study, we focus on the combination of mild calorie restriction (CR) and voluntary exercise as coadjuvants to chemotherapy in the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer using the 4T1 mouse model. In this model, voluntary exercise did not add benefits beyond chemotherapy plus CR in terms of primary tumor size, body composition, or physical performance, while dampening the antimetastatic effect of CR in the lungs of sedentary mice. These findings highlight the challenges of translating results from one preclinical model to another, and ultimately to humans.

Cell-by-cell analysis uncovers 345 risk genes across six neuropsychiatric disorders

The emergence of neuropsychiatric disorders, conditions that affect various brain functions and behaviors, is known to be driven by an intricate combination of factors. These can include both a genetic predisposition and exposure to traumatic events or other external circumstances.

Over the past decades, many neuroscience studies have tried to shed light on the origins of different mental health disorders. However, the biological, cellular and molecular mechanisms underpinning these disorders have not yet been clearly elucidated.

Researchers at Peking University Sixth Hospital and Peking University Institute of Mental Health recently analyzed genetic data collected from patients diagnosed with six different neuropsychiatric disorders, to better delineate the genes and cell types that contribute to their emergence. Their paper, published in Molecular Psychiatry, identifies 345 genes expressed in different types of cells that were linked to an increased risk of developing these disorders.

Metabolic inflammation at the adipose-brain axis

Adipose-brain axis in metabolic inflammation.

White adipose tissue (WAT) in addition to storing excess energy also releases cytokines, lipid mediators, adipokines, and extracellular vesicles that influence brain physiology.

The inflammatory mediators disrupt key brain interfaces, including the blood-brain barrier (BBB), perivascular and glymphatic clearance pathways, promoting endothelial dysfunction, altered astrocyte-pericyte support, impaired amyloid-b clearance, and region-specific glial activation.

In the brain, obesity-associated neuroinflammation leads to various neuronal dysfunction including cognition.

The authors discuss the role of adipokines in adipose-brain communication during obesity including how they contribute to neuroinflammation and synaptic dysfunction.

The authors also discuss therapeutic strategies targeting the adipose-brain axis, including exercise and dietary interventions and pharmacological approaches such as orlistat and incretin-based therapies. sciencenewshighlights ScienceMission https://sciencemission.com/adipose-brain-axis

Continue reading “Metabolic inflammation at the adipose-brain axis” | >

Mysterious black goo discovered aboard ship reveals species unknown to science

“The biggest surprise was that the ship goo had life in it at all,” researcher Cody Sheik, who discovered the substance, said in a press release. “We thought we’d find nothing. But surprisingly, we found DNA, and it wasn’t too destroyed, nor was the biomass too low.”

After further analysis, the team reconstructed 20 genomes from the sample. Some appear to represent entirely new branches of life, including what could be a previously unknown order of archaea and even a new bacterial phylum.

Inside the goo, scientists found microbes that thrive in semi-warm environments with no oxygen — conditions that closely match those inside the ship’s mechanical systems. Researchers believe the organisms may have hitchhiked on oil used to grease the rudder, remaining dormant until conditions allowed them to grow.

Scientists Develop New Antibody For Virus That Infects 95% of People

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is one of the world’s most common viruses, thought to be lurking in 95 percent of adults. For most, it causes no obvious symptoms.

But EBV is more than a short-term infection.

Once it enters the body, EBV can stay for life, and it has been linked to several cancers, multiple sclerosis, and other severe health complications. Now, new research has given us a promising way to fight it.

Stealth switch in tuberculosis enzyme could open route to drug-resistant treatment

Recent research published in Communications Biology marks an advance in structural biology by enhancing understanding of protein regulation mechanisms in Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), a global health threat. The team led by the University of Melbourne combined several advanced techniques at the Australian Synchrotron and the National Deuteration Facility to reveal the hidden allosteric mechanism that activates a key enzyme, ICL2.

The study opens a target pathway to treat drug-resistant TB with modulators that can interfere with the enzyme’s “on switch.” Traditional drugs often targeted the enzyme’s active site, which is difficult to block effectively.

However, ICL2 is unique to mycobacteria and is essential for the survival of the TB bacterium during infection, especially when it is starved of sugar and forced to live on fats.

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