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A neurosurgeon in Australia pulled a wriggling 3-inch roundworm from the brain of a 64-year-old woman last year—which was quite the surprise to the woman’s team of doctors and infectious disease experts, who had spent over a year trying to identify the cause of her recurring and varied symptoms.
A close study of the extracted worm made clear why the diagnosis was so hard to pin down: the roundworm was one known to infect snakes—specifically carpet pythons endemic to the area where the woman lived—as well as the pythons’ mammalian prey. The woman is thought to be the first reported human to ever have an infection with this snake-adapted worm, and it is the first time the worm has been found burrowing through a mammalian brain.
When the woman’s illness began, “trying to identify the microscopic larvae, which had never previously been identified as causing human infection, was a bit like trying to find a needle in a haystack,” Karina Kennedy, a professor at the Australian National University (ANU) Medical School and Director of Clinical Microbiology at Canberra Hospital, said in a press release.
The Y chromosome, which normally confers male characteristics, features large amounts of repetitive DNA, which meant it was difficult to compile a complete sequence until now.
Naked mole rats are rodents that are about the size of a mouse with a key difference, aside from having no fur — they’re extremely long-lived — reaching ages of around 40 years old. For comparison, lab mice live an average of about three and a half years. To explain their extensive lifespans, researchers have sought to pinpoint how naked mole rats evade the onset of age-related diseases like cancer. In doing so, they’ve identified a form of gelatinous substance called hyaluronan, which has anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties. Now, the question of whether the benefits of the naked mole rat’s abundant levels of this form of hyaluronan — called high molecular mass hyaluronic acid (HMM-HA) — can be exported to other species has recently drawn attention.
Published in Nature, Gorbunova and colleagues from the University of Rochester show that genetically modifying mice to harbor an enzyme that produces HMM-HA extends their lifespan. The researchers go on to show that increasing HMM-HA reduces the prevalence of cancer. Additionally, the nmrHAS2 gene improves the healthspan of mice by countering physiological dysfunction, as measured with a frailty score. These findings provide the first evidence that genes from long-lived species can be exported to other species, perhaps conferring benefits to humans one day.
From the early stages of cell mutations starting in puberty to their manifestations as breast cancer in later years, the entire process has remained shrouded in mystery.
Now, a team of researchers at Kyoto University has revealed the mechanism by which breast cancer is formed in the cells of the mammalian epithelium, whose main function is to secrete milk. The paper is published in the journal Nature.
According to the team’s first analysis, approximately 20 mutations accumulate annually in each epithelial cell until menopause. After menopause, however, the mutation rate significantly decreases.
For weeks, a cyberattack paralyzed the German district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld in 2021, bringing its whole administration to a standstill. It was a stark illustration of how hackers can knock out entire communities in milliseconds — and how digital technology has become vital for running our societies.
Such “critical digital infrastructure” helps boost efficiency. But it also makes communities ever more vulnerable to hacking. And attacks are on the rise. In this episode of Techtopia, DW Chief Technology Correspondent Janosch Delcker investigates how a criminal industry makes billions by taking computers hostage — and how governments can use similar methods as a political weapon.
A team of scientists at the City of Hope Hospital – one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States – has recently developed what could potentially be a “holy grail” molecule that can effectively eradicate all solid cancer tumors while leaving healthy cells unaffected.
In preclinical trials, this molecule – called AOH1996 – was found to target and eradicate the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) protein, which usually contributes to the growth and repair of a variety of cancer tumors.
Most of the previous targeted anti-cancer therapies focus on a single pathway, enabling cancers to mutate and eventually become resistant. By contrast, since AOH1996 targets a cancerous variant of PCNA, a protein that in its mutated form is crucial in DNA replication and repair of all types of tumors, its effectiveness is higher and its range of action significantly broader.
Plants possess the unique ability to completely regenerate from a somatic cell, i.e., an ordinary cell that does not typically participate in reproduction. This process involves the de novo (or new) formation of a shoot apical meristem (SAM) that gives rise to lateral organs, which are key for the plant’s reconstruction.
On a cellular scale, the formation of SAM is meticulously controlled by either positive or negative regulators (genes/protein molecules) that may induce or restrict shoot regeneration, respectively. But which molecules are involved? Are there other regulatory layers that are yet to be uncovered?
To seek answers to the above questions, a research group led by Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST), Japan studied the process in Arabidopsis, a plant commonly used in genetic research.
In this article, the fourth installment of our five-part series on different pathways of aging, we look at the rejuvenation of cells, tissues, and stem cells, a topic that has been gaining increasing popularity thanks to remarkable advancements in the field of epigenetic reprogramming. Recent research suggests that despite the accumulation of molecular damage over time, cells and tissues can indeed undergo rejuvenation. We’ll be exploring key subjects such as Epigenetic reprogramming, PGC1a and GSK3β, Telomerase (TERT), as well as Apoptosis and senescence. Join us on this enlightening journey as we uncover the groundbreaking discoveries that are shaping the future of aging research.
The idea for reprogramming was simple yet beautiful. Children are born young, even though their parents are old, because they have undergone a process of cellular reprogramming that leads to rejuvenation.
Radiation therapy is a key component of care for many types of cancers. But some tumors can be more difficult than others to treat. Cancers in the lungs, for example, move with each breath, while tumors that have metastasized to many places in the body can require repeated radiation sessions.
Earlier this week, Stanford Medicine launched a new method of delivering radiation that uses signals from cancer-targeting molecules called tracers to target tumors in real time. It is the first time the new approach, known as biology-guided radiation therapy or SCINTIXTM, has been used in a clinic.
