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Common barbiturate inhibits colon cancer spread: Study Washington:
Researchers from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
have revealed that a barbiturate once commonly used to treat anxiety
may play a role in controlling the spread of colon cancer. Their experimental
model of colon cancer - work done in cell cultures and animal studies
- demonstrates that the drug, Nembutal, can suppress activity in colon
cancer cells the same way it inhibits certain kinds of neurotransmissions
in the brain and central nervous system. The results, presented at the
annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, suggest
a novel approach to treatment of cancers now known to have neurotransmitter
receptors on the outside of their cells. That includes, to date, colon
and some ovarian cancers. "This is the first experimental evidence that
Nembutal is a potent inhibitor of colon cancer metastasis," said the
study's first author, Premal Thaker, a clinical fellow in the Department
of Gynecologic Oncology. "These findings may have therapeutic implications
for treatment, but more work needs to be done before we know that."
Scientists have only recently discovered that the surfaces of colon
cancer cells are studded with receptors for gamma- aminobutyric acid
(GABA), an inhibitory neurotransmitter. Antarctic cod fish hold key to cardiac research (Go To Top) Washington:
New research reveals that a species of fish that lives in the waters
of the Antarctic may hold clues to climate change and lead to advances
in heart medicine. Researchers at the University of Birmingham, UK and
the British Antarctic Survey are investigating the physiology of the
little- known 'Antarctic Cod' that has a heart rate of less than 10
bpm and has survived in Antarctica's extreme environment for around
30 million years. It maintains a very low heart rate of less than 10
beats per minute and has 'anti-freeze' in its blood and for the first
time, researchers will attempt to determine the how the fish evolved
to live in Antarctica. Discovering how the species may cope with predicted
environmental change could help stock management or conservation of
biodiversity within the Southern Ocean. It is possible that this work
may lead to advances in medicine, especially relating to the problems
experienced by human hearts. The findings can be applied when hearts
are made to beat slowly during surgery involving heart-lung bypass or
fail to beat fast enough, for instance as a result of hypothermia in
water or exposure on a mountain. Fifth form of carbon to aid diagnostics found (Go To Top) Washington: In a new breakthrough, scientists at the Australian National University in Canberra have created what seems like designer carbon: a spongy solid that is extremely lightweight and, unusually, attracted to magnets. Called 'nanofoam' it is believed to help treat cancer and enhance brain scans, according to a report in The Age. The physicists bombarded a carbon target with a laser capable of firing 10,000 pulses a second. As the carbon reached temperatures of around 10,000 :C, it formed an intersecting web of carbon tubes, a few billionths of a metre long. John Giapintzakis of the University of Crete has used an electron microscope to study the structure of the nanofoam. He says it is the fifth form of carbon known after graphite, diamond and two recently discovered types: hollow spheres, known as buckminsterfullerenes or buckyballs, and nanotubes. He further says that the foam is attracted to magnets. But studies in his lab show that the effect wears off after a few hours at room temperature. The foam could be used to help image blood flow, for example, using magnetic resonance imaging machines. These devices produce a detailed image of the body by exploiting the fact that different types of tissue responds to magnetic fields in different ways. If the nanofoam were to be injected into the bloodstream, it could highlight the areas where blood flows.
According to David Tomanek of Michigan State University, it could also
help treat tumours.He points out that the new structure is very bad
at transferring heat. So the foam could be injected into tumours, and
the tumours exposed to infrared radiations. The foam would absorb the
radiation and kill the tumour as it heated up, he suggests, without
heating the surrounding tissue. Stem cells do not to turn into heart cells: Study (Go To Top) Washington:
There is no evidence to suggest that hematopoietic stem cells, which
usually produce blood cells, can turn into heart cells after injection
into the heart. According to two studies published in the online issue
of Nature, caution has been advised insofar as interpreting the results
of ongoing clinical studies in which hematopoietic stem cells are injected
into the heart after a heart attack. "These studies demonstrate that
the stem cells tested do not form new heart muscle when injected into
damaged organs," said Dr. Loren Field, professor of medicine and pediatrics
at the Indiana University School of Medicine and senior author of one
of the papers. "This suggests that the functional benefit seen in clinical
trials may arise from other mechanisms, and raises the possibility that
there may be alternative and perhaps more efficacious ways to accomplish
this," he added. Both research teams injected bone-marrow-derived hematopoetic
stem cells into the damaged hearts of living mice and used marker proteins
to monitor the injected cells. They report that although some of the
transplanted cells appeared to survive, they did not appear to differentiate
into new heart muscle cells. Instead they matured into cells of the
traditional blood lineage. Croton plants may hold cure for prostate cancer: Study (Go To Top) Washington:
A shrub found in South-east Asia can give lead to a rash like poison
ivy but it may also stop prostate cancer. The croton plant, long known
to oriental herbalists and homeopaths as a purgative, has an oil in
its seeds that shows promise for the treatment of prostate cancer. The
active ingredient in the oil is 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate,
a compound generally known as TPA. The finding was reported in the March
1, 2004, issue of Cancer Research by Xi Zheng, Allan Conney and other
scientists at the Susan Lehman Cullman Laboratory for Cancer Research
at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and the Cancer Institute
of New Jersey (CINJ). "We demonstrated that TPA could simultaneously
stop the growth of new prostate cancer cells, kill existing cancer cells
and ultimately shrink prostate tumors," said Conney, the William M.
and Myrle W. Garbe Professor of Cancer and Leukemia Research at Rutgers'
Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy. Researchers also tested TPA in combination
with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA), a vitamin A derivative previously
shown to be effective in treating leukemia. "We knew that ATRA is an
effective synergist with TPA in treating leukemia cells in the laboratory,
but prostate cancer is a different situation, probably involving different
molecular mechanisms," said Conney. The studies by Zheng and Conney
are the first to show an impressive synergy between TPA and ATRA in
inhibiting the growth of cultured prostate cancer cells and the first
to assess their combined effects, and the effects of TPA alone, on human
tumors grown in mice. "It turned out that extremely low concentrations
of TPA had an extraordinarily potent effect on myeloid leukemia cells,
causing them to revert to normal cell behaviour," explained Conney.
Investigators at China's Henan Tumor Research Institute and Rutgers,
interested in the potential beneficial effects of TPA, began a collaborative
study in 1995. When TPA was administered to terminally ill myeloid leukemia
patients in China, the number of leukemia cells in the blood and bone
marrow decreased and there were remissions of the disease. "We are clearly
encouraged by our laboratory results with TPA and ATRA on prostate cancer
cells. Our studies are an important early step in a long process, and
we are planning additional testing in humans. Further research with
these compounds and others could provide hope for the half million new
cases of prostate cancer each year." Conney concluded. Inflammatory bowel disease can triple thrombosis risk: Study (Go To Top) Washington: A new research in 'Gut' magazine says that people with Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) are more than three times as likely to develop blood clots in their veins (venous thromboembolism). Thromboembolism is a serious and potentially life-threatening event. For many years, patients with IBD were thought to be at increased risk, but the evidence so far had been inconsistent. Furthermore, it is not known if this risk is specific for IBD or if it is shared by other chronic inflammatory diseases or bowel disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis or coeliac disease. Researchers surveyed 618 patients with IBD, 243 with rheumatoid arthritis, 207 with coeliac disease. All three patient groups were compared with matched control patients. A total of 38 IBD patients suffered thromboembolism. This was significantly higher than the matched control group with only 10 cases reported. But the risk of thromboembolism was no higher among patients with rheumatoid arthritis or coeliac disease compared with controls. It seems that thromboembolism is a specific feature of IBD as neither rheumatoid arthritis, nor coeliac disease had an increased risk. However, there appears to be no obvious explanation for these findings. -March 11, 2004 Liposuction can build, repair arteries (Go To Top) Washington: A study claims that cells found in fatty tissues can boost blood-vessel production. The discovery could pave the way for innovative treatments for conditions such as angina, in which narrowed arteries starve the heart of oxygen. According to a report in the Nature, Jalees Rehman of Indiana University School of Medicine, who led the study published online by the journal Circulation said that fat-derived cells could be injected close to the heart where they could form a new network of vessels. The cells could be injected wherever a patient needs them most, the researchers suggest. For example, for someone with very poor circulation in legs the treatment could avert the need for amputation. Rehman's team injected immature fat cells, called stromal cells, into the hind legs of mice with poor circulation. The treatment boosted their blood flow fivefold. The cells may work by secreting a nourishing cocktail of growth factors that promote blood vessel growth, explained Rehman. He thinks that the cells, which secrete these molecules where and when they are most needed, offer a more sensitive solution. His team refers to them as "intelligent factories" for growth factors. But
whether many diseases can really by treated with the leftovers from
liposuction, needs further study before it can enter doctors' therapeutic
arsenal, said Adam Katz, a plastic surgeon at the University of Virginia.
However, Katz said that treatments using fat cells are a hot topic of
research, especially as increasing numbers of people are carrying something
of a surplus in that area. It is already known that fat contains stem
cells, which can give rise to a range of tissues including bone, muscle
and cartilage. The discovery led to liposuction being hailed as an alternative
source of stem cells that would sidestep ethical worries over the use
of fetal material. Rehman said that although stromal cells may perhaps
function as stem cells, their ability to recruit other cells, rather
than simply dividing repeatedly to form new structures, could offer
a more efficient way to build new blood vessels. "The body may have
enough building blocks lying around already," said Rehman. |
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