Lifeboat Foundation

Prof. Wang Hui, together with Prof. Lin Wenchu and associate Prof. Qian Junchao from the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have recently reported a near infrared (NIR)-II-responsive carbon-coated iron oxide nanocluster that was guided by magnetic resonance imaging and capable of combined photothermal and chemodynamic therapy (CDT), for synergistic cancer treatment.

The results were published in SCIENCE CHINA Materials.

As a promising treatment strategy, CDT has become a hot spot in cancer research due to its simple operation and low side effects. The basic principle of CDT is that the nanozymes activate the intracellular Fenton reaction, leading to the over-production of hydroxyl radicals, which are toxic to cancer cells. Magnetite nanocrystals are widely used as Fenton reagents due to their non-invasive imaging ability and good biocompatibility. However, the ferromagnetic behavior and easy oxidization of magnetite nanocrystals lead to colloidal instability as nanozymes and limit the imaging-guided cancer therapy in practical applications.

Once thought incapable of encoding proteins due to their simple monotonous repetitions of DNA, tiny telomeres at the tips of our chromosomes seem to hold a potent biological function that’s potentially relevant to our understanding of cancer and aging.

Reporting in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, UNC School of Medicine researchers Taghreed Al-Turki, Ph.D., and Jack Griffith, Ph.D., made the stunning discovery that telomeres contain genetic information to produce two small proteins, one of which they found is elevated in some human cancer cells, as well as cells from patients suffering from telomere-related defects.

“Based on our research, we think simple blood tests for these proteins could provide a valuable screen for certain cancers and other human diseases,” said Griffith, the Kenan Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Immunology and member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. “These tests also could provide a measure of ‘telomere health,’ because we know telomeres shorten with age.”

Despite scientific evidence originating from two patients published to date that CCR5Δ32/Δ32 hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) can cure human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), the knowledge of immunological and virological correlates of cure is limited. Here we characterize a case of long-term HIV-1 remission of a 53-year-old male who was carefully monitored for more than 9 years after allogeneic CCR5Δ32/Δ32 HSCT performed for acute myeloid leukemia. Despite sporadic traces of HIV-1 DNA detected by droplet digital PCR and in situ hybridization assays in peripheral T cell subsets and tissue-derived samples, repeated ex vivo quantitative and in vivo outgrowth assays in humanized mice did not reveal replication-competent virus.

Nature Publication:

After the Berlin Patient, and the London Patient. There appears to be a third patient cured of HIV through stem cell transplantation.

Continue reading “In-depth virological and immunological characterization of HIV-1 cure after CCR5Δ32/Δ32 allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation” »

Feb. 20 (UPI) — Researchers at Dusseldorf University said Monday a fifth person has been declared free of HIV after a blood stem cell transplant during that patient’s treatment for leukemia. The revelation, disclosed in a study published Monday in the scientific journal Nature Medicine, said the patient, a 53-year-old man from Dusseldorf, Germany, tested positive for HIV in 2008 and developed leukemia three years later.

Metastasis occurs when cancer cells break free from a primary tumor and spread throughout the body, requiring them to sever connections with neighboring cells and migrate to other tissues. Signaling molecules released by the cancer cells drive both processes and thereby increase the malignancy of tumors.

A team of researchers led by Professor Robert Grosse and Dr. Carsten Schwan from the University of Freiburg discovered that the release of prometastatic factors, which drive the malignancy of tumors, is influenced by the cells’ skeleton. The findings were published in the journal Advanced Science.

Universitätsklinikum Erlangen is the first in the world to use CAR T-cells to successfully treat a patient suffering from a severe case of muscle inflammation (myositis). The disease is triggered by a malfunction in the immune system that leads to inflammation of the muscles, and the risk of developing a very severe form of the disease is high. The Lancet has now published news of the successful treatment in a case report.

When the 41 year old Mr. S. noticed a dramatic deterioration in this health last year, he initially put it down to a viral infection. However, his health took a dramatic turn for the worse when he was suddenly no longer to move more than a few feet and was barely able to stand up. His symptoms were caused by a severe autoimmune disease affecting his muscles, joints, skin and lungs belonging to the group of anti-immune muscle inflammatory diseases (myositis). The diagnosis: anti-synthetase syndrome.

The name anti-synthetase syndrome is derived from the observation that the enzymes required for the synthesis of amino acids known as aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases are attacked in error by the immune system. This severely impacts the function of various cells.

Pulses of electricity delivered to a precise location on the spinal cord have helped two stroke patients regain control of a disabled arm and hand, a team reports in the journal Nature Medicine.

Nature article:

Continue reading “Spinal stimulation can improve arm and hand movement years after a stroke” »

An Alzheiber’s treatment porposed by Israeli scientists targets mitochondrial gatekeeper, controlling deterioration of cells.

Up to now, the use of models to research the barrier that separates the circulatory from the nervous system has proven to be either limited or extremely complicated. Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a more realistic model that can also be used to better explore new treatments for brain tumors.

Mario Modena is a postdoc working in the Bio Engineering Laboratory at ETH Zurich. If he were to explain his research on the blood-brain barrier —the wall that protects our central nervous system from harmful substances in the blood stream —to an 11-year-old, he would say, “This wall is important, because it stops the bad guys from getting into the brain.” If the brain is damaged or sick, he says, holes can appear in the wall. Sometimes, such holes can actually be useful, for example, for supplying the brain with urgently needed medicine. “So what we are trying to understand is how to maintain this wall, break through it and repair it again.”

This wall is also important from a medical perspective, because many diseases of the central nervous system are linked to an injury to the blood-brain barrier. To discover how this barrier works, scientists often conduct experiments on live animals. In addition to such experiments being relatively expensive, animal cells may provide only part of the picture of what is going on in a human body. Moreover, there are some critics, who question the basic validity of animal testing. An alternative is to base experiments on human cells that have been cultivated in the laboratory.