New technique to speed discovery of drug targets in chemical genetics
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Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center have developed a new technique to speed discovery of drug targets in chemical genetics. As highlighted on the April cover of Chemistry & Biology, Fox Chase researcher Jeffrey R. Peterson, Ph.D., and his colleagues describe a new way to swiftly find the proteins targeted by small molecule inhibitors during high-throughput screening (HTS) experiments. The new work offers a critical solution to a common stumbling block in this booming field of drug discovery.
HTS allows researchers to test thousands of small drug-like molecules at once for a specific biological activity, such as inhibiting the cell movements that allow cancer cells to spread in the body. Screening for potential new drug compounds in complex systems differs from the traditional drug discovery approach, which begins with one particular protein of interest and tries to find inhibitors for that specific target.
Consumer group awards ‘bitter pills’ to drugmakers
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It’s one of the most recognizable logos in drug advertising: a light green luna moth that floats across the television screen during advertisements for Sepracor Inc.‘s sleeping pill Lunesta.
A national health and consumer advocacy group on Wednesday singled out ads by Sepracor and four other drugmakers as evidence of overly aggressive direct marketing by pharmaceutical companies to consumers.
The Prescription Access Litigation Project (PAL), a coalition of 118 state, local and national consumer health advocacy groups, gave the five what it calls a “bitter pill” award.
Aspirin Shows Promise in Combating Antibiotic-Induced Hearing Loss
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Around the world, inexpensive antibiotics known as aminoglycosides have been used for the past 60 years in the battles against acute infections and tuberculosis, as antibacterial prophylaxis in cystic fibrosis and other patients, and in and other conditions. But for all of the good they do, the drugs also have been widely linked to irreversible hearing loss.
Now, researchers at the University of Michigan’s Kresge Hearing Research Institute and their Chinese colleagues, working under the leadership of Jochen Schacht, Ph.D., and Su-Hua Sha, M.D., have found that the hearing loss can be prevented in many people with the use of another inexpensive, widely available medication: aspirin. The results appear in the April 27 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The researchers studied 195 patients in China who received 80 to 160 milligrams of gentamicin (a type of aminoglycoside) intravenously twice daily, typically for five to seven days. Of those, 89 patients were given aspirin along with the antibiotic, and 106 were given placebos along with the antibiotic. The results were dramatic: The incidence of hearing loss in the group that was given placebos was 13 percent, while in the aspirin group it was just 3 percent, or 75 percent lower.
Expert says fetuses cannot feel pain and fetal pain relief is not required during abortions
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There is good evidence that fetuses cannot feel pain, says an expert in the BMJ.
Proposals to tell women seeking abortions that their unborn child will feel pain, or to provide pain relief during abortions, are therefore scientifically unsound and may put women at unnecessary risk, argues Stuart Derbyshire, a senior psychologist at the University of Birmingham.
He examined the neurological and psychological evidence to support a concept of fetal pain.
Older hearts suitable for transplantation
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Long-term outcomes after transplantation of hearts from donors aged 50 years or older are broadly comparable to those achieved with hearts from younger donors, according to Canadian researchers.
“This is good news for people who are waiting for a heart transplant—knowing more than 20 percent of patients die waiting for a heart,” Dr. Shaoha Wang told Reuters Health.
In the March/April issue of the Journal of Cardiac Surgery, Wang and colleagues at the University of Alberta Hospital, Edmonton report on their analysis of all 338 adult heart transplants performed at their institution over a 15-year period.
Four subtypes of blood cancer identified
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Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and collaborators have identified four distinct genetic subtypes of multiple myeloma, a deadly blood cancer, that have different prognoses and might be treated most effectively with drugs specifically targeted to those subtypes.
A new computational tool based on an algorithm designed to recognize human faces plucked the four distinguishing gene patterns out of a landscape of many DNA alterations in the myeloma genome, the researchers report in the April issue of Cancer Cell.
These results “define new disease subgroups of multiple myeloma that can be correlated with different clinical outcomes,” wrote the authors, led by Ronald DePinho, MD, director of Dana-Farber’s Center for Applied Cancer Science.
Depression common in young women after heart attack
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Compared with men and older patients, women under the age of 60 who have had a heart attack have an increased risk of developing depression, according to a new report in this week’s issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
In the community setting, depression is known to be especially prevalent among younger women - it is also known that symptoms of depression often occur after a heart attack. However, it was unclear if younger women who are hospitalized for a heart attack have higher risk of depression.
To investigate, Dr. Susmita Mallik, from Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, and colleagues analyzed information for a total of 2,498 heart attack patients who were treated at 1 of 19 centers in the United States between January 2003 and June 2004. Depression, which was assessed during hospitalization, was defined as a score of at least 10 on the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders Brief Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ).
Aspirin + Cholesterol Drugs + Blood Pressure Drugs = Less Severe Strokes
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Taking the “triple therapy” of aspirin, cholesterol drugs, and blood pressure drugs to prevent stroke also reduces stroke severity if one occurs, according to a new study published in the April 25, 2006, issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
People who were taking all three drugs had less severe strokes, had shorter hospital stays, and were better able to function when leaving the hospital than those who were taking one, two, or none of the three drugs.
The study examined 179 people who came to the hospital within 24 hours after having a stroke. Researchers looked at how severe the strokes were, how much brain cell damage was caused by the stroke, and other factors. The participants were divided into five groups: 69 people were taking none of the three drugs; 47 people were taking aspirin only; 29 were taking aspirin and ACE inhibitors, or blood pressure drugs; 14 were taking aspirin and statins, or cholesterol-lowering drugs; and 20 people were taking all three drugs.
New method allows heart beat triggers to be viewed and better understood
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Being able to witness the precise events that form the heart’s orchestral rhythm or the rat-a-tat-tat of irregular heartbeats could enable researchers to better understand the underlying causes of arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death.
Indeed, a team from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Carnegie Mellon University report they have developed unique chemical dyes that have made it possible to see what the naked eye has never seen before: action potentials, or voltage changes, of cardiac cells - including those deep inside the heart, which trigger and determine the pace of heartbeats.
The researchers describe seven of these “Pittsburgh” dyes - PGH I to IV and VI to VIII, for short - in the current issue of the Journal of Membrane Biology. Importantly, the PGH dyes are able to follow the electrical activity of cells several layers below the surface of the heart where the cardiac contractions are initiated and propagated.
Beams of light used to move, select and trap protein molecules
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A paper that outlines a new method to use a beam of light to trap protein molecules and make them dance in space has earned a place in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition.
The technique, developed by a team from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, California Institute of Technology and Protein Discovery, is more than just a novelty, however, as it is useful for separating, concentrating and analyzing proteins quickly with high sensitivity and selectivity.
“With this technique, we can steer DNA or other biomolecules for transport in three dimensions and also separate them according to size and their isoelectric point,” said Chuck Witkowski, a co-author and president and chief executive officer of Protein Discovery, a Knoxville startup company. The ability to perform these functions with high efficiency and precision has applications for medical diagnostics and as a discovery tool.
Study shows drugs work differently in the brains of men and women
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Results from a government-funded study at Johns Hopkins provide what is believed to be the first evidence in people that amphetamines have a greater effect on men’s brains than women’s - a discovery that could lead to tailored treatments for drug abuse and neurological diseases.
The study, led by Gary S. Wand, M.D., a professor of endocrinology in the Department of Medicine at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, found that men’s brains showed evidence of up to three times the amount of chemical dopamine as women’s when exposed to amphetamines.
The study will be published July 1 in The Journal of Biological Psychiatry.
Enzyme research points to better drugs and improved industrial processes
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Groundbreaking research on enzymes could revolutionise the way drugs are made and have major implications for the industrial sector, say its authors.
The University of Manchester team, working with colleagues in Bristol, has provided a unique insight into the working of enzymes - biological molecules that speed up chemical reactions in the body.
When these chemical reactions go wrong they can lead to disease, so modern drugs are designed to target enzymes and ‘switch them off’.
Chernobyl veterans ask Putin for treatment help
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Veterans of the desperate efforts to contain the Chernobyl nuclear disaster two decades ago pleaded with President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday for help treating the lingering effects of the accident.
Thanks to their heroic efforts to contain the disaster at the power station on April 26, 1986, the Soviet Union managed to build a concrete “sarcophagus” over its devastated fourth reactor, but not before it sent radiation across Europe.
Some of those sent to tackle the disaster died of acute radiation sickness, and many developed cancer and other long-term illnesses. Psychological problems have also been recorded in those involved.
Even the Least Dangerous Skin Cancer Is No Trivial Matter
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Basal cell carcinoma is the most common skin cancer and the least dangerous - but it’s far from a trivial matter, reports the May issue of the Harvard Women’s Health Watch. The good news is that basal cell carcinoma rarely spreads (metastasizes), and it can easily be treated and cured when discovered early.
Basal cell skin cancers almost always occur in areas exposed to the sun: 80% show up on the head and neck. The face is particularly vulnerable. The most common form - nodular - usually shows up as a shiny bump and may bleed easily. It often ulcerates and crusts over. Superficial basal cell carcinoma forms a red, scaly, sometimes itchy spot and may have flecks of dark pigment. It’s often mistaken for a patch of dermatitis. Morpheaform, a rarer and more aggressive type, has a waxy white or yellow scarlike appearance and poorly defined borders.
Basal cell carcinoma grows slowly and occurs mostly in people over age 55. Sun exposure is the biggest risk factor. Treatment options include freezing, surgical removal, radiation, and topical creams. Each has a cure rate of 90% or more for first-time cancers.
Guidebook useful for irritable bowel patients
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Patients with irritable bowel syndrome can use a self-help guidebook to reduce the number of office visits, improve symptoms and lower health care costs, a new report suggests.
The findings suggest that primary care physicians should offer patients with functional abdominal symptoms information on what they can do to manage their condition, lead author Dr. Andrew Robinson, from Hope Hospital in Manchester, UK, and colleagues report.
The researchers assessed the outcomes of 420 patients, treated at 54 primary care centers, who were randomly assigned to receive a self-help guidebook, a guidebook plus a self-help meeting, or no extra care (control group).
