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A new way to sabotage DNA’s ability to reproduce could lead to the development of new anti-cancer drugs and enable doctors to target treatment more precisely, rather than blasting tumors with a scattershot of chemo or radiation.

Cancer Vaccines Re-invigorated

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We have risked accusations of hype in the past in writing enthusiastically about the promise of cancer vaccines. Clinical success has proved elusive -– until now. For the first time, an experimental treatment has succeeded in getting the immune system to attack tumors (advanced prostate) and improve survival. A US National Cancer Institute representative called it “a significant development. . . . meaningful [not only] for patients who have prostate cancer but also for the field. It provides a proof of concept that vaccines can in fact work . . . .” Much work and further trials remain ahead, however.

Electrostim Therapy

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Neurostimulation through “brain pacemaker” implants won’t cure most diseases, but they do appear to alleviate the symptoms of many neurological disorders including epilepsy and depression. They have few side effects and while expensive to buy and implant, they may save substantially more than they cost, though reduced hospitalizations. The director of functional neurosurgery at the Cleveland Clinic calls it “a new era in neurology.”

In a just-completed experiment on 10 volunteers, neurostimulation helped nerves in spinal-cord injured patients regenerate after 14 weeks of treatment, with two patients recovering some movement in their legs, and one recovering from impotence. One device maker is testing a tiny, injectable, rechargeable device to treat pain or muscle dysfunction anywhere in the body.

Gene Therapy: Optic Nerve Regeneration

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Damaged optic nerves have been regrown in mice. The technique might one day restore sight to people whose optic nerves have been damaged by injury or glaucoma, and even help regenerate other nerves in the body. The research is in the very early stage, but is an important step forward. Another source, reporting the same study, quoted a researcher as saying this was “the closest science has come to regenerating so many nerve fibers over a long distance to reach their targets and to repair a nerve previously considered irreparably damaged.”

Genetic Cure for Deaf Hamsters

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A therapy using genetically engineered adenoviruses to promote the regrowth of hair cells in the cochlea has apparently cured deafness in guinea pigs. The therapy will be combined with cochlear implants in the next round of experiments in guinea pigs. It surprised the researcher to find that the new hair cells were created from cells lining the scala media which, according to biological orthodoxy, should not be able to turn into other cells. In humans, the scala media is buried deep within the skull, making it virtually inaccessible, and the human immune systems could react against the viruses, even though they have been rendered harmless.

Other researchers are using embryonic stem cells, exposed in the lab to chemical factors that steer the natural development of hair cells. Implanted into chicken embryos, the cells continue to develop like the native hair cells already present in the embryo.

GM Potato Prevents Hepatitis B

Source article: Unknown (2005). “Genetically modified potato offers immunity from hepatitis B.” News clip attributed to Cox News/Raleigh News & Observer, February 15, reported by the Advisory Board (subscription service) on February 16.

One serving of raw potatoes genetically modified to carry hepatitis B vaccine conferred increased immunity roughly equivalent to a standard vaccination in a recent study. Two servings conferred “even higher immunity levels.” Cooking would destroy the vaccine, but the potatoes could be “ground up, freeze-dried, incorporated into capsules, and easily dispensed as an oral vaccine,” said the researchers.

Nanomedicine Roundup

Source article: Unknown (2005). “Nanotechnology: Nanomedicine could revolutionize diagnosis and treatment, but safety concerns remain.” Advisory Board (subscription email newsletter), February 25.

Nanotechnology is already shifting from “very basic” research to developing applications, with diagnostic tests expected to reach the market first. LabNow has combined nanochemistry, microfabrication techniques, and microfluidic structures to create a “lab-on-a-chip” device with an automated reader and business-card-sized, assay-specific biochips that generate CD4 cell counts from just a drop of blood in under 10 minutes. Qdots (“quantum dots — nanoparticles of silicon or other materials) coated with specific protein-binding molecues are being tested to diagnose diseases.

Therapeutic uses may not be far behind. Photo-thermal nanoshells that seek and burn cancer cells have worked in mice.

Nocturnal Dialysis

Source article: Advisory Board (subscription service) Daily Briefing 03/28/2005.

Encouraged by a Canadian study in which patients with end-stage kidney disease using nocturnal at-home dialysis showed improvements compared to standard, three-times-a-week clinic-based dialysis, the US National Institutes of Health are sponsoring a similar study in New York. Nocturnal dialysis has been shown to prevent the buildup of calcium in the arteries.

Pharmacogenomic Map

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A new genetic map shows more than 1.5 million genetic differences among 71 people, enough to find some of the most common genetic variations involved in complex genetic diseases such as Alzheimer’s, cancer and multiple sclerosis. Rather than pinpoint one or two “disease genes,” the map helps reveal patterns that can account for how a person may respond to specific drugs. Physicians will “eventually,” as a Reuters report puts it, be able to consult such a map to determine which treatment to prescribe for a patient, implying that the present map may not yet be up to the task.

Brain-Machine Interface

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The recent discovery of a part of the brain (the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex or vPF) responsible for planning to move a limb (as opposed to moving the limb, which is the responsibility of other parts of the brain) could advance the technology of brain-machine interfacing to enable paralyzed patients to control robotic prosthetic limbs just by thinking. It appears that the vPF is less likely to degrade following spinal cord injury than the primary motor area of the brain, therefore implanting BMI chips into the vPF may have better long-term success than motor area BMIs.

Brain Stem Cell Therapy

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A candidate plasticity gene and its growth-promoting protein, CPG15, could potentially be used to develop therapies for renewing damaged or diseased brain tissue. CPG15 protects cortical neurons from apoptosis, and is essential for survival of progenitor (precursor stem) cells in the developing brain. “Even modest changes in the size of the pool during its exponential growth phase can drastically affect the final size and shape of the cortex,” said a researcher who has discovered that over-expressing CPG15 in rats gives them bigger brains plus the convolutions that further enlarge the surface area. The research could lead to therapies to enhance the survival of brain stem cells or to culture neurons to replace damaged or diseased tissue.

Stem Cell Advance at ACT

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Advanced Cell Technology has found a way to replace the use of animal cells with a sterile protein matrix in growing human embryonic stem cells in the laboratory. This should reduce risk when the stem cells are implanted in humans.

Stem Cells in Reconstructive Surgery

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Breast implants that continually repair their own leaks and retain their shape may be possible using implants grown on a hydrogel scaffold from stem cells derived from human bone marrow. Stem-cell tissue implants in mice kept their shape “almost 100 percent four weeks after implantation in mice,” said a researcher. In contrast, conventional fat transplants shrink “substantially over a period of a few weeks.” Horses already receive a similar treatment for fractures and tears to the tendons and ligaments.

If the technique is improved and validated, it will revolutionize cosmetic and reconstructive surgery.

Stem Cells Inject New Life into Xenotransplantation

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Israeli scientists are using pig embryonic stem cells to grow replacement organs for transplantation. The organs have grown and functioned well in mice. The key breakthrough was in finding the optimum window of time for transplantation, which they achieved by implanting embryonic pig stem cells of different ages into mice and observing the outcomes. They found that the optimum age depended on which organ the stem cells were destined to become. Liver cells, for example, did best when the transplanted cells were 28 embryonic days old. Pancreas cells grew best, with minimum tumor development, when they were between 42 and 56 embryonic days old, while lung cells grew optimally rather late, at 56 embryonic days old. These findings may explain why human xenotransplantation trials have failed so far, and have breathed new life into a therapy that would be a boon to patients needing an organ transplant.

Ultrasound Clot Remover

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An FDA-approved ultrasound catheter to quickly dissolve blood clots in the legs, arms, and brain is to go into production later this year. Its maker is also conducting clinical trials of a micro ultrasound catheter for small clots in the brain, to treat stroke patients.

The ultrasound catheter will come equipped with a miniature computer that can notify doctors when blood flow is fully established. The cost of the device has not yet been set.

Viagra for Stroke Victims

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Following positive results from mouse studies, Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit has begun a phase 1 study of Viagra in ischemic stroke victims. Ford doctors had already used Viagra to help a female patient recover from severe complications from a stroke, though they cannot yet be sure the recovery was not from causes other than the Viagra.

One of the mouse studies, combining Viagra with bone marrow stromal cells, appeared to induce the brain to produce cGMP (cyclic guanosine monophosphate) involved in the generation of new nerve cells and nerve connections. The brain- injured rodents developed new brain cells, new electrical connections near injury sites, and new blood vessels following the therapy.

Virtually Painless

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A preliminary study among a small group of pediatric patients in Australia found that “virtual reality coupled with analgesics was significantly more effective in reducing pain responses in children than analgesic only.” The hope is that virtual reality games could “greatly reduce, if not completely replace, the use of painkillers.”

Virtual Reality Therapy

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A researcher’s claim that “Virtual reality has completely revolutionized the field of occupational therapy” seems premature, but there is no doubt it is getting there. A 3-D system being developed in Israel for physical therapy with spinal cord patients and for occupational and psychotherapy to treat PTSD is an example of the state of the art. It will likely soon have haptic (touch) capabilities added.