February 22, 2023
|
Posted by admin
Messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines may be the hottest thing in science now, as they helped turn the tide against COVID-19. But even before the pandemic began, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center researchers had already been working to use mRNA vaccine technology to treat cancer. Vinod Balachandran a physician-scientist affiliated with the David M. Rubenstein Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research and the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, is leading the only clinical trial to test mRNA vaccines for pancreatic cancer. The key to these vaccines appears to be proteins in the pancreatic tumors, called neoantigens, which alert the immune system to keep the cancer at bay.
The vaccines are custom-made for every person. The hope is that the vaccine will stimulate the production of certain immune cells, called T cells, that recognize pancreatic cancer cells. This could reduce the risk of the cancer returning after the main tumor was removed by surgery. In 8 of 16 patients studied, the vaccines activated T cells that recognize the patient’s own pancreatic cancers. These patients also showed delayed recurrence of their pancreatic cancers, suggesting the T cells activated by the vaccines may be having the desired effect to keep pancreatic cancers in check.
There has been great interest in using immunotherapy for pancreatic cancer because nothing else has worked very well. We thought immunotherapy held promise because of research we began about seven years ago. A small subset of patients with pancreatic cancer manage to beat the odds and survive after their tumor is removed. We looked at the tumors taken from these select patients and saw that the tumors had an especially large number of immune cells in them, especially T cells. Something in the tumor cells seemed to be sending out a signal that alerted the T cells and drew them in.
Source: https://www.thebrighterside.news/
Categories: Uncategorized
| 
Tags: cancer, cells, COVID-19, David M. Rubenstein Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research, immune cells, immune system, immunotherapy, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, messenger RNA, mRNA, neoantigens, pancreatic cancer, pancreatic tumors, Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, proteins, T-cells, vaccines
January 13, 2023
|
Posted by admin
As of January 10, 2022, over 13 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered — including hundreds of millions of mRNA vaccines by companies like Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna. Following the surge in mRNA vaccine research for COVID-19, researchers are now seeking to apply their experience to cancer vaccines. Recently, BioNTech announced a strategic partnership with the government of the United Kingdom to provide up to 10,000 patients with personalized mRNA cancer immunotherapies by 2030.
“Our goal is to accelerate the development of immunotherapies and vaccines using technologies we have been researching for over 20 years,” says Prof. Ugur Sahin, CEO and cofounder of BioNTech, in a press release.
“The collaboration will cover various cancer types and infectious diseases affecting collectively hundreds of millions of people worldwide. If successful, this collaboration has the potential to improve outcomes for patients and provide early access to our suite of cancer immunotherapies as well as to innovative vaccines against infectious diseases – in the U.K. and worldwide,” he adds.
You must be logged in to view this content.
Categories: Uncategorized
| Tags: BionTech, cancer immunotherapies, cancer vaccine, COVID-19, Moderna, mRNA vaccines, Pfizer-BioNTech
January 5, 2023
|
Posted by admin
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about one in five adults have a health condition that might be related to having previously been infected with COVID-19. In addition to cardiovascular and respiratory conditions, blood clots and vascular issues, kidney failure, and musculoskeletal conditions, these individuals may also experience changes in their neurological and mental health conditions.
Researchers shared how their use of a special type of MRI revealed brain changes in patients up to 6 months after they have recovered from COVID-19 at the 2022 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) annual meeting.
For their study, a team led by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology used susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) to analyze the effects that COVID-19 has on the brain. Magnetic susceptibility “denotes how much certain materials, such as blood, iron and calcium, will become magnetized in an applied magnetic field,” the authors noted in an RSNA statement summarizing the findings. “This ability aids in the detection and monitoring of a host of neurologic conditions including microbleeds, vascular malformations, brain tumors, and stroke.”
You must be logged in to view this content.
Categories: Uncategorized
| Tags: brain, CDC, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, COVID-19, Indian Institute of Technology, long COVID, MRI, Radiological Society of North America, RSNA, susceptibility-weighted imaging, SWI
November 28, 2022
|
Posted by admin
With the help of an AI, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have succeeded in designing synthetic DNA that controls the cells’ protein production. The technology can contribute to the development and production of vaccines, drugs for severe diseases, as well as alternative food proteins much faster and at significantly lower costs than today.
How our genes are expressed is a process that is fundamental to the functionality of cells in all living organisms. Simply put, the genetic code in DNA is transcribed to the molecule messenger RNA (mRNA), which tells the cell’s factory which protein to produce and in which quantities.
You must be logged in to view this content.
Categories: Uncategorized
| Tags: AI, cancer, cell, cell's protein, cell’s factory, Chalmers University of Technology, COVID-19, DNA, drugs, food proteins, gene expression, genes, genetic code, immune system, mRNA, mRNA vaccine, protein, protein-based drugs, RNA, severe diseases, synthetic DNA, vaccines, virus
September 6, 2022
|
Posted by admin
Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, have created a new COVID-19 therapeutic that could one day make treating SARS-CoV-2 infections as easy as using a nasal spray for allergies. The therapeutic uses short snippets of synthetic DNA to gum up the genetic machinery that allows SARS-CoV-2 to replicate within the body.
In a new study published online in the journal Nature Communications, the team shows that these short snippets, called antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), are highly effective at preventing the virus from replicating in human cells. When administered in the nose, these ASOs are also effective at preventing and treating COVID-19 infection in mice and hamsters.
“Vaccines are making a huge difference, but vaccines are not universal, and there is still a tremendous need for other approaches,” said Anders Näär, a professor of metabolic biology in the Department of Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology (NST) at UC Berkeley and senior author of the paper. “A nasal spray that is cheaply available everywhere and that could prevent someone from getting infected or prevent serious disease could be immensely helpful.”
Because the ASO treatment targets a portion of the viral genome that is highly conserved among different variants, it is effective against all SARS-CoV-2 “variants of concern” in human cells and in animal models. It is also chemically stable and relatively inexpensive to produce at large scale, making it ideal for treating COVID-19 infections in areas of the world that do not have access to electricity or refrigeration.
If the treatment proves to be safe and effective in humans, the ASO technology could be readily modified to target other RNA viruses. The research team is already searching for a way to use this to disrupt influenza viruses, which also have pandemic potential.
“If we can design ASOs that target entire viral families, then when a new pandemic emerges, as long as we know which family the virus belongs to, we could use the nasally delivered ASOs to suppress the pandemic in its early stages,” said study first author Chi Zhu, a postdoctoral scholar in NST at UC Berkeley. “That’s the beauty of this new therapeutic.”
Source: https://news.berkeley.edu/
Categories: Uncategorized
| Tags: antisense oligonucleotides, ASOs, Berkeley, cells, COVID-19, genome, influenza, Nutritional Sciences and Toxicology, pandemic, RNA viruses, SARS-CoV-2, UC Berkeley, University of California, variants, virus
May 4, 2022
|
Posted by admin
King’s College London researchers are turning to the same technology behind the mRNA COVID-19 vaccines to develop the first damage-reversing heart attack cure. They used mRNA to deliver the genetic instructions for specific proteins to damaged pig hearts, sparking the growth of new cardiac muscle cells. “The new cells would replace the dead ones and instead of forming a scar, the patient has new muscle tissue,” lead researcher Mauro Giacca said. Researchers are turning to the same technology behind Pfizer and Moderna’s vaccines to develop the first damage-reversing heart attack cure.
Diseases of the heart are the leading cause of death around the world; the WHO estimates that 17.9 million people died from cardiovascular disease in 2019, representing almost a third of all deaths. Of those, 85% are ultimately killed by heart attacks and strokes. Heart attacks occur when blood flow to parts of the heart is blocked, often due to fat or cholesterol build up. The cardiac muscle cells — marvelous little powerhouses that keep you beating throughout your entire life — are starved of oxygen and can be damaged or killed. Left in its wake is not the smoothly pumping cardiac muscle, but instead scar tissue.
“We are all born with a set number of muscle cells in our heart and they are exactly the same ones we will die with. The heart has no capacity to repair itself after a heart attack,” explained Giacca.
At least, until now. To develop their heart attack cure, the researchers turned to mRNA, which delivers the instructions for protein creation to cells. Whereas the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines instruct cells to make the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, priming the immune system against the virus, the same technology can deliver a potential heart attack cure by carrying the code for proteins that stimulate the growth of new heart cells, PharmaTimes reported. In an experiment with pigs (a close match for the human heart), the mRNA treatment stimulated new heart cells to grow after a heart attack — regenerating the damaged tissues and creating new, functional muscle rather than a scar.
According to BioSpace, harnessing mRNA in this way has been dubbed “genetic tracking,” named for the way the mRNA’s progress is tracked via the new proteins it is creating. The technique is being explored to create vaccines for pathogens like HIV, Ebola, and malaria, as well as cancers and autoimmune and genetic diseases. While thus far their heart attack cure has only been successfully tested in porcine pumpers, the team hopes to begin human clinical trials within the next couple years. “Regenerating a damaged human heart has been a dream until a few years ago,” Giacca said, “but can now become a reality.”
Source: https://www.freethink.com/
Categories: Uncategorized
| Tags: blood flow, cancer, cardiac muscle cells, cholesterol, COVID-19, cure, Ebola, fat, genetic instructions, genetic tracking, heart attack, HIV, King’s College London, malaria, mRNA, pig hearts, proteins, vaccines
February 24, 2022
|
Posted by admin
Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline Plc, the pharma giants that stumbled in the race to develop a Covid-19 shot, found their vaccine protects against severe disease and hospitalization and will submit data to regulators for clearance. The duo said data from a trial shows that two doses of the Sanofi-GSK vaccine have 100% efficacy against severe Covid-19 and hospitalizations and 58% efficacy against any symptomatic Covid-19 disease. They said the safety of the vaccine was favorable too.
Meanwhile, a separate study showed it could increase neutralizing antibody levels 18- to 30-fold when used as a booster in people who’ve received other types of shots first. Shares in Sanofi rose as much as 1.7% in Paris on Wednesday, while GSK rose as much as 1.6% in London.
The data should allow the vaccine giants to finally play a big role in the pandemic fight, after repeated development delays allowed nimbler competitors like Moderna Inc. and the BioNTech SE–Pfizer Inc. alliance to rush ahead with messenger-RNA products. Those companies, along with AstraZeneca Plc and Johnson & Johnson, steered highly effective products rapidly to market, helping save millions of lives and earning tens of billions of dollars in revenue.
While the Sanofi-Glaxo product appears to be on par with the mRNA shots when it comes to preventing severe disease and hospitalization, the efficacy may trail somewhat in terms of symptomatic disease, Sam Fazeli, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said in a note.
“The vaccine will find a place among people reticent to take mRNA vaccines and in lower-income countries, making for a modest commercial impact on Sanofi and Glaxo,” Fazeli said.
Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/
Categories: Uncategorized
| Tags: AstraZeneca Plc, BioNTech SE-Pfizer Inc, booster, COVID-19, GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Johnson & Johnson, messenger RNA, Moderna Inc, neutralizing antibody, pandemic, Sanofi, Sanofi-Glaxo, vaccine
February 14, 2022
|
Posted by admin
Researchers at UC Davis Health have engineered a novel antibody, FuG1, that can directly interfere with the cell-to-cell transmission ability of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. FuG1 targets the enzyme furin, which the virus uses for its efficient chain of infections in human cells. The approach could be added to existing SARS-CoV-2 antibody cocktails for greater function against emerging variants.
“We developed an approach that interferes with the transmission chain of SARS-CoV-2. The COVID-19 vaccines are a great lifesaver in reducing hospitalizations and severe illness. Yet, we are now learning that they may not be as effective in controlling the transmissibility of the virus,” said Jogender Tushir-Singh, senior author of the study.
Tushir-Singh is an associate professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and a member of the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center therapeutics program. His research uses rational protein engineering to generate multi-targeting antibodies as cancer therapeutics. When the pandemic hit, he began thinking of similar strategies that might work to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
Furin, found throughout the human body, is involved in various functions of cells. It is a type of enzyme, a protease, that can break down proteins into smaller components. It does this by cutting, or cleaving, the polybasic peptide bonds within the proteins. In cleaving these bonds, furin often acts as a switch, changing an inactive protein into an active one. For example, furin cleaves the inactive proparathyroid hormone into parathyroid hormone, which regulates calcium levels in the blood. It can also cleave and activate viruses that enter human cells. Pathogens that utilize furin in their human host include HIV, influenza, dengue fever and SARS-CoV-2.
When SARS-CoV-2 infects a human cell, it is in its active state, having already “cleaved” its spike protein, a key protein that binds to ACE2 receptors to gain entry. But when the virus is being synthesized within the host cell—when it is replicating—the spike is in an inactive state. The virus needs to use the host cell’s furin to cut the spike protein into two parts, S1 and S2, which makes the spike active on the viral particles for efficient transmissibility upon release.
“The virus exploits the host’s furin to transmit from one cell to another and another. This added activation step is what makes the virus highly transmissible,” said Tanmoy Mondal, the first author for the study and a post-doctoral researcher at UC Davis Health. But inhibiting furin to limit the SARS-CoV-2 chain of infection cycle is not a straightforward mechanism. “Furin is found throughout the human body and is needed for the normal functioning of many biological processes. Stopping furin from doing its job causes high body toxicity. That is why the standard furin inhibitor drugs are not a clinically feasible option,” Tushir-Singh said.
Instead, he and his team engineered a conjugated antibody targeting the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. The design is similar to therapeutic monoclonal (IgG) antibodies but includes an added feature—Fc-extended peptide—that specifically interferes with the host furin. The researchers named this approach FuG1.
A study evaluating the efficacy of the engineered antibody was published in Microbiology Spectrum.
Source: https://phys.org/
Categories: Uncategorized
| Tags: Antibody, cancer therapeutics, cell, COVID-19, emerging variants, enzyme furin, Fc-extended peptide, FuG1, IgC, peptide, protease, protein, SARS-CoV-2, spike protein, therapeutic monoclonal, UC Davis Health, virus
December 28, 2021
|
Posted by admin
A revolutionary tool designed to broaden our understanding of human anatomy has for the first time provided scientists with a cellular-level look at lungs damaged by COVID-19. In healthy lungs, the blood vessel system that oxygenates the blood is separate from the system that feeds the lung tissue itself. But in some severe respiratory illnesses, such as pneumonia, pressures caused by the infection can lead blood vessels in the heart and lungs to expand and grow, sometimes cutting through the body and forming channels between parts of the pulmonary system that shouldn’t be connected. Similarly, COVID-19 infections can create the same types of abnormal channels. The channels give unoxygenated blood coming into the lungs an alternate exit ramp, allowing it to essentially skip the line and shoot back into the body without picking up any oxygen molecules first. Scientists believed that this could be a cause of the low blood oxygen levels sometimes experienced by COVID-19 patients, a condition known as hypoxemia.
“Blood vessel growth is a very controlled process,” said Claire Walsh, a medical engineer at University College London and the first author of the imaging study, published in the journal Nature Methods. “It should be in this lovely tree-like branching structure. And you look at the COVID lungs, and you can just see it’s in these big clumps of really dense vessels all over the place, so that it just looks … wrong.”
Walsh’s team, which included clinicians from Germany and France, has procured sharper-than-ever images of these warped structures, thanks to an imaging technique known as HiP-CT, or Hierarchical Phase-Contrast Tomography, which allows them to zoom in on any body part with 100 times the resolution of a traditional CT scan. Although the technique can only be used to capture images of samples removed from a body and preserved in a way that minimizes interference (rather than of organs that are still part of a living person), in pairing it with the world’s brightest X-rays at the European Synchrotron particle accelerator, the researchers hope to build a visual database of not only lungs infected with COVID-19, but other, healthy organs throughout the body.
Source: https://www.insidescience.org/
Categories: Uncategorized
| Tags: : Blood vessels, cellular-level, COVID-19, CT scan, European Synchrotron particle accelerator, Hierarchical Phase-Contrast Tomography, HiP-CT, hypoxemia, lungs, pneumonia, University College London, X-Rays
December 23, 2021
|
Posted by admin
Omicron is associated with a two-thirds reduction in the risk of Covid-19 hospitalisation. The preliminary studies — one paper from Scotland and the other from England — were cautiously welcomed by experts, who nonetheless stressed that any advantage in milder outcomes could still be negated by the new strain’s heightened infectiousness, which may still lead to more overall severe cases.
“We’re saying that this is qualified good news — qualified because these are early observations, they are statistically significant, and we are showing a reduced risk of hospitalisations,” Jim McMenamin, a co-author of the Scottish research, told reporters on a call.
The Scottish paper examined Covid cases recorded in November and December, and grouped them by cases caused by Delta against those caused by Omicron. It found that “Omicron is associated with a two-thirds reduction in the risk of Covid-19 hospitalisation when compared to Delta,” while also showing that a booster vaccine offered substantial additional protection against symptomatic infection.
https://www.france24.com/
Categories: Uncategorized
| Tags: booster vaccine, COVID-19, Delta, England, hospitalisation, infectiousness, omicron, Scotland, symptomatic infection
Recent Comments