Blocking Translation of α-synuclein RNA to Treat Parkinson's Disease
Parkinson's disease is a synucleinopathy, meaning that its pathology, the damage done to the brain, is driven at least in part by the aggregation of α-synuclein. Effective means to clear out α-synuclein and other protein aggregates from the aging brain, such as those resulting from amyloid-β and tau, are likely to form the basis of the first truly effective treatments for a range of neurodegenerative conditions. Though, as the Alzheimer's research community has demonstrated over the past twenty years, this is easier said than done. Little more than vast expense and failed human trials have thus far resulted from the dev...
Source: Fight Aging! - June 10, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, June 10th 2019
Fight Aging! provides a weekly digest of news and commentary for thousands of subscribers interested in the latest longevity science: progress towards the medical control of aging in order to prevent age-related frailty, suffering, and disease, as well as improvements in the present understanding of what works and what doesn't work when it comes to extending healthy life. Expect to see summaries of recent advances in medical research, news from the scientific community, advocacy and fundraising initiatives to help speed work on the repair and reversal of aging, links to online resources, and much more.
This content is...
Source: Fight Aging! - June 9, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Recap of the first day of the AANP annual meeting
Dr. Maria Martinez-Lage was kind enough to write the following summary of events at today ’s American Association of Neuropathologists meeting in Atlanta:The opening day of the 95th Annual Meeting of the American Association of Neuropathologists in Atlanta featured a special course dedicated to a topic both old and new: what happens when treatments go awry? Under the title “Unintended Consequences: The Iatrogenic Neuropathology of Systemic Therapies” the faculty discussed neurologic adverse effects of novel immunotherapies,other cancer and non-cancer related treatments, a...
Source: neuropathology blog - June 7, 2019 Category: Radiology Tags: meetings Source Type: blogs
Senolytic Therapies to Clear Senescent Cells Should Benefit Cancer Patients
It is well known that the present dominant approaches to cancer therapy - meaning toxic, damaging chemotherapy and radiotherapy, only slowly giving way to immunotherapy - produce a significant burden of senescent cells. Indeed, forcing active cancer cells into senescence is the explicit goal for many treatments, and remains an aspirational goal for a large fraction of ongoing cancer research. Most senescent cells self-destruct, or are destroyed by the immune system, but some always linger - and more so in older people, due to the progressive incapacity of the immune system. An immune system that becomes ineffective in supp...
Source: Fight Aging! - June 6, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Topical treatment helps prevent actinic keratosis from developing into skin cancer
In this study, 624 patients with multiple actinic keratoses were randomized to treatment with one of the four aforementioned field-directed treatments.
The primary endpoint of the study was the percentage of patients who had at least 75% reduction in their number of actinic keratoses after one year. The study found that the percentage of patients who achieved this goal was significantly higher in people treated with topical fluorouracil (75%), compared to those treated with topical imiquimod (54%), photodynamic therapy (38%), and topical ingenol mebutate (29%).
This seminal study highlights the important role of field-dire...
Source: Harvard Health Blog - May 30, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Kristina Liu, MD, MHS Tags: Cancer Health Immunotherapy Skin and Hair Care Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, May 27th 2019
In this study, we found that cofilin competes with tau for direct microtubule binding in vitro, in cells, and in vivo, which inhibits tau-induced microtubule assembly. Genetic reduction of cofilin mitigates tauopathy and synaptic defects in Tau-P301S mice and movement deficits in tau transgenic C. elegans. The pathogenic effects of cofilin are selectively mediated by activated cofilin, as active but not inactive cofilin selectively interacts with tubulin, destabilizes microtubules, and promotes tauopathy. These results therefore indicate that activated cofilin plays an essential intermediary role in neurotoxic signaling th...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 26, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
A Conservative View of the Present State of Senolytic Development for Rejuvenation
Here, one of the leading researchers working on the biochemistry of senescent cells - and their relevance to aging - considers the state of development of senolytic therapies. These are treatments, largely small molecule drugs at this stage, but also including suicide gene therapies, immunotherapies, and more, that are capable of selectively destroying some fraction of the senescent cells present in old tissues. There is tremendous enthusiasm in the scientific and development communities for the potential to create significant degrees of rejuvenation via this approach. The results in mice are far and away more impressive a...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 22, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Last Month in Oncology with Dr. Bishal Gyawali: April 2019
By BISHAL GYAWALI, MD
Keynote speech on the JAVELIN not going far enough to improve survival
The treatment landscape for metastatic renal-cell carcinoma has changed dramatically with the introduction of immunotherapies. Unfortunately though, we are promoting combinations over single agents without having much idea of added benefit of each drug. This is an important issue because when we combine two drugs, the only thing we are certain of are the added toxicities. PD-1 inhibitor nivolumab had improved OS when given in second line, however nivolumab was tested in combination with ipilimumab (not as a nivolumab monother...
Source: The Health Care Blog - May 10, 2019 Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Christina Liu Tags: Medical Practice Physicians Bishal Gyawali Clinical Trials Oncology PD-1 inhibitor Source Type: blogs
Machine Learning Helps Design Complex Immunotherapies
This study demonstrates the potential of machine learning to support the bioengineering process, especially where there are many design variables and potential interplay between them.
Study in Nature Biomedical Engineering: Exploration of the nanomedicine-design space with high-throughput screening and machine learning
Via: Northwestern University… (Source: Medgadget)
Source: Medgadget - May 8, 2019 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Siavash Parkhideh Tags: Informatics Medicine Nanomedicine Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, May 6th 2019
This study shows that mRNA levels of the aging related lamin A splice variant progerin, associated with premature aging in HGPS, were significantly upregulated in subjects with BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2. Moreover, our data revealed a significantly positive correlation of BMI with progerin mRNA. These data provide to our knowledge for the first-time evidence for a possible involvement of progerin in previously observed accelerated aging of overweight and obese individuals potentially limiting their longevity. Our results also showed that progerin mRNA was positively correlated with C-reactive protein (CRP). This might suggest an ass...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 5, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
On Alzheimer's Disease Research, Both Appropriate and Inappropriate Pessimism
This is a pessimistic popular science article on the state of Alzheimer's disease research. I think the tone appropriately pessimistic where it examines the present dominant approach to building therapies, which is to say clearing amyloid-β from the brain via immunotherapy. I think it inappropriately pessimistic for the near future, however, given the various projects currently under development. Take, for example, the brace of approaches based on restored drainage of molecular wastes in cerebrospinal fluid, or filtration of cerebrospinal fluid to achieve much the same outcome. Further, and closer to widespread availabili...
Source: Fight Aging! - May 2, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, April 29th 2019
In this study, we report the age-associated differences between fetal MSC (fMSC) populations and MSCs isolated from elderly donors with respect to their transcriptomes. We successfully reprogrammed fMSCs (55 days post conception) and adult MSC (aMSC; 60-74 years) to iPSCs and, subsequently, generated the corresponding iMSCs. In addition, iMSCs were also derived from ESCs. The iMSCs were similar although not identical to primary MSCs. We unraveled a putative rejuvenation and aging gene expression signature. We show that iMSCs irrespective of donor age and cell type re-acquired a similar secretome to that of their parent...
Source: Fight Aging! - April 28, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
Engineered Matrix to Improve T Cell Immunotherapy
Researchers from Johns Hopkins University have developed an “artificial lymph node” to help multiply antigen-specific T cells to fight cancer. They used a hydrogel that contains immunostimulatory antigen-presenting nanoparticles to encourage T cells to proliferate, and have increased activity against specific antigens. Current T-cell based therapies for cancer involve extraction and expansion of T cells. The current approach could make T-cell therapies more potent.
The researchers isolated T cells from mice, cultured them for a week with the immunostimulating hydrogel, and re-injected them once the tumors had grown. In...
Source: Medgadget - April 24, 2019 Category: Medical Devices Authors: Siavash Parkhideh Tags: Genetics Materials Medicine Oncology Source Type: blogs
Towards an Artificial Lymph Node
Artificial structures capable of replicating at least some of the functions of natural organs and tissues may turn out to be quite different in shape, structure, and content when compared to their natural counterparts. This is particularly true for chemical factory tissues, such as the liver, or tissues in which cells migrate and collaborate, such as lymph nodes. In today's research, scientists demonstrate that a comparatively simple structure can perform some of the same useful functions of a lymph node, at least those related to training and replicating T cells to attack a particular pathogen or cancer cell population.
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Source: Fight Aging! - April 23, 2019 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Medicine, Biotech, Research Source Type: blogs
Advances in cancer treatment
Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) - The pace of innovation in cancer treatment is rapid, with promising developments for patients in terms of survival and quality of life. Research in the fields of immunotherapy and radiotherapy has shown positive results in treating some cancers where established treatments are not effective. This POSTnote gives an overview of recent advances, the potential benefits and risks, and considers the opportunities and challenges of using new technologies in the NHS.POSTnoteMore detail (Source: Health Management Specialist Library)
Source: Health Management Specialist Library - April 14, 2019 Category: UK Health Authors: The King ' s Fund Information & Knowledge Service Source Type: blogs
