Progress Toward A Possible Vaccine for Inflammatory Conditions Like Asthma

A translational team of experts in Europe say they have identified a protein which is produced naturally in the human body and can be used as a therapeutic vaccine capable of fighting a range of inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and allergic asthma. "The implications of the findings are large as they shed light on an important way that the body combats inflammation and autoimmunity," says Shohreh Issazadeh-Navikas, the principal investigator. "Moreover, they establish a therapeutic approach for using the newly discovered protein as a treatment for multiple conditions." Issazadeh-Navikas is one of a group of investigators from Denmark, Germany and Sweden who joined forces to pursue the vaccine research, which was published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation. The vaccine they created spurs Natural Killer T-cells in the immune system, a particular type of T cell which can quell autoimmune diseases and can also play a role fighting Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Rheutatoid Arthritis, Asthma and type II diabetes. "Our data offer a novel perspective on the physiological role of these cells in maintenance of tissue homeostasis and reduction of inflammation," said the professor. Read the release.

Researchers: "Fountain of Youth" Pill Restores Aging Immune System

Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have identified an existing medication that restores key elements of the immune system that, when out of balance, lead to a steady decline in immunity and health as people age.

The team found that extremely low doses of the drug lenalidomide can stimulate the body’s immune-cell protein factories, which decrease production during aging, and rebalance the levels of several key cytokines – immune proteins that either attack viruses and bacteria or cause inflammation that leads to an overall decline in health.

The initial study, which was designed to define the dose range of such a therapy in a group of 13 patients, could lead to a daily pill to boost immunity in the elderly, the researchers said. Data will appear in the January issue of the journal Clinical Immunology.

The identification of a drug to reverse the immunological decline in aging, known as immunosenescence, is the culmination of years of research by Edward J. Goetzl, MD, at UCSF and the National Institute on Aging, into how cytokine levels change as people age, how that varies by gender, and which changes dictate whether someone will be healthy into their 90s or begin a downward cycle of decline starting in middle age.

“No one’s really talking about longevity and lifespan now, but about ‘health span,’” said Goetzl, director of UCSF Allergy and Immunology Research, which focuses on developing new diagnostics and treatments for allergic and immunological diseases.

“If, at age 50, your cytokine levels are the same as they were at 25, you’ll probably stay healthy as you age,” he said. “But if they’re heading downhill, we need to do something about it. If you could take a low-dosage pill with no side effects, wouldn’t you do it?”

Read the UCSF press release.

Stem Cell Transplant Gets Paralyzed Monkey Back on its Feet.

From fiercebiotech.com

In what's being billed as a world first in biomedical research circles, Japanese investigators were able to use so-called induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells to help repair a damaged spinal cord in a small monkey. And they say the same approach promises to work in humans.

The researchers paralyzed a marmoset, inflicting a wound that left it unable to walk. They developed iPS cells from skin cells using a well known gene formula, changing the cells into neural precursor cells that were transplanted into the spine. Within six weeks the small primate was able to walk again and after three months there was no sign of cancer.

"The animal had recovered to the level where it was jumping around. It was very close to the normal level," Professor Hideyuki Okano of Tokyo's Keio University told the AFP. "It is the world's first case in which a small-size primate recovered from a spinal injury using stem cells."

Okano's work with primates follows a similarly successful effort using a mouse. And he intends to keep pushing toward human studies. "We intend to use safer, better-quality iPS cells in our experiments so that clinical trials of the treatment method (on humans) will become possible."

Read the source article.

New Stem Cell Strategy Cures Diabetes in Mice

A team of investigators at Georgetown University Medical Center was able to turn stem cells used to create sperm into a batch of pancreatic cells able to gin a fresh supply of insulin, moving one step closer to a cure for Type 1 diabetes.

The scientific team, which was led by Dr. Ian Gallicano, found that the stem cells extracted from the testes--spermatogonial stem cells, or SSCs--were easily switched back to an embryonic-like state and then swiftly coaxed to become beta-islet cells found in the pancreas. This isn't the first time researchers have produced cells capable of supplying insulin to mice. But the Georgetown group says that their work demonstrates that they are on a path that can lead to enough insulin needed for a cure in humans.

"No stem cells, adult or embryonic, have been induced to secrete enough insulin yet to cure diabetes in humans, but we know SSCs have the potential to do what we want them to do, and we know how to improve their yield," says Gallicano. They also have an added advantage: SSCs already have the genes necessary to become embryonic-like stem cells, so they don't need to be manipulated the way other cells do.

These new cells were transplanted into immune deficient diabetic mice, and were able to decrease glucose levels in the mice for about a week--demonstrating the cells were producing enough insulin to reduce hyperglycemia. And the researchers say that a complementary tissue found in women can be used to produce an equally effective diabetes treatment for women.

Read the press release.

Researchers Create Mice from Two Fathers

From WSJ.com

Scientists have created mice that are the genetic product of two fathers, the latest in a series of unusual experiments in mammalian reproduction.

Researchers at University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and elsewhere first engineered a female mouse whose eggs contained the DNA from a male. When the female was mated with another male, the offspring had genetic contributions entirely from two males. The study appears online in the peer-reviewed journal Biology of Reproduction.

While the achievement is technically intriguing, its practical benefits are far from clear. Any move to try the same experiment in people is certain to be more complicated and controversial.

The study describes the technique as "a new form of mammalian reproduction" that could potentially be used to improve livestock breeds or preserve endangered species. More provocatively, the authors argue that if certain technical hurdles can be overcome, "then some day two men could produce their own genetic sons and daughters." But those technical hurdles are extremely high.

"It has been a weird project, but we wanted to see if it could be done" in mice, says Richard Behringer, lead author of the study and a developmental geneticist at M.D. Anderson in Houston.

New techniques are allowing scientists to tweak the biology of reproduction in unusual ways. In April, scientists at U.K.'s Newcastle University created embryos with DNA taken from a man and two women. The research, published in the journal Nature, was undertaken to potentially help mothers avoid passing on rare genetic disorders to their children. The embryos weren't brought to term. In 2009, a cloning-related method was used to produce monkeys with genetic material from two mothers.

Go to the source article.