Category Archives: Science Communicators

Skin Cells Transformed into Cancer-Fighting Cells

Posted on March 6, 2016 by | 3 comments

Researchers receive inspiration from a variety of sources, this post follows an innovation which was inspired from Yamanaka’s Nobel Prize on cellular reprogramming.

The advancements made in the cancer research field have been extraordinary. However, there still remain certain types of cancer that reduce a patients life expectancy greatly. Glioblastoma (GBM) is a tumour that arises from supportive tissue in the brain which is located in the cerebral hemisphere (Figure 1). Once diagnosed this disease leaves a patient with a life expectancy of one to two years. Glioblastoma tumours are often very cancerous because the cells can reproduce rather quickly. One of the main reasons this disease has a low life expectancy is because though a surgeon may operate and remove the main cancer; the possibility of parts of the cancerous tumour moving deeper into the brain and reforming are high. Therefore,  glioblastoma cannot be completely rid of just by surgery.

The following image shows three types of brain cancer and their respective locations, this innovation focuses on glioblastoma.

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Figure 1. Location of the glioblastoma – Credit: Stockmedicalalert.com

Researchers at the University of North Carolina have been working on transforming ordinary skin cells into cancer-hunting stem cells that can get rid of glioblastoma. The work of these individuals was posted in Nature Communications and the idea was to transform stem cells into cells that can actively act as cancer fighting cells.

The ability to reprogram fibroblast (cells which produce collagen and connective tissue) cells into induced neural stem cells, which are self-renewing cells, is how these researchers aim to kill cancer cells. The induced neural stem cells also contain an extra additive, a killing protein, making it more effective at killing the cancerous cells.

This innovation been tested using mice. This showed how the neural stem cells can actively move through the brain and find and kill any remaining cancer cells that surgery may have been unable to get rid of. In the tested mice the survival rate increased from 160 to 220 percent due to this innovation.

The following video gives a brief overview of the research described in this post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjK5HJKj7f8

Credit: NewsBeat Social

This innovation is of much interest to individuals who battle glioblastoma. However, this study needs to undergo many safety checks before it can be administered to individuals. The researchers believe there is about one year until they reach clinical trials.

Although this research has the potential to be life-changing for individuals battling glioblastoma, it is important to question the practicality of the research. For example, will this innovation increase the life expectancy slightly or will this eliminate all of the leftover cancer cells in the brain. Unfortunately, this cannot be answered at such early stages in the research, however the results do look promising and it seems to be headed in the right direction.

-Vanessa

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Posted in Science Communicators, Science in the News

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Benefits of Breastfeeding: Breast Milk Contains Sugars that Contribute to Healthy Infant Growth

Posted on February 22, 2016 by | 3 comments

Were you aware that the thousands of bacteria residing in our gastrointestinal tract (gut) and their interactions with the dietary foods we consume actually have a great impact on human health?

Two 25-milliliter samples of human breast milk. The lefthand sample is first milk produced and the righthand sample is milk produced later during the same pumping.

Two 25-milliliter samples of human breast milk. Source: Wikipedia Commons

Inspired by this discovery, a team of researchers led by Jeffrey Gordon from the Washington University School of Medicine in St.Louis found that the interactions of gut bacteria with the sugars in breast milk promote healthy infant growth.

Why is healthy infant growth a topic of discussion?
Every year, childhood malnutrition causes over 3 million deaths, leads to stunted growth and is associated with impaired cognitive ability.

Branched Oligosaccharide Structure

Branched Oligosaccharide Structure.                  Source: Wikipedia Commons

In Malawai, Africa, almost 50% of children under the age of 5 showed stunted growth. The researchers collected samples of human breast milk from those mothers with healthy babies or stunted babies. They discovered that the amount of oligosaccharides (sugar) in the breast milk containing sialic acid, an essential nutrient for brain development and cognition, were much greater in the mothers with healthy, relative to stunted growth babies.

This finding suggests that the sugars in the breast milk contribute to healthy infant growth. To analyze whether this was the case, the researchers created animal models, ensuring that both the bacteria in the gut and the diet could be manipulated. Gordon and his team began by isolating bacterial strains from fecal matter of the undernourished babies and inserted it into mice or piglets. Then, the researchers fed the mice or the piglets a typical Malawian diet, consisting of legumes, corn, vegetables, and fruit, a diet itself which is insufficient for healthy growth.

Whey

Whey, a by-product of cheesemaking. Source: Wikipedia Commons

With the mice and the piglets mimicking the undernourished Malawian infants, Gordon and his team then began testing effects of the sialic acid-containing sugars. They used cow milk as an alternative because of the difficulty to purify large amounts of sugars from human breast milk. They were able to obtain sialic acid-containing sugars from whey, a by-product of cheesemaking, and fed it to the animals. The mice and piglets showed significant improvements in growth, in both muscle mass and in bone volume. The mice and piglets also showed improved brain development and metabolic activities in the liver.

Because the bacteria in the gut was allowed to be manipulated, the researchers were able to pinpoint which bacterial strains were affected by sialic acid-containing sugars and how the different strains interacted with one another. They found that one strain of bacteria fed on the sialic acid-containing sugars and another strain fed on the digested products of sialic acid-containing sugars. This revealed a possible food web within the bacterial gut community.These two strains of bacteria alone were not sufficient enough to explain healthy growth in the mice and piglets, signifying that more complex interactions among different bacteria in the gut were necessary for growth.

The results of their study were recently published in Cell and serves as the foundation for future studies on the benefits of the components of breast milk on healthy infant growth and its interaction with gut bacteria.

 

Posted on February 22, 2016 By Jenny U

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Science Communication, Science Communicators, Science in the News, Uncategorized

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There is Hope: Body Fat Transplant May Be Effective in Treating Rare Metabolic Diseases?

Posted on January 25, 2016 by | 4 comments

People who have rare metabolic diseases, such as Maple syrup urine disease depend highly on donor transplantation. But is there an alternative treatment if donors are low? Not to mention the high expenses of a transplant?

But… you might be wondering… what exactly is maple syrup urine disease and where does it get its name?

Maple syrup urine disease (MSUD) is a rare disease because it follows an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance, one of the ways a disease can be passed down through families. This means patients inherit MSUD if both their parents have an abnormal gene.  MSUD  causes a defect in the way our body breaks down the three essential amino acids: leucine, isoleucine, and valine.

Maple syrup urine disease (MSUD) follows a autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. Source: Wikipedia Commons

Maple syrup urine disease (MSUD) follows a autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. Source: Wikipedia Commons

It is characterized by the distinctive maple-syrup scent found early on in urine samples of infants. They are important because essential amino acids cannot be made from the body, so they must come directly from our diet. The defect causes these three amino acids and their by-products to build up in the body. As a result, MSUD patients need precisely monitored diets (measured to the very milligram!) to avoid consumption of these amino acids, while still obtaining the other essential amino acids the body needs.

If MSUD conditions are left untreated, they can lead to coma, seizures and even death before reaching three months in age.

Liver transplantation is shown to be effective in treating MSUD because the liver is composed of an abundance of enzymes which appear to normalize amino acid levels, sometimes even allowing patients to fully adopt their normal diets again.

So organ transplantation is usually the solution to metabolic diseases but because of the high demand, is there a more accessible alternative?

Noting the high activity of fat tissue relative to muscle tissue in the body, researchers from Penn State College of Medicine tested the effect of body fat transplantation with genetically engineered mice with MSUD. They transplanted two grams of fat into the mices’ back or abdomen and found that when they implanted fat into the mices’ back, the amino acid levels dropped greatly in the transplanted MSUD mice compared to non-transplanted MSUD mice.

Transplanting fat into the abdomen of the mice did more harm than good and caused inflammation in the process. The results of this study were recently published in the journal Molecular Genetics and Metabolism.

Their study concluded that the amount of fat injected had no effect on the results. So this must mean that there will be further experimentation with fat transplantation. Fat transplant can be an alternative to liver transplant because it may be a more efficient approach as it is relatively inexpensive and it may be easier to find donors.

Wayne and Chad’s personal account on their child living with MSUD: YouTube Preview Image
Posted on January 25, 2016 By Jenny U

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Science Communication, Science Communicators, Science in the News

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