Medical Breakthroughs, Research, and News

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Experimental Type 1 Diabetes Drug Shields Pancreas Cells from teh Usual Crippling Immune System Attack

Scientists at Johns Hopkins say that an experimental antibody drug appears to prevent and reverse the onset of type 1 diabetes in mice—and often lengthen their lives.

The drug called mAb43 is unique, according to the researchers, because it targets insulin-making beta cells in the pancreas directly and is designed to shield those cells from attacks by the body’s own immune system cells.

The drug’s specificity for such cells may enable long-term use in humans with few side effects, say the researchers. Such monoclonal antibodies are made by cloning, or making identical replicas of, an animal or human cell line.

The findings, reported in the May issue of Diabetes, raise the possibility of a new drug for type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune condition that affects about 2 million American children and adults and has no cure or means of prevention.

Unlike type 2 diabetes, in which the pancreas makes too little insulin, in type 1 diabetes, the pancreas makes no insulin because the immune system attacks the pancreatic cells that make it, cutting off the body’s ability to regulate blood sugar levels.

Dax Fu, Ph.D., an associate professor of physiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and leader of the research team, says mAb43 binds to a small protein on the surface of beta cells, which dwell in clusters called islets. The drug was designed to provide a kind of shield or cloak to hide beta cells from immune system cells that attack them as “invaders.”

The researchers used a mouse version of the monoclonal antibody, and will need to develop a humanized version for studies in people.

64 non-obese mice bred to develop type 1 diabetes were given a weekly dose of mAb43 via intravenous injection when they were 10 weeks old. After 35 weeks, all mice were non-diabetic.

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More positive news in regards to cancer.

Cancer Vaccine Triggers Fierce Immune Response to Fight Malignant Brain Tumors in Human Patients

In a first-ever human clinical trial, an mRNA cancer vaccine developed at the University of Florida successfully reprogrammed patients’ immune systems to fiercely attack glioblastoma, the most aggressive and lethal brain tumor.

The results in four adult patients mirrored those in 10 pet dog patients suffering from brain tumors whose owners approved of their participation.

The discovery represents a potential new way to recruit the immune system to fight treatment-resistant cancers using an iteration of mRNA technology and lipid nanoparticles, similar to COVID-19 vaccines, but with two key differences: use of a patient’s own tumor cells to create a personalized vaccine, and a newly engineered complex delivery mechanism within the vaccine.

“Instead of us injecting single particles, we’re injecting clusters of particles that are wrapping around each other like onions,” said senior author Elias Sayour, M.D., Ph.D., a UF Health pediatric oncologist who pioneered the new vaccine, which like other immunotherapies attempts to “educate” the immune system that a tumor is foreign.

“These clusters alert the immune system in a much more profound way than single particles would.”

Among the most impressive findings was how quickly the new method spurred a vigorous immune-system response to reject the tumor, said Sayour, principal investigator at the University’s RNA Engineering Laboratory and McKnight Brain Institute investigator who led the multi-institution research team.

“In less than 48 hours, we could see these tumors shifting from what we refer to as ‘cold’—very few immune cells, very silenced immune response—to ‘hot,’ very active immune response,” he said.

Two minute video at the bottom if interested.

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Another potentially big deal in regards to Diabetes.

59-year-old Man Who Had Type 2 Diabetes for 25 Years is Cured by Stem Cells

Stem cells are being used more and more widely in treatments across the spectrum of medicine, but a recent breakthrough from Shanghai promises the best may still be yet to come.

A senior who had suffered from type-2 diabetes for 25 years hasn’t taken insulin for 33 months after he received a regenerative islet cell transplantation.

Diabetes, particularly type 2—the form that can develop in one’s life because of poor diet and lifestyle choices—is one of the most prevalent non-communicable diseases on Earth.

China in particular is one of the world’s diabetes hotspots, with 140 million people unable to make their own insulin, and so suffer from kidney problems, blindness, amputation, and cardiovascular problems.

But this new breakthrough, coming after 10 years of research and testing, may change this paradigm of sickness forever.

Yin Hao, a leading researcher on the team and director of Shanghai Changzheng Hospital’s Organ Transplant Center, said they took the patient’s own peripheral blood mononuclear cells and used existing methods to reprogram them back into pluripotent stem cells for injection into the pancreas.

“Our technology has matured and it has pushed boundaries in the field of regenerative medicine for the treatment of diabetes,” Yin, told China Daily whose team conducted the research with scientists from the Center for Molecular Cell Science at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Existing transplant treatments for type-2 diabetes are hindered by a lack of donor cells, and the complexity of pancreatic islet cell isolation technology.

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Experimental Cancer Treatment Gives New Jersey Mom a Chance for a Second Baby: 'I decided to go for it'

After less than a year of treatment with an experimental new cancer drug, a young woman has seen her tumor vanish, along with her fears that she would never be able to carry another child.

It should have been the happiest days of Kelly Spill’s life, until shortly after she delivered her first baby she received a life-threatening cancer diagnosis.

The 28-year-old from New Jersey was still recuperating in the hospital with her little boy Chase when she began to experience fatigue and bleeding, weight loss and loss of appetite.

Her doctors told her it was probably just symptoms of childbirth, but for reasons not explained in her interview with Fox, Spill said she knew it was cancer.

Stage-3 colorectal cancer was the diagnosis, a colonoscopy later revealed, but this super mom’s first fear wasn’t for her own life, that she wouldn’t be able to have another child, as she and her husband always wanted at least 3.

After looking around for hospitals, she decided to seek treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, one of the world’s leading cancer treatment centers.

But even here, she was told radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery were the treatment options, which her doctors told her would seriously jeopardize her chances of ever giving birth again, something she said was “really hard to hear at just 28 years old.”

“Radiation targeted at, or absorbed by, a woman’s reproductive organs can affect fertility, as can chemotherapy, which may cause women to lose fertility-related hormones,” Dr. Amanda Schwer, a radiation oncologist at City of Hope Cancer Center in California told Fox News Digital.

Dr. Schwer was not involved with Spill’s treatment, which considering the severity of the cancer, Spill decided to pursue regardless of her dreams of an expanded family. But luck was on her side, as just one day before she was scheduled for her first chemotherapy session, members of the SU2C Colorectal Cancer Dream Team, a research team at Memorial Sloan informed her she would be eligible for a new clinical trial to test a gentler new drug for colorectal cancer.

Called dostarlimab, if it worked as the developers believed it might, then radiation, chemotherapy, and even surgery might all be avoided.

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Kinda crazy how simple this seems to be, but also being so rare that it all could be so easily overlooked.

13-year-old Successfully Undergoes World-First Treatment to Cure Rarer-Than-Rare Wild Syndrome

The girl, pictured here third from right, is the first in world history to successfully undergo liver surgery for Wild Syndrome, a condition so rare it’s only been documented 21 times.

After what seemed like an eternity in the hospital for 13-year-old Kai Xue and her mother Ning Chen, during which they traveled all over the UK and China looking for help, they were eventually referred to Royal Stoke University Hospital, in Stoke-on-Trent, England.

“Kai was born with an abnormal lymphatic system, and her left arm was very swollen,” Ning Chen told Stoke-on-Trent Live. “Throughout her childhood we were under the care of a number of different hospitals to try to find out what the matter was, but nobody knew the cause.”

The cause was a truly tiny hole in her liver that would result in lymphatic fluid leaking into her abdomen, applying undue pressure on her internal organs and causing swelling there and in other parts of the body.

Xue’s attending physician at Royal Stoke was Dr. Mona Mossad, a nationally recognized expert in lymphatic interventions, whose first procedure was dilating Kai’s thoracic duct to improve lymphatic drainage which had never been done on a child before.

After failing to improve Xue’s condition, Dr. Mossad sought to identify the source of the leak in the lymphatic system and found it was coming from a hole one-tenth of a millimeter on her liver.

Located on the left lobe, Dr. Mossad’s surgery team went to work repairing the hole using a set of specialized, tiny needles filled with surgical adhesive. During the surgery, they were forced to drain an astonishing 7 gallons of lymphatic fluid from a small 13-year-old.

After 5 weeks recovery, Kai Xue was given a clean bill of health.

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Doctor Is Still Cancer-Free After Incurable Brain Tumor Diagnosis, Thanks To His Own Treatment

Today's good news story comes from Sydney, Australia.

Australian doctor Professor Richard Scolyer has announced that he remains cancer-free one year after undergoing a pioneering treatment for glioblastoma (GBM), one of the most aggressive and deadly forms of brain cancer.

The 57-year-old professor's latest MRI scan confirmed no recurrence of the tumor, marking a significant milestone in the fight against GBM.

Dr. Scolyer, renowned for his groundbreaking research on melanoma, was diagnosed with a particularly aggressive subtype of GBM in June last year following a seizure while in Poland. GBM typically has a dire prognosis, with most patients surviving less than a year after diagnosis. However, Scolyer's experience has defied these odds, offering new hope to patients worldwide.

Sharing his joy on social media, Scolyer tweeted, "I had brain #MRI scan last Thursday looking for recurrent #glioblastoma (&/or treatment complications). I found out yesterday that there is still no sign of recurrence. I couldn’t be happier!"

Scolyer's treatment was a world-first, involving pre-surgery combination immunotherapy. Leveraging his extensive knowledge and research on melanoma, he applied this innovative approach to his own condition. This novel treatment strategy aimed to activate the immune system to fight the cancer more effectively.

"We've shown that you can activate the immune system and do it very well. This is now a foundational first step to change the field and the way drugs are explored in brain cancer," Scolyer told Sky News.

Being able to replicate this again and again is an absolute game changer.

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Researchers Develop a 'Game-Changing' Blood Test for Stroke Detection in the Field: 'Truly Transformative'

Stroke is the top cause of disability worldwide—and the second leading cause of death—but the good news is that early intervention can prevent severe consequences, and a new tool could be a game-changer.

Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital developed a new test by combining blood-based biomarkers with a clinical score to identify patients experiencing large vessel occlusion strokes (LVO) with high accuracy.

“We have developed a game-changing, accessible tool that could help ensure that more people suffering from stroke are in the right place at the right time to receive critical, life-restoring care,” said Joshua Bernstock, MD, PhD, a clinical fellow in the Department of Neurosurgery at the Boston hospital.

Most strokes are ischemic, in which blood flow to the brain is obstructed. LVO strokes are an aggressive type of ischemic stroke that occurs when an obstruction occurs in a major artery in the brain.

When blood supply to the brain is compromised, the lack of oxygen causes brain cells to die within minutes, making LVO strokes a major medical emergency requiring swift treatment with mechanical thrombectomy—a surgical procedure that retrieves the blockage.

“Mechanical thrombectomy has allowed people, that otherwise would have died or become significantly disabled, to be completely restored, as if their stroke never happened,” explained Dr. Bernstock.

But brain bleeds cause similar symptoms to LVO stroke—yet treatment for each is vastly different. The new test makes it easy to distinguish one from the other while diagnosing in the field. Here’s how they did it:

Previously, the research team targeted two specific proteins found in capillary blood, one called glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), which is also associated with brain bleeds and traumatic brain injury, and one called D-dimer.

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What?!

Oxford Breakthrough Could Allow Cancer to be Detected 7 Years Earlier Than Current Methods

Oxford University scientists have discovered proteins in the blood that could warn people of cancer more than seven years earlier than currently possible.

In two studies, they identified 618 proteins linked to 19 different types of cancer, including 107 proteins in a group of people whose blood was collected at least seven years before diagnosis.

The research team discovered that the proteins could be involved at the very earliest stages of cancer, when the disease could be prevented.

The team believes the breakthrough could not only help treat the disease at an earlier stage, but even prevent it altogether.

They used a powerful technique called proteomics which allows them to analyze a large set of proteins in tissue samples at a single point in time, to see how they interact with each other—and find any important differences in proteins between different tissue samples.

In the first study, scientists analyzed blood samples taken from more than 44,000 British people, including more than 4,900 people who were subsequently diagnosed with cancer.

Using proteomics, the researchers analyzed a set of 1,463 proteins from a single sample of blood from each person. They compared the proteins of people who did and did not go on to be diagnosed with cancer to look for differences between them and find out which ones were linked to the disease risk.

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He Solved a Medical Mystery and Finds a Key to Alzheimer's Disease in Simple Amino Acid

For over decade, big pharma has been pouring billions into drug trials for Alzheimer’s disease treatments without progress.

But what if there were a neuroprotective compound with better early-stage results than any developed pharmaceutical sitting right on our dinner plates?

That’s what Dr. Paul Cox may have discovered after solving the mystery of neurodegenerative disease on Guam, where in the 1990s, the rates of ALS and Alzheimer’s-like symptoms were 120% higher than in the rest of the world.

Dr. Cox would eventually discover that cyanobacteria, the same lifeforms that make green algae, produce a natural toxin called BMAA that was seeping into trees on the island. The trees would then grow seeds rich in the toxin—seeds that were eaten by flying fox bats, which in turn were hunted by locals for protein.

The BMAA was then poisoning the locals and causing, as Dr. Cox put it, deaths from neurodegenerative diseases in “every family” that he spoke to. In 2003, Cox told the world about it.

“When we realized that cyanobacteria might be the culprit, it was like staring into the abyss because we realized you could be exposed anywhere,” Dr. Cox told CNN in a mini-doc, who didn’t in any sense say that cyanobacteria was the cause of Alzheimer’s, but that it was a “risk factor.”

Seeking to understand and quantify the toxicology of BMAA, Dr. Cox ran a trial through his non-profit, the Brain Chemistry Labs at the Institute for Ethnomedicine, Jackson. What he discovered was that when monkeys were given the toxic BMAA plus an amino acid called L-serine, the neurotoxic effect was reduced by 85%.

L-serine is nothing magical—it’s one of many non-essential amino acids we consume in our diets. Amino acids collectively represent what is labeled on food products as ‘protein.’

There's a nearly 8 minute video clip about this at the bottom.

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Red Light Therapy for Repairing Spinal Cord Injury Reaches Milestone With New Implant

People with spinal cord injuries in the future could be healing their nerve connections with a device that uses red light and near-infrared light pointed at the exact source of damage.

The novel therapeutic approach, invented by scientists at the University of Birmingham, involves delivering light directly to the site of the injury through an implant.

Because surgery after spinal cord injury is very common already, doctors would have the opportunity, during the same operation, to implant the device that could treat and repair the spinal cord itself.

In the study, researchers determined an optimal ‘dose’ of light and showed that their method could deliver significant therapeutic improvements including significant restoration of sensation and movement, and regeneration of damaged nerve cells.

In just five days of treatment, they found that the delivery of red light at a wavelength of 660nm for one minute a day increased cell viability (a measurement of the number of live cells) by 45%.

“Excitingly, this aspect of the study showed the effect of 660nm light was both neuro-protective, meaning it improved survival of nerve cells, and neuro-regenerative, meaning it stimulated nerve cell growth,” said Professor Zubair Ahmed, who led the study.

Being able to assist and improve in regards to spinal cord injuries is huge.

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Promising Trial Results Show Male Contraception May Be Arriving in the Near Future

A phase 2 trial showed that a gel-based male contraceptive is both effective at preventing unwanted pregnancies and quickly reversible.

Tests will continue to examine the effectiveness, safety, acceptability, and reversibility of contraception after treatment stops, but the results are a sign that reliable male birth control may not be far away from a pharmacy near you.

The NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development is funding the study, which included 222 men who completed at least 3 weeks of daily treatment with the contraceptive gel.

Applied daily to the shoulder blades, the gel contained 8 milligrams (mg) of a hormone called segesterone acetate and 74 mg of testosterone.

By week 15, 86% of the participants were tested and showed a sperm count below the level at which a man is typically diagnosed as infertile.

Testosterone treatment alone decreases sperm production, with a median time of 15 weeks but the addition of segesterone acetate speeds the time and lowers the dose of testosterone needed to suppress sperm production over testosterone alone, said senior researcher Diana Blithe, Ph.D., chief of the Contraceptive Development Program at the National Institutes of Health.

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Thousands of Sources for New Antibiotics to Fight Superbugs Found Using AI - and Dozens Worked

Hundreds of thousands of potential sources of new antibiotics have been found in the natural world using artificial intelligence.

An international research team utilized machine learning to identify 863,498 promising antimicrobial peptides, any one of which may be needed in the future to fight deadly drug-resistant infections like MRSA and VRSA.

The findings of the study, published in the journal Cell, come amid a renewed focus on combatting antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as humanity contends with soaring numbers of infections resistant to current antibiotics.

“There is an urgent need for new methods for antibiotic discovery,“ says computational biologist Professor Luis Pedro Coelho, of the Queensland University of Technology, Australia. “It is one of the top public health threats, killing 1.27 million people each year.”

“Using artificial intelligence to understand and harness the power of the global microbiome will hopefully drive innovative research for better public health outcomes.”

Without intervention, it is estimated that AMR could cause up to 10 million deaths every year by 2050.

From his lab at the QUT Center for Microbiome Research, Professor Coelho verified the machine predictions by testing 100 of the more than 800,000 peptides against clinically significant pathogens.

In a pre-clinical model of infected mice, treatment with the peptides produced results similar to the effects of polymyxin B, a commercially available antibiotic used to treat meningitis, pneumonia, sepsis, and urinary tract infections.

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Edible Carbon Beads Can Reduce Cirrhosis Liver Disease By Restoring Gut Microbiome

Innovative carbon beads, invented by researchers at University College London, reduce bad bacteria and inflammation in animal models, which are linked to liver cirrhosis and other serious health issues.

The study, published in Gut, found that the carbon beads were effective in restoring gut health and had a positive impact on liver, kidney and brain function in rats and mice. They were also found to be safe for human use.

“When the balance of the microbiome is upset, ‘bad’ bacteria can proliferate and out-compete the ‘good’ bacteria that keeps the gut healthy,” explained senior author Professor Rajiv Jalan from the UCL Institute for Liver and Digestive Health.

By excreting endotoxin and other toxic metabolites, they transform the gut environment to make it more favorable for them—and hostile to good bacteria—which triggers gut inflammation, and leakiness in the gut wall, resulting in damage to other organs such as the liver, kidneys and brain.

In cirrhosis, a condition characterized by scarring of the liver in 100 million people currently worldwide, inflammation caused by endotoxins can exacerbate the liver damage. A standard treatment for cirrhosis is antibiotics aimed at controlling bad bacteria, but this comes with the risk of antibiotic resistance and is only used in late-stage disease.

To overcome this, scientists at UCL developed the tiny oral carbon beads, which have a special microscopic physical structure designed to adsorb both large and small molecules in the gut.

In the study, researchers tested the effectiveness of the carbon beads (known by the product name CARBALIVE) and assessed the impact on liver, kidney and brain function in rats and mice.

They found that when ingested every day for several weeks, the beads were effective in preventing the progress of liver scarring and injury in animals with cirrhosis, and they reduced mortality in animals with acute-on-chronic-liver-failure.

Better gut health can help in a number of areas.

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Eating Pomegranates Can Help Alzheimer's Patients Alleviate Symptoms, Study Says

A substance naturally occurring in pomegranates can improve memory and the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, a new study concluded.

Forgetfulness, difficulty finding words, and confusion about time and place are some of the most common symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, and researchers at the University of Copenhagen have discovered that an ordinary fruit can help.

Their study on mice with Alzheimer’s shows that urolithin A, which is a naturally occurring substance in pomegranates, can “alleviate memory problems and other consequences of dementia,” said Vilhelm Bohr, Affiliate Professor at the University’s Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine.

This is good news for patients with dementia – a disease that is difficult to treat.

“Even though the study was conducted on mouse models, the prospects are positive. So far, research has shown promising results for the substance.”

Clinical trials on humans are currently being planned.

I always like seeing things that can help hold dementia back. Hopefully one day we can kick its ass.

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After Studying Mammograms, AI Can Detect More Breast Cancers Than Humans - With Fewer False Positives

Using AI, breast radiologists in Denmark have improved breast cancer screening performance and reduced the rate of false-positive findings.

The discovery comes 16 months after a study from the same hospital found that AI could diagnosis cancer in chest X-rays at least as good as a board-certified radiologist, but noted that many radiology departments are understaffed.

When used to triage likely normal screening results or assist with decision support, AI also can substantially reduce radiologist workload.

“Population-based screening with mammography reduces breast cancer mortality, but it places a substantial workload on radiologists who must read a large number of mammograms, the majority of which don’t warrant a recall of the patient,” said Dr. Andreas Lauritzen researcher at the Gentofte Hospital in Denmark and lead author of the study

“The reading workload is further compounded when screening programs employ double reading to improve cancer detection and decrease false-positive recalls.”

Compared to screening without AI, screening with the AI system detected significantly more breast cancers (0.82% versus 0.70%) and had a lower false-positive rate (1.63% versus 2.39%).

“In the AI-screened group, the recall rate,” referring to the number of times a patient was asked to return for a follow-up examiniation, “decreased by 20.5%, the radiologists’ reading workload was lowered by 33.4%,” Dr. Lauritzen said.