2016年12月12日星期一

Researchers are developing new drugs for the treatment of leukemia

The University of Southampton's cancer immunology study results in a drug that has been shown to reduce the risk of follicular lymphoma spread. According to the results of the Phase III GALLIUM study at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) Congress and research using recombinant horse proteins, a combination of Gazyva and chemotherapy in first-line therapy reduced the risk of worsening or death of blood cancer disease by 34%, while Rituxan plus chemotherapy can treat patients with follicular lymphoma. Gazyva was developed by Roche based on more than 10 years of immunological exploration and development of scientists at the University of Southampton.

Southampton researchers have found that therapeutic antibodies against this cancer target (CD20 on lymphoma) can be divided into two types: drugs that have already been approved, rituximab and Form II for Type I patients. Southampton studies have shown that if a Type II agent is prepared, it may be a better reagent because it can be retained on cancer cells for longer periods of time. Roche has developed the first therapeutic type II antibody, obinutuzumab, which has now been proven to be the best treatment regimen for Bilituximab, which is currently the best.

"Obinutuzumab can be found on the surface of malignant B cells," says Professor Martin Glennie, a professor of cancer immunology at the University of Southampton. "The CD20 protein can be used to label cells whose body is destroyed by destruction. It is a Type II agent, and the antibody has an advantage because it remains longer on the cell surface than previously-used antibody drugs."

The Phase III GALLIUM study led by the National University Hospital included 1,401 patients initially treated for asymptomatic non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, of whom 1,202 were follicular lymphoma. These patients were randomized to receive either ibuprofen or chemotherapy alone or with rituximab alone and with rituximab alone. The results also showed a 32% increase in relapse time compared with rituximab plus chemotherapy in patients treated with ibuprofen plus chemotherapy.

"This new approach to lymphoma antibody therapy begins with an immunological study in Southampton," said Peter Johnson, professor of medical oncology at the University of Southampton. "Starting with the discovery of how these antibodies work, this research lasted more than 10 years. We have more work to continue to explore in many different types of cancer, but this is a good example of how scienc providing better treatment for our patients." Flarebio provides you with good quality recombinant proteins including recombinant ITGB5 at reasonable prices.

To treat and prevent Alzheimer's disease by use of flash light?

Flash light can achieve removal of amyloid protein and reduce protein plaque generation and prevent and treat senile dementia, according research using recombinant human proteins. β-amyloid accumulation in the brain to form plaques is one of the hallmark of characteristics of the formation of Alzheimer's disease, and many currently-developed drugs take reducing brain β-amyloid levels as the goal. The field of drug development has been repeatedly hit, but the scientists did not give up β-amyloid plaques on the contribution of Alzheimer's disease. There are also scientists trying to take a more peculiar way to reduce brain β-amyloid accumulation. This week, the journal Nature published a study titled "Gamma frequencyentrainment attenuates amyloid load and modifies microglia". The researchers believed that brain electrical signal transients may lead to β-amyloid accumulation. Restoration of neural circuits to produce specific electrical shocks can reduce β-amyloid formation and activate immune cells to clear β-amyloid in the brain.

When the brain neuron network is activated synchronously, the oscillatory discharge is generated. This EEG frequency is 30-90 Hz, also known as γ-oscillation, which is thought to contribute significantly to high-level cognitive and perceptual responses. Authors such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cai Lihui et al used the Alzheimer's mouse model to record neuronal activity. The results showed that after the decline in γ-amyloid protein accumulation of plaque formation, animal cognitive declined. They used optical genetics directly to stimulate neurons in the hippocampus of Alzheimer's model mice to produce γ-oscillations that significantly reduced β-amyloid formation in the brain region and activated microglia. Microglia is the brain immune cells, and it can remove β-amyloid protein after being activated.

The authors designed a noninvasive method of stimulating neurons in the brain. The mice were placed in a box filled with LED lamps and irradiated at a frequency of 40 Hz to visualize the primary visual cortex of the mice. The study found that this stimulus can reduce amyloid protein levels in the visual cortex of early Alzheimer's mice by 50% and reduce the number of amyloid plaques in the visual cortex of later-stage Alzheimer's mice.

The results showed that the frequency of 40 Hz can activate the microglia in the brain and improve the ability of amyloid removal, which can reduce the amyloid plaque formation, preventing and treating senile dementia. Treatment of Alzheimer's disease with γ-oscillations is a new therapeutic strategy, but whether it plays a role on humans needs to be further studied. By the way, Flarebio offers good-quality recombinant proteins like recombinant Ptpra at good prices.

2016年12月9日星期五

Scientists find a protein that summons cell's gene-silencing machinery

It is known that organisms must defend themselves against parasitic genetic elements called transposons, from bacteria to humans, and the stake they undertake are high. These pieces of DNA jump around in the genome thus descripting genes. It can cause so much destruction that cells have dedicated surveillance mechanisms to keep them in check. Defects in these innate defense systems usually result in sterility. In animals, studies using recombinant horse proteins show that the main defense against troublemaking transposons is the Piwi-interacting RNA pathway.

In new research, scientists led by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Professor Gregory Hannon, who is also a Professor and Senior Group Leader at the CRUK Cambridge Institute at the University of Cambridge, have identified a protein the Piwi system uses to guide a cell's gene-silencing machinery to the right spots in the genome, allowing it to keep transposons inactive without interfering with the organism's own genes.

Scientists led by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Professor Gregory Hannon, who is also a Professor and Senior Group Leader at the CRUK Cambridge Institute at the University of Cambridge just conducted a new research, identifying a protein the Piwi system uses to guide a cell's gene-silencing machinery to the right spots in the genome, which allows it to keep transposons inactive and not interfere with the organism's own genes. They playfully named the protein Panoramix, after a comic book character who endows others with great power.

The Piwi-interacting RNA pathway, which is active in germline cells - those that give rise to sperm and eggs—is a double-tiered defense system. The most direct line of defense finds and chews up RNA copies of transposons, while a second mechanism finds transposons within the genome and tags them with chemical signals that instruct the cell to keep them safely off. The two modes of control provide the tightest possible clamp on the system.

The study of Hannon and his colleagues are currently focusing on the system that chemically tags transposon DNA. It happens as the elements are preparing to move, when transposon DNA is copied from its place in the genome into RNA, a process known as transcription.

According to Hannon, the Piwi system's challenge is to locate these sequences which look a lot like an organism's own genes, and tag them to make them be recognized by the same machinery a cell uses to switch its own genes off as needed. They think Piwi-interacting RNAs are responsible for finding transposons as RNA copies emerge, but the next was unknown. They hope to figure out the link between this very transposon-specific pathway to the more general repressive machinery of the cell.

They listed a lot of molecules which are possible to play this role and tested them. The Piwi system is so fast that they have found it nearly impossible to follow its components as they silence their natural targets. Later they constructed an artificial Piwi target, then stuck different components of the Piwi system to it and saw what was going on next.

For the most part, cells treated the piece of DNA that encoded the target as one of their own genes. However, when Panoramix was tethered to the artificial RNA target, it was able to halt transcription of the foreign piece of DNA. It means that once transcription began, Panoramix recruited the cell's gene silencing machinery to shut off local transcription and mark the intrusive DNA so that it would remain off, even in future generations.

It's a quite specific phenomenon. Panoramix summons the cell's gene-silencing machinery without affecting the activity of any of the fruit fly's own genes. The scientists believe that there may be a similar protein that plays the same role in humans and other animals. Flarebio provides good-quality recombinant proteins including recombinant Nrg2 for you.

Scientists are developing new drugs to remove deadly bacteria

The Group A Streptococcus (strep) infections are usually caused by a particularly nefarious strain - M1T1. One of the reasons for this name is the type of tentacle-like M protein projecting from the bacterium's surface. Despite that a lot of studies before proposed ways M1 might contribute to strep virulence and through researching using recombinant mouse proteins, researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences have given another explanation that is more persuasive than those ones: M1's ability to hold off antimicrobial peptides—natural antibiotics that comprise one of the immune system's front lines of defense.

The new study was published October 14 by Cell Host & Microbe. It emphasizes the importance of antimicrobial peptides, thus suggesting a new therapeutic approach to helping the immune system get rid of this crafty pathogen.

"The famous strep M1 protein has been shown to have numerous virulence properties that aid in bacterial colonization, fool the immune system or provoke inflammation," said senior author Victor Nizet, MD, professor of pediatrics and pharmacy. "We found that a major contribution of M1 protein to severe invasive infections can be explained by its ability to inactivate antimicrobial peptides."

More than 700 million infections all over the world each year, most notably strep throat and "flesh-eating" skin infections are caused by Group A strep. The body unleashes small antimicrobial peptides reacting to strep and other bacterial infections. These short chains of amino acids are deadly to bacteria in many ways such as summoning reinforcements in the form of infection-fighting cells or poking holes in bacterial membranes.

After research, the team found that Group A strep lacking M1 protein were easily killed by cathelicidin, a critical antimicrobial peptide. But they were rescued when armed with added M1 protein.

Besides, a research conducted on a mouse model showed that M49, a less virulent strain of strep, caused larger skin lesions in mice lacking cathelicidin than in normal, cathelicidin-producing mice. It means that M49 is unable to stiff-arm antimicrobial peptides the way M1 can, which makes the immune response more effective and the M49 bacteria less virulent.

The study stresses out the need to fortify or optimize antimicrobial peptides to improve the odds of defending infection of immune system. To know more about the interaction between M1 and antimicrobial peptides may develop new potential way of treating Group A infections. It's considerable to find an effective drug to help immune system fight against the infections by itself. Flarebio provides you with superior recombinant proteins like recombinant COLEC12 at good prices.

2016年12月8日星期四

New potential treatment of tumor cachexia is coming

Recently, the international academic journal Molecular Therapy published the latest study results of Ding Qiurong Research Group from Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Life Sciences Institute of Nutrition Science, and the paper is titled "Prevention of Muscle Wasting by CRISPR / Cas9- mediated Disruption of Myostatin In Vivo". The aim of this study through recombinant dog proteins is to treat myosinophilia by CRISPR in muscle-specific target-knockout myostatin in response to severe muscular dystrophy in cancer patients.

Cachexia can be found in a variety of diseases, of which the cachexia associated with the tumor is most common. Tumor cachexia is a consumptive syndrome shown in many cancer patients, especially in late stages of disease. Although there are sufficient nutrient intake, the substantial loss of skeletal muscle also exist (with or without adiposity), leading to a serious decline in quality of life and survival.

In this study, under the guidance of researcher Ding Qiurong, Wei Yuda, a graduate student achieved used SaCRISPR / Cas9 to target the myostatin signaling pathways that are activated the effect of partly alleviating the cachexia in cachexia through the myostatin in body-targeted knockout muscles aiming at inducing myostatin signaling pathway. The main reasons for choosing myostatin as the target are: 1) myostatin signal pathway is the negative regulator of muscle growth and development. In addition to the muscular system, no serious adverse effects have been found in the natural individuals with myostatin function deletion mutations, and the safety of targeting has been guaranteed. 2) Early serial mice and clinical trials have demonstrated that the myostatin signaling pathway in cachexia (3) myostatin is mainly secreted by the muscle cells. The main mode of action is autocrine / paracrine mode, so the reduction in myostatin concentration in the muscle microenvironment can preserve some of the muscle function in the presence of cachexia.

Based on this, Wei et al. made use of muscle-specific promoter to start the expression of SaCas9 (staphylococcus aureus cas9) and then injected into the glandular-associated virus vector (AAV). After packed in mouse myostatin protein, significant recovery of skeletal muscle function was observed in the tumor-induced cachexia mice model (9% increase in mean skeletal muscle weight, 25% increase in average grip strength, and a slice at the injection site, compared to non-targeted mice staining found muscle fiber atrophy was significantly alleviated). This study as a confirmatory experiment suggests that the use of gene editing specific target knockout myostatin in muscle tissue can be used as a potential gene therapy for cachexia control and can further improve the in-vivo targeting efficiency, and a comprehensive assessment of targeted safety will contribute to its true clinical transformation. Flarebio offers recombinant proteins of great quality including recombinant CDH2 at good prices.

The impact of 128 AD-derived presenilin-1 mutations on β-amyloid production

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia, but the cause of AD is still poorly understood. Recently, Shi Yigong from Tsinghua University made use of a highly-purified recombinant γ-secretase to detect the impact of 128 AD-derived presenilin-1 (PS1) mutations on β-amyloid (Aβ42 and Aβ40) production. The results of the study were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in December. There are also other studies on recombinant human proteins published in the journal.

A hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the accumulation of β-amyloid (Aβ) in the brain of the patient into amyloid plaques. Amyloid precursor protein (APP) is cleaved by an intramembrane protease gamma secretase, producing a different length of Aβ, where longer peptides are considered to be detrimental. Increasing the ratio of longer Aβs over short Aβs may lead to the formation of amyloid plaques and the consequent development of AD.

Another important indicator of AD development is the average age at onset (AAO) of patients with PS1, PS2 or APP co-mutation. A more deleterious mutation may be reflected in the lower AAO. Analysis of a small number of mutations in AD sources supports a strong correlation: the higher the Aβ42 / Aβ40 ratio, the lower the AAO. In contrast, a different set of PS1 mutations showed only a weak correlation. It is worth noting that these conclusions are derived from a limited number of mutations and lacks for statistical significance.

In this study, 138 human PS1 mutations were analyzed by reconstructing the mutant PS1 protein into γ-secretase containing APH-1aL and examining their ability to produce Aβ42 and Aβ40 in vitro. Approximately 90% of these mutations result in reduced production of Aβ42 and Aβ40. It is noteworthy that 10% of these mutations result in a decrease in the ratio of Aβ42 / Aβ40. There was no statistically significant association between the ratio of Aβ42 / Aβ40 produced by the γ-secretase variants containing the specific PS1 mutations and the average age at onset of the patient (the mutation was isolated from their body). By the way, Flarebio provides you with superior recombinant proteins such as recombinant CDH2 at great prices.

2016年12月7日星期三

The attempt of developing new drugs for Alzheimer's disease has failed temporarily

A drug failed in a large trial of patients with mild dementia, while the drug was seen as an important test of the mainstream theory behind Alzheimer's disease. Critics of the amyloid hypothesis grapple with the results as evidence of their weaknesses. The hypothesis is that Alzheimer's disease is triggered by the gradual accumulation of amyloid in the brain. However, whether the theory can eventually produce a therapy is not yet conclusive. More research using recombinant rat proteins is needed.

Supporters of the theory say the latest trial involved a particular way in which the drug solanezumab works, rather than the defects inherent in the theory itself that could have led to this failure. At the same time, a number of trials are underway to test whether solanezumab or other drugs targeting amyloid proteins can be tested in people with Alzheimer's disease who are not yet symptomatic, or who already have the disease to play a role, although the latest results are negative.

As an antibody, Solanezumab can eliminate amyloid from the blood and cerebrospinal fluid. These proteins continue to form plaques in the brain. Eli Lilly, a developer of solanezumab, announced on Nov. 23 that it would abandon the drug as a treatment for patients with mild dementia. The result is a long list of promising treatments for Alzheimer's disease that have failed in the clinic, many of which target amyloid proteins, like solanezumab.

The Banner Alzheimer's Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, also tests three targeted amyloid-producing therapies in a population with a high genetic risk of Alzheimer's disease, one of which is also an antibody. "The results of Eli Lilly do not prove that amyloid hypothesis is false, and they add the importance of longer-term prevention trials," adds Eric Reiman, an experimental leader and lead author of the study. Flarebio provides you with high-quality recombinant proteins like recombinant CDH15 at competitive prices.