StemCell Therapy

False information spreads faster than the truth on the internet, and false information about scientific topics is among the most rapidly spread categories. What makes us prone to believing something that is utterly or even mostly incorrect? Can anything be done to counteract our acceptance of incorrect scientific information?

Lets start with the statement vaccines overstimulate the immune system. This statement is false; if we struck over from before stimulate we would have a true statement. The false statement, however, is rather unimposing and matter of fact. It also relies on a technical point about immune system biology. Perhaps if you saw it on Twitter or Facebook you would glance but not commit it to memory. If you were the parent of a two month old infant and in the process of thinking about your childs first immunizations, this bland statement might not influence you one way or the other.

Now lets change the tone of the statement. Every time you give your child one of the hundreds of vaccines we are told they have to have, her immune system goes wild with attack antibodies ready to destroy your babys health.

The substance of this new statement is largely the same as the first oneit asserts that somehow vaccines put the human immune system into overdrive. Yet it is now filled with many emotional words. There are now hundreds of vaccines that we are being told (i.e. coerced) into giving our children and they make the immune system go wild, attack, and destroy. Perhaps this statement, unlike the first one, grabs your attention and makes you wonder if indeed you want to vaccinate your baby.

Indeed, an impressive body of research shows that raising emotions, especially fear and anger, increases the chances that a false statement will be believed, remembered, and shared. As Portia puts it in Shakespeares The Merchant of Venice:

I can easier teach

twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the

twenty to follow mine own teaching: the brain may

devise laws for the blood, but a hot temper leaps oer

a cold decree. . . .

This is something politicians figured out long agodont just tell them that some people coming into your country may have committed crimes in the past; warn them that hordes of drug dealers, rapists, and terrorists are pouring over your borders ready to murder and pillage. If possible, find a single story of one such murderous immigrant and detail what happened to his victims in gory detail. When more sensible voices come by later and point out that the denominator for this phenomenonthe total number of people who have immigrated into your countryis far larger than the numeratorthe number of immigrants who commit crimesand that for the most part immigrants have a positive effect on your society and its economy, it is already too late. The original false, highly emotional message is now impervious to such corrective, data-filled recitations

People base their judgements of an activity or a technology not only on what they think about it but also on how they feel about it; they use an affect heuristic, writes Ohio State University Professor Ellen Peters, who studies the role of affect and emotions in decision-making.[1]For example, Peters explains, the terms mad cow disease and bovine spongiform encephalitis (BSE) refer to the same neurodegenerative disease, but media use of the former term elicits more fear and reduces beef consumption more than the latter.

What Determines the Things We Believe and Remember

We are bombarded with many, many more statements purporting to be factual than we can possibly incorporate into memory or on which to base decisions. Many times, we see statements about things thatwe have never considered before. Most likely, a young couple with a new baby did not spend much time thinking about vaccine safety until their own first baby approached two months old. Whether we notice a new statement in the media or on the internet depends in part, of course, on its relevance. The young couple is less likely to pay attention to a statement like to prevent dementia from getting worse, you should eat more vegetables than to one about how to prevent sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).

Another important factor that determines what we believe and remember seems to be the novelty of a new statement. If a statement seems boring and already pass, we will ignore it. How many times can we be told get more exercise? That statement is absolutely true and critical for improving health and well-being, but put that way it fails to capture much attention.

If the exercise statement is couched with something that seems novel, however, we might stop and consider it. Exercise found in recent study to extend average life-span. We already knew that exercise is beneficial (or at least we have already been told that a million times), but here we have a brand-new piece of research that tantalizes us with the possibility of living longer. Adding a bit of novelty, even to an old message, makes it noteworthy. By the way, we made that headline up: although exercise is great, whether it extends how long one lives is dependent on a lot of factors. So please dont cite us and pass on a misstatement!

Perhaps the most important factor that determines how much impact a statement will make on decision-making is whether it evokes strong emotions when we first encounter it. In the simplified version of how our brains work, we have two systems, one fast and one slow. The fast one, which is based in the more primitive parts of the brain like the limbic cortex, uses short-cuts to make rapid decisions and is highly susceptible to basic emotions like fear, sadness, anger, disgust, and happiness. The slow one, which is based in the more sophisticated prefrontal cortex, uses reason and experience to make rational decisions based on data. These systems have the capacity to inhibit each other; when strong emotions are stirred the limbic cortex can inhibit the prefrontal cortex and prevent us from using reason to make a decision. On the other hand, we have the capacity to muster the power of the prefrontal cortex to suppress our more primitive brain and assert reason over emotion.

This view of the brain is a well-worn story that of course obscures a huge amount of detail and nuance, but it is useful in explaining why emotions are so important in reinforcing false beliefs. When the new parents see the emotional statement about the alleged dangers of vaccines, we would hope that they would pause, ask themselves if this could possibly be true, and consider what sources might give them reliable information. We want them to ask their own pediatrician and consult the websites of reliable organizations like the American Academy of Pediatrics or the CDC. In reality, however, this couple has a million things on its mindthere are constant recommendations about how to advance the babys diet, shes outgrowing her newborn clothes, people at work have stopped honoring the idea of maternity/paternity leave, emails and texts are mounting up, and the rent still has to be paid. There just isnt time to research vaccines.

But the terrifying statement about vaccines making the immune system go berserk has made its impression on the couple. It is not easy to ignore. So, they click on a few of the comments made in the Twitter feed or Facebook page where the statement is posted and see one comment after another that confirms the original scary message. Ten, twenty, thirty people jump into the conversation, each with some frightening tidbits of information about a child supposedly harmed by a vaccine or an easily graspable (albeit incorrect) explanation of how the immune system works and how vaccines harm it. Perhaps after 15 or 30 minutes of this, the couple realizes they have other things they must do and break away, but the damage has been done. They are emotionally aroused, scared, and a bit angry that it took a session on Twitter to find out things that the medical establishment and pharmaceutical industry are supposedly hiding from them.

In the worst-case scenario, this couple, that had previously entertained no fixed opinion about vaccinations, now decides to put off the babys first immunizations. Their child does not get her shots to prevent potentially catastrophic, communicable diseases like diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, H. flu type b, and polio. Moreover, after this point even if the couple encounters correct information about vaccines, the mere mention of the word vaccine stimulates the original emotions they felt when they first saw that Twitter message and the reasoning parts of their brains immediately shut down. Who knows if this child, subsequent children the couple may have, or some of the children of people in their social network will ever get any vaccinations?

How to Counteract Misstatements

What can we do to prevent the initial contact with misinformation frombecominga fixed belief and influencingimportant health-related behaviors? As individuals, we can be on guard so that whenever we see a statement that provokes an emotional reaction, we push pause and wait to calm down before evaluating it.

Working on an individual level is important, but we also we need to develop strategies with a broader reach. One possibility is to make our corrective messages just as emotionally wrought as the misinformed ones. Instead of fact-based, unemotional explanations about how vaccinations work, why they are necessary, and how safe they arethe kind of messages that medical experts and scientists feel most comfortable givingwe might try showing pictures of babies wracked with whooping cough to the point that their ribs crack, dying from measles, or succumbing to H. flu meningitis. One of us has seen and taken care of children with illnesses that are now preventable with vaccines; it just takes one experience of a baby with diphtheria having a heart attack or a young child dying within hours of developing the rash of meningococcal meningitis to become passionate about immunizations. If you dont vaccinate your child, he or she could die, we might say in the spirit of stirring fear in the hearts of new parents.

A much discussed and very rigorously conducted study of this approach, however, yielded surprising findings that serve as a cautionary tale. In a randomized trial that varied the emotional content of correct information about vaccines, Dartmouths Brendan Nyhan and colleagues found that pictures of children sick with measles actually increased subjects belief in the false link between vaccines and autism.The researchers, and many others since then, speculated that this backfire effect occurred for much the same reason as explained above: any evocation of emotion, regardless of its content, summons memory of the original belief rather than the newly presented correct one. From this study, many have decided that counteracting emotionally driven health misinformation with emotionally driven correct information is potentially dangerous.

Since the publication of this paper nearly six years ago, some studies have replicated the Nyhan et al finding, but others have not supported the backfire effect." Thus, whether fighting fire with fire (i.e.,emotional misinformation with emotional correct information) is an effective or even safe intervention is going to require more research.

One way of counteracting false health and science information without risking a putative backfire effect might be to prevent it from being committed to permanent memory in the first place. The literature is replete with warnings that merely counteracting false statements with facts is an ineffective approach and that people cannot be counted on to use their analytical skills when confronted with misstatements. Yet studies are increasingly showing that neither of these is absolutely the case and that people can be encouraged to use analytical thinking to make decisions, even with regard to controversial topics. In fact, findings suggest that it is precisely leaving false statements uncorrected that leads to their being nearly impossible to dislodge later on. Therefore, media and policymakers should ensure that the coverage of misinformation at no point presents itself without corrective information, assert psychologists Man-pui Sally Chan, Christopher Jones, and Dolores Albarracin.[2] Uncorrected repetition of misinformation opens the opportunity to generate thoughts in agreement with it.

The Elements of Counteracting Misinformation

The critical elements to help ensure that corrective information works seem to involve at least three things. First, corrections should be made as close in time as possible to misstatements. Second, corrections should appear on the same platform as the misstatements. Third, corrections should be clear, understandable, and appeal to the values of the audience.

We know from abundant basic and clinical neuroscience that short-term memories are malleable but become much less so when transferred to long-term memory storage. We also know that place plays an important part in memorywhere we saw or experienced something is an important way in which memories are stored and retrieved. From this information, it seems probablebut still to be testedthat our first two assertions are accurate: to successfully counteract a misstatement, place the correct information close to it in both time and place. That means, therefore, we should try to get our scientific statements directly onto the Twitter feeds, Facebook group pages, and other social media platforms and websites as soon as misstatements appear on them.

The third proposed basic element for counteracting misinformation is less easily justified. The literature on the form that corrective information should take is too long to review here, but much of it is laboratory based and it is therefore unclear what will really work in the field. Although it is clear that strong emotion fosters memory, including memory of false statements, we will begin by steering clear of trying to evoke fear and anger in case the backfire effect is a real phenomenon. Rather, we hope to focus on people like ourprototypical couple who has just read the frightening message about vaccine safety just as they are about to decide on whether to vaccinate their new child. With that couple in mind, we will approach counteracting messages by trying to establish common interests, inquiring about what the people already know about the topic, and gently introducing facts in ways that are understandable but not overly simplified.

Is it necessary to scare people in order to get them to shun false statements and adopt healthy behavior? Or does that backfire and make them even more recalcitrant to scientific consensus? We know quite a lot about this from laboratory studies. Nowits time to find out what works on everyones favorite social media platform.

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Frighten Them and They Will Believe It - Psychology Today

LONDONDERRY, N.H., Jan. 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Stonyfield Organic, the country's leading organic yogurt maker, announced today the launch of Daily Probiotics, a probiotic yogurt drink in a 3.1oz easy-to-drink format designed to support both immune and digestive health.* Available in two flavors, Blueberry Pomegranate and Strawberry Acai, the new Daily Probiotics are made with real fruit and organic low fat milk, all for only 60 calories. Stonyfield's latest innovation comes as the increasing consumer interest in preventive daily healthcare continues to fuel demand for convenient products made with probiotics, with the global probiotics market predicted to reach nearly 80 billion dollars by 2025.1

"Our new Daily Probiotics are a delicious snack that also provide billions of live active cultures in a portable, on-the-go format," said Sophie Schmitt, Stonyfield Organic Brand Director. "We understand that consumers are looking for snacking options that serve multiple purposes at once and our Daily Probiotics do just that offering both excellent taste and quality ingredients as well as probiotics to support immune and digestive health in one convenient bottle."

"Beyond the standard cultures that are required, you may be surprised to learn that many yogurts actually do not contain the probiotic cultures that help support your immune system health," said Maya Feller, RD. "Studies have shown that eating yogurt rich in probiotics can help foster the beneficial gut bacteria that support an improved immune system by possibly increasing white blood cell counts, so it's important to look for yogurts that include these specific strains."

Daily Probiotics shots are USDA Organic, Non-GMO Project Verified and Gluten-Free. Daily Probiotics shots are available in the yogurt aisle of retailers nationwide in a 3.1oz. 6-pack format for a suggested retail price of $4.49. For more information visit stonyfield.com.

* When eaten regularly as part of a healthy diet and lifestyle.

1Grand View Research, Inc.

About Stonyfield OrganicAs the country's leading organic yogurt maker, Stonyfieldtakes care with everything it puts into its products and everything it keeps out. By saying no to toxic persistent pesticides, artificial hormones, antibiotics and GMOs, Stonyfield has been saying yes to healthy food, healthy people, and a healthy planetfor 36 years. Stonyfield, a Certified B-Corp, is also helping to protect and preserve the next generation of farmers and families through programs like its Direct Milk Supply and Wolfe's Neck Organic Training Program as well as StonyFIELDS,a nationwide, multi-year initiative to help keep families free from toxic persistent pesticides in parks and playing fields across the country.

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Stonyfield Organic Yogurt Introduces The First Organic Daily Probiotic Yogurt Drink On The Market - The Laconia Daily Sun

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Magenta Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MGTA), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel medicines to bring the curative power of immune reset to more patients, today highlighted recent progress across several programs and outlined goals for 2020. These updates will be discussed during a webcast presentation at the 38th annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference on Wednesday, January 15th at 11:30 a.m. PT (2:30 p.m. ET).

In 2019 we generated landmark data from our ADC-based targeted patient preparation platform, which is delivering a new class of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) that have the power to bring one-time treatment to more patients with autoimmune diseases, blood cancers and genetic diseases. We also presented clinical data for our first-line stem cell mobilization program, MGTA-145, which we are developing as the new standard of care for stem cell mobilization with the potential to benefit all of the transplant-eligible patients each year, said Jason Gardner, D. Phil., President and Chief Executive Officer, Magenta. As we begin 2020, we are particularly excited to unveil our MGTA-117 clinical candidate for targeted patient preparation for stem cell transplant or gene therapy. New results announced today highlight the potency, safety and broad therapeutic index of MGTA-117, well above that of currently approved ADCs. We believe that MGTA-117 is the optimal agent for depleting stem cells to enable safe immune reset. We look forward to moving this program into the clinic with initial clinical data expected in 2021.

Targeted Patient Preparation Programs

Current methods to condition patients before transplant and gene therapy are dependent on toxic, non-specific chemotherapy or radiation. These pre-transplant treatments are associated with significant side effects, including infertility, cancer, organ damage and death. Magenta is developing targeted, disease-modifying ADCs that are designed to precisely and rapidly remove the disease-causing cells in the body and enable immune system reset without the need for chemotherapy or radiation.

CD117-ADC Recent Progress

Data presented at the American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting in December 2019, showed the first-ever successful transplant of gene-modified cells in non-human primates using a CD117-targeted, single-agent ADC from Magenta, without the use of chemotherapy or radiation. These unprecedented results validate and advance Magentas conditioning platform.

Building on this work, Magentas new clinical candidate, MGTA-117, is a CD117 antibody conjugated to amanitin. Results published today in an abstract for the Transplant and Cellular Therapy annual meeting show that MGTA-117 potently depleted stem and progenitor cells and demonstrated a wide tolerability: potency ratio of 30 fold (therapeutic index; typical range for approved ADCs at this stage is two to six fold). This program is advancing to the clinic and further validates Magentas antibody drug conjugate-based conditioning platform. MGTA-117 was developed under a partnership with Heidelberg Pharma that grants Magenta exclusive worldwide development and marketing rights for ADCs using an amanitin payload and targeting CD117.

MGTA-117 in 2020

Magenta is scaling up manufacturing of MGTA-117 and completing IND-enabling studies in 2020. The Company intends to move this new product candidate into the clinic with initial clinical data expected in 2021.

CD45-ADC Recent Progress

Current standard treatment for patients with multiple sclerosis involves years of chronic dosing of medications that do not halt the progression of the disease. For patients with systemic sclerosis, a potentially fatal autoimmune disease, there are no approved therapies. Immune reset through stem cell transplant has demonstrated durable remissions in thousands of patients with autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and systemic sclerosis, and it is recommended by the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) in treatment guidelines for systemic sclerosis. The immune reset process involves two main steps: removing the disease-causing cells and replacing them with healthy cells to rebuild the immune system to a healthy state.

Magenta is developing targeted ADCs designed to precisely remove the disease-causing cells in the body without the need for chemotherapy or radiation. Magentas CD45-ADC program targets CD45, a protein expressed on immune cells and stem cells and is designed to remove the cells that cause autoimmune diseases in order to enable curative immune reset.

Data presented at the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) meeting in November 2019 showed that a single dose of CD45-ADC removed disease-causing reactive T cells, enabled successful immune reset and rebuild of the immune system and was well tolerated in three models of autoimmune disease, including the EAE model, the most reliable murine model of multiple sclerosis. Further, a single dose of CD45-ADC significantly reduced disease incidence and delayed disease onset in this model that has successfully provided preclinical proof of concept for many clinically validated standard-of-care therapies.

CD45-ADC in 2020

Magenta has identified a lead antibody and has progressed this program into IND-enabling studies, which the Company plans to further advance in 2020.

MGTA-145 First-Line Stem Cell Mobilization Therapy

MGTA-145 Recent Progress

Magenta is developing MGTA-145 as the new first-line standard of care for stem cell mobilization in a broad range of diseases, including autoimmune diseases, blood cancers and genetic diseases. MGTA-145, a CXCR2 agonist, works in combination with plerixafor, a CXCR4 antagonist, to harness the physiological mechanism of stem cell mobilization.

Magenta is currently studying MGTA-145 and plerixafor in a Phase 1 study in healthy volunteers. Data from the Phase 1 study presented at the ASH annual meeting in December 2019 showed that MGTA-145 in combination with plerixafor successfully enables safe, same-day dosing, mobilization and collection of sufficient high-quality hematopoietic stem cells for transplant. Further, when cells collected from the first two apheresis subjects were transplanted into humanized mice, the cells engrafted more rapidly and at a five-fold higher level than cells from G-CSF-mobilized peripheral blood.

MGTA-145 in 2020

Magenta intends to complete the Phase 1 study and move this program into multiple Phase 2 studies in patients in 2020. The Phase 2 studies will include both allogeneic and autologous transplant settings and will evaluate mobilization and collection of high-quality cells and engraftment of the cells after transplant.

MGTA-456 Cell Therapy

MGTA-456 Recent Progress

MGTA-456 is a cell therapy designed to provide a high dose of stem cells that are well matched to the patient to enable safe immune and blood system rebuild and durable remissions in patients with blood cancers. In September, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy (RMAT) designation for MGTA-456 for the treatment of multiple inherited metabolic disorders.

Magenta is currently studying MGTA-456 in a Phase 2 study in patients with inherited metabolic disorders, including cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy (cALD) and Hurler syndrome. These are rare, rapidly progressive neurologic disorders that are fatal when left untreated. Results in the first two evaluable patients with cALD updated in December 2019 showed early and durable resolution of the disease at 12 months follow-up. The Loes score and NFS score, which measure progress of the disease, remained stable, suggesting that progress of the disease has been halted in these patients. The early and durable resolution of disease with MGTA-456 is not consistently seen with other therapies, including standard stem cell transplant, gene therapy or enzyme replacement therapy.

MGTA-456 in 2020

Magenta intends to complete enrollment in the Phase 2 in 2020 and continue dialogue with the FDA under the RMAT designation, and to discuss with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for development in Europe

About Magenta Therapeutics

Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., Magenta Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel medicines for patients with autoimmune diseases, blood cancers and genetic diseases. By creating a platform focused on critical areas of unmet need, Magenta Therapeutics is pioneering an integrated approach to allow more patients to receive one-time, curative therapies by making the process more effective, safer and easier.

Forward-Looking Statement

This press release may contain forward-looking statements and information within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other federal securities laws. The use of words such as may, will, could, should, expects, intends, plans, anticipates, believes, estimates, predicts, projects, seeks, endeavor, potential, continue or the negative of such words or other similar expressions can be used to identify forward-looking statements. The express or implied forward-looking statements included in this press release are only predictions and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including, without limitation risks set forth under the caption Risk Factors in Magentas Annual Report on Form 10-K, as updated by Magentas most recent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and its other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this press release may not occur and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. Although Magenta believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot guarantee that the future results, levels of activity, performance or events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or occur. Moreover, except as required by law, neither Magenta nor any other person assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the forward-looking statements included in this press release. Any forward-looking statement included in this press release speaks only as of the date on which it was made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Original post:
Magenta Therapeutics Advances Conditioning Platform and Clinical Programs, Highlights Recent Milestones and 2020 Goals - Business Wire

A white-tailed deer, its neck bulging with huge, ugly, wart-like growths, has made startling headlines out of Alabama. But many hunters were already familiar with the grotesque growths on the buck, and many other strange things they find on and in their deer.

Deer warts

From Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries Division

The growths on that deer are deer warts, or cutaneous fibromas, caused by the animals immune system reacting to virus transmitted by biting insects. The leathery, hairless, gray or black masses, ranging from a half-inch to more than eight inches in diameter, grow individually or together in clumps.

Some deer have been found with more than 200 fibromas. If their locations do not severely interfere with the deers vision, breathing, eating of ability to move, the animal usually will survive the fibromas.

Venison from a deer with fibromas, which are growths on the skin, is generally considered safe to eat.

Chronic wasting disease

al.com

Example of deer afflicted with Chronic Wasting Disease in Wisconsin. (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources photo).

While fibromas captured the most recent headlines, chronic wasting disease has been in the news much more regularly over the past several years. The always fatal, prion-based disease of deer, elk and related cervids does not present itself as obviously as do fibromas. CWD can take months, even years, to present symptoms of extreme weight loss, lack of coordination, excessive salivation and more.

While the disease has not been documented to spread to humans, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that venison from infected deer not be eaten and testing is offered by the Pennsylvania Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System.

Ticks

Third-Party-Submitted

A deer ticke on an adult thumb, for size comparison. (Stuart Meek, Wikimedia Commons image)

Ticks are another well-known companion of deer throughout Pennsylvania, and beyond. Its the rare deer that does not have some ticks and plenty of deer have hundreds on them. And, hunters come in close contact with the deer they kill, presenting themselves as prime new hosts for the tiny arachnids.

Deer do not contract Lyme disease, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission. And, ticks presence on a deer present no danger to those eating the venison.

Old wounds

An abscess formed at a wound on a deer

Hunters regularly find wounds on the deer they kill. Not wounds that they inflicted in killing the animals, but previous wounds from misplaced bullets or arrows from other hunters, battles with other deer, collisions with motor vehicles and attacks by predators. Some wounds simply heal, even around a bullet, arrow or bone fragment. Others develop abscesses filled with yellow, green or even black pus.

Other parts of the deer are safe for consumption, if the infected area is safely cut away. But if the infected area or fluids from it come into contact with other areas, the venison there always will not be safe to eat.

Lumps

Chest cavity of a deer with tuberculosis.

In processing the deer they harvest, hunters regularly find blood clots in the muscle tissue, green or black discharge from organs and even bad smells, all of which can be signs of disease. In addition, yellow or tan lumps on the lungs or the inside surface of the rib cage may indicate that the deer has tuberculosis.

Some hunters choose to overlook some diseases but eating venison from a deer with tuberculosis likely could lead to humans contracting the disease.

Deer keds

Deer keds, which are parasitic flies, are more widespread than previously thought.

Parasitic deer keds flat-bodied flies with grabbing forelegs and deciduous wings are usually found on deer, elk and moose, but occasionally bite humans and domestic mammals. Although several tick-borne pathogens have been detected in deer keds, including the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, cat scratch fever and anaplasmosis, its unknown whether they can be transmitted through the insects bite.

Deer hunters are most likely to come into contact with deer keds, as they process deer they kill. "Deer keds can run up your arm while you're field dressing a deer and bite you, said Michael Skvarla, extension educator and director of the Insect Identification Lab in the Department of Entomology at Penn State. If these insects are picking up pathogens from deer, they could transmit them to hunters. We don't want to scare people, but people should be aware there is the potential for deer keds to transmit pathogens that can cause disease."

There is no evidence that keds cause venison from the deer to be unsafe for human consumption.

Nasal bots

Cross-section of a deer skull infested with nasal bots.

Nasal bots are another parasitic insect regularly found on deer, as well as rabbits and squirrels. They are more specialized than the hide-roaming keds. Nasal bot flies lay eggs in the nose of the animal. Larvae hatch from the eggs, feed on tissue inside the nose and grow until they are large enough to cause discomfort to the animal, which sneezes them out to further develop into the next generation of winged adults.

The insects have no impact on the deer meat.

Lung worms

Lung worms in a deer

Lung worms are another common parasite of deer, spread in their feces and the vegetation touched by their feces. In hunter-killed deer, they are most obvious as spaghetti-like clusters slithering around the animals windpipe or lungs. The larvae of the nematode begin life in the intestinal tract of the deer. They eventually pass out in the scat of the animal, mature in the soil, climb up onto vegetation, where they are eaten by other deer. Once inside the animal they migrate from the stomach to the lungs.

In low numbers the lung worms have little impact on the deer they inhabit. But in large concentrations in deer already compromised by other parasites or disease, they can contribute to the animals death.

Blue tongue

Deer with swollen tongue

Blue tongue is a virus contracted by deer through the bite of a biting midge in the genus Culicoides. The most notable symptoms are a swollen tongue with a blue color to it and sloughed or deformed hooves. Other symptoms include swollen neck and eyelids, reduced activity, weigh loss, excessive salivation, and fever.

The virus that causes blue tongue has not been shown to spread to humans who eat the meat of the animal, but the deer often have additional infections that can make the meat unfit for human consumption.

Arterial worms

Arterial worms in a deer

Horsefly bites can infect deer with tiny, white, parasitic roundworms that live in the arteries of the animal. Their presence is most commonly detected through bone deformities, particularly the jaw. When the jaw is deformed it can lead to food being stuck under the tongue, tooth loss and secondary infection.

Venison from deer infected with arterial worms is generally considered safe to eat.

Mange

Hunter-killed deer with mange.

Mange, typically displayed as hair thinning and loss, leaving thickened, wrinkled, dark skin covered in scabs and foul-smelling crust, is a highly contagious skin disease of mammals caused by mites. There are several categories of mange affecting wild mammals caused by different species of mites that are very similar in appearance, according to the Northeast Wildlife Disease Cooperative. The three major categories of mange are sarcoptic mange, which is caused by Sacroptes scabiei, notoedric mange, which is caused by Notoedres centrifera, and demodectic mange, which is caused by two species of mites from the genus Demodex. Sarcoptic mange is the most common and most studied in wildlife and will thus be the focus of this disease description.

Demodectic mange has been reported in many mammalian species including white-tailed deer, mule deer and elk. A new larger species of Demodex mites affecting white-tailed deer was described in 2007.

Many affected animals will resolve their mange without intervention if their immune systems begin to function normally.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission suggests that people handling mangy animals should wear gloves and should wash thoroughly immediately after handling. Infected carcasses should be frozen prior to examination, because sufficient freezing will kill the mites.

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Nasty stuff hunters find on and in their deer: Oozing green gunk, huge warts, parasitic insects and more - pennlive.com

VALLEY COTTAGE, N.Y. Complement system consists of more than 30 proteins and it operates as defense against infection. Composition of the 30 proteins in blood or serum is known as complement cascade which operates as the first protection mechanism against any antigen which enters in the body. In some patients the complement cascade can be weaker due to absence of few proteins or comparatively low concentration, hampering the bodys defense mechanism.

The immune response to foreign particle entered into the body is often delayed in the person whose complement cascade is weaker. Various studies has shown that the complement deficiency is absence of functioning of one of the complement system proteins and these conditions are often goes as undiagnosed. Studies evaluated that only 10% of overall complement deficiencies are identified/ diagnosed. This represents large revenue generation potential in the global complement-targeted therapeutics market.

Download the sample copy of Report with table of contents and Figures @https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-10752

Complement-targeted Therapeutics Market: Drivers and Restraints

Complement-targeted therapeutics represent vast potential for the mechanism by which the body responds to the infection. Complement system also eliminates particulate substances, (like damaged or dying cells, microbes or immune complexes), furthermore it also helps in modulating adaptive immune responses. Complement-targeted therapeutics helps in normal mechanism of the immune system.

There are large number of clinical trials are going on to evaluate the use of complement-targeted therapeutics in managing the bodys first response as well as normal immune system functioning. With increasing prevalence of immune system diseases and vast clinical research in complement-targeted therapeutics, it is expected to offer significant revenue generation opportunity for the complement-targeted therapeutics market.

Preview Analysis of Complement-targeted Therapeutics Market Global Industry Analysis 2014 2018 and Opportunity Assessment 2019 2029: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/complement-targeted-therapeutics-market

With increasing prevalence of the geriatric population whose body is comparatively more susceptible to the infection due to weak immune system further expected to drive the growth of complement-targeted therapeutics market. Increasing prevalence of chronic diseases further expected to drive the growth of the complement-targeted therapeutics market. Whereas, large proportion of population living with complement deficiency goes undiagnosed, which may hamper the complement-targeted therapeutics market growth.

Complement-targeted Therapeutics Market: Overview

The global complement-targeted therapeutics market is expected to witness steady growth over the forecast period owing to increasing number of clinical trials and expected subsequent launches. The complement-targeted therapeutics market by indication is expected to be dominated by atypical haemolytic uraemic syndrome due to comparatively higher prevalence of the disease.

By distribution channel, global complement-targeted therapeutics market is expected to be dominated by retail pharmacies due to higher patient footfall. Extensive clinical research activities going on the complement-targeted therapeutics market are expected to generate significant revenue generation opportunities in the near future. Increasing clinical studies around usefulness of the complement-targeted therapeutics around treating diseases such as 3-glomerulopathy, antibody-mediated acute rejection of kidney transplants, severe antiphospholipid syndrome, etc. further expected to offer significant revenue generation opportunity in global severe antiphospholipid syndrome market.

Complement-targeted Therapeutics Market: Regional Outlook

The global complement-targeted therapeutics market is expected to be dominated by North America due to higher product availability. Europe is expected to be the second most lucrative region in the global complement-targeted therapeutics market owing to higher disease prevalence. Latin America complement-targeted therapeutics market is expected to witness steady growth over the forecast period owing to increasing product availability in the region.

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Asia-Pacific complement-targeted therapeutics market is expected to witness exponential growth over the forecast period owing to increasing product adoption for the treatment. Middle East & Africa is expected to be the least lucrative region in the global complement-targeted therapeutics market due to least product adoption.

Complement-targeted Therapeutics Market: Key Players

The key players operating in the global complement-targeted therapeutics market are: Creative Biolabs, Complement UK, Novartis AG, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Merck & Co., Inc., Pfizer Inc., Allergan plc, AbbVie, and others.

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Complement Targeted Therapeutics Market Industry Size, Segments Overview, Business outlook, Trends, - PharmiWeb.com

Back in 2009, the New York Times' Well blog reported on what then appeared to be a new health "trend": Celiac disease, an autoimmune reaction to the wheat protein gluten. At the time, it was unclear whether the rise in diagnoses was because doctors understood how to find and diagnose it, or if there were actually more cases. It turned out it was the latter.

In a 2009 study, researchersanalyzed blood samples drawn from health adults between 1948 and 1954, which were collected at Warren Air Force Base. Only 0.2 percent of those samples had celiac disease. When compared to more recent cohorts in the late 2000s, celiac disease was four times more prevalent.

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder in which someone cant eat gluten because it will damage the small intestine. Gluten is the name for the water-insoluble proteins that are found in grains like barley, wheat, oats and rye. Individuals with celiac disease cant digest gluten, and when they do it can lead to vomiting and diarrhea. Fatigue, weight loss, abdominal discomfort and anemia, are all symptoms, too.

In response to awareness and increased diagnoses, gluten-free options for food consumers have expanded since the 2000s. Offering gluten-free options is now common in restaurants, and celiac awareness has even trickled into politics. In December 2019, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) introduced the Gluten in Medicine Disclosure Act of 2019, which would amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require gluten be labeled in all medications.

When the New York Times published its piece in 2009, doctors said they didnt know what was the cause of the rise. Ten years later, there is still no consensus on why the rise occurred partly because the actual cause of celiac disease remains unknown. Yet just this week, Australian researchers published a study in the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology linking bacterial exposure as a possible environmental risk factor for developing the disease. In the study, researchers explain receptors from the T cells of celiac disease patients recognize protein fragments from certain bacteria that are similar to gluten.

In celiac disease you get aberrant reactivity to gluten and we have provided a proof-of-principle that there's a link between gluten proteins and proteins that are found in some bacteria," co-lead researcher Dr Hugh Reid, of Monash University, said in a press statement. "That is, it's possible that the immune system reacts to the bacterial proteins in a normal immune response and in so doing develops a reaction to gluten proteins because, to the immune system, they look indistinguishable like a mimic."

There is a long reading list of scientific literature speculating as to what causes celiac disease. Some theories point to cesarean sections, while others the overuse of antibiotics. The way bread is made is also a point of contention. There have been some small studies looking at old forms of bread-makingthat have suggested its not as immunogenic, it doesnt drive the immune response as strongly as more modern grain or bread preparations, a researcher told Time magazine.

There is also the hygiene theory, which holds that between birth and the first 18 months of life, babies are not exposed to the same amount of antigens as they used to be. That could, in turn, trigger immune responses to things that are not actually a threat to the body, such as gluten.

But what continues to puzzle researchers is the overall increase in it. According to data from the University of Chicagos Celiac Disease Center, celiac disease affects one percent of healthy, average Americans, which means that 3 million people have it. It is estimated that 97 percent of them are undiagnosed, as diagnosis is still difficult.

Meanwhile, many people are cutting gluten from their diets even without formal diagnosis of celiac disease.Since 2009, the number of gluten-free Americans has tripled though not all of them have been diagnosed with celiac disease.

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Scientists are a step closer to solving the mystery of celiac disease - Salon

Each night, when I go to sleep, I die. And the next morning, when I wake up, I am reborn.Mahatma Gandhi

Happy New Year! Happy New Decade! Early January and the holidays are over and most of us are getting back into Real Life. For many of us, weve burned the candle at both ends and perhaps are feeling the exhaustion of the culmination of doing too much and not getting enough sleep. Ive heard so many women in the last month or so tiredly grin, (or grimace) and say No rest for the weary. As though we all must blithely accept exhaustion.

But No We cannot accept this lying down . . . or more likely running around! Sleep is essential and has been described by sleep expert Matthew Walker, as our life-support system and Mother Natures best effort yet at immortality.

The decimation of sleep throughout industrialized nationsis having a catastrophic impact on our health, our wellness,even the safety and the education of our children.Its a silent sleep loss epidemic,and its fast becoming one of the greatest public health challengesthat we face in the 21st century.

So why do we needsleep? What difference does a good nights sleep actually make? I think we allknow the obvious answers to that lack of sleep makes us tired, grumpy and notquite able to think properly. But research shows that its much more seriousthan that. Not enough sleep or poor quality sleep impacts our immune system,hormones, heart, learning, memory and even impacts mens testicles and womensreproductive organs. Interestinglyenough, it also impacts our genetic code.

Lack of sleep hugelyimpacts our ability to heal as well. Inour body we have cells that protect us, sometimes called naturalkiller cells.You can think ofnatural killer cells almost like the secret service agentsof your immunesystem.They are very good at identifying dangerous, unwantedelementsand eliminating them.In fact, what theyre doing here isdestroying a cancerous tumor mass.So what you wish for is a virile set ofthese immune assassinsat all times,and tragically, thats what youdont have if youre not sleeping enough.

And as we age, and our memory seems to faderapidly, all of us over 50 can certainly attest to that, sleep is even moreessential. Researchis showing that the disruption of deep sleepis anunderappreciated factorthat is contributing to cognitive decline ormemory declinein aging, and most recently discoveredin Alzheimersdisease as well.

Basically in anutshell there is nothing positive about not getting enough sleep.

A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures for anything.

Old Irish Proverb

On the other hand,getting enough sleep positively impacts us in almost every way. We have a stronger immune system, betterfocus, better memory, and a more optimistic outlook on life.

Walkerdescribes recent research done at UC Berkeley on sleep and learning:

By placing electrodes all over the head,what weve discovered is that there are big, powerful brainwavesthat happen during the very deepest stages of sleepthat have riding on top of themthese spectacular bursts of electrical activitythat we call sleep spindles.And its the combined quality of these deep-sleep brainwavesthat acts like a file-transfer mechanism at night,shifting memories from a short-term vulnerable reservoirto a more permanent long-term storage site within the brain,and therefore protecting them, making them safe.And it is important that we understandthat during sleep actually transacts these memory benefits,because there are real medical and societal implications.

Sleep provides time for our brains to tidy up and make space; this action is called synapticpruning.

Sleepprovides a time when the brainssynapses theconnections among neuronsshrink back by nearly 20percent.Duringthis time, thesynapsesrest and preparefor the next day, when they will grow stronger while receiving new input tolearn new things.

Without this reset, knownas synaptic homeostasis, synapses could become overloaded andburned out, unable to function at an optimal level. Scientists call this use-dependent corticalreorganization, meaning that we strengthen whichever neural pathways we usemost often, and lose the ones we use the least.

I am totally in favorof pruning those unused pathways. Iusually feel like my brain can use a little Marie Kondo action!

I think we all canagree that getting more and better quality sleep is essential. But what is the best way to do that? Fortunately, Walker does have a fewsuggestions:

The first is regularity.Go to bed at the same time, wake up at the same time,no matter whether its the weekday or the weekend.Regularity is king,and it will anchor your sleepand improve the quantity and the quality of that sleep.The second is keep it cool.Your body needs to drop its core temperatureby about two to three degrees Fahrenheit to initiate sleepand then to stay asleep,and its the reason you will always find it easierto fall asleep in a room thats too coldthan too hot.So aim for a bedroom temperature of around 65 degrees,or about 18 degrees Celsius.Thats going to be optimal for the sleep of most people.

One of my New Years Resolutions this year is to meditate more often, and the Dalai Lama declares that sleep is the best meditation. And who am I to disagree with the Dalai Lama? So I think Ill close here and go take a nap. Happy New Year to all of you, and may you have a restful 2020 filled with wonderful deep healing sleep.

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Rest for the Weary . . . - Thrive Global

Flu season is hitting hard in East Tennessee and across the country.

Flu activity has been high in Tennessee for weeks. About 10 million cases have been reported this season in the U.S., and about 87,000 people have been hospitalized, according to the CDC.

Around 4,800 people have died, including 32 children. This includes one child in East Tennessee and another in Middle Tennessee.

RELATED: State confirms two Tennessee children have died from the flu this season

Experts say the best way to avoid getting the flu is by getting the flu shot and washing your hands often. They say you should wash them long enough to kill the virus. It helps to sing the entire alphabet song while you scrub, before rinsing your hands with hot water.

If you're worried this won't be enough to keep you from getting sick, there are more things you can try.

One option is elderberry syrup. Doctors say elderberries have been used for centuries for colds, flu and skin issues. It comes in a lot of different products and can be found at most health stores.

RELATED: Elderberry syrup is a thing, and people swear by it as a flu remedy

Doctors say it can be good to use when you start to feel sore muscles and at the start of a cough before having to try other medicines. Elderberry can be used to treat inflammation, upper respiratory infections and other kinds of ailments with minimal if any side effects.

You can also add some foods to your diet to boost your immune system. They might not keep you from getting sick, but they will not hurt.

Registered dietitian Angie Tillman said these foods can help:

RELATED: Schools continue cleaning to prepare for students returning during flu season

RELATED: VERIFY: Yes, in terms of illness, this flu season is shaping up to be one of the worst in a decade

RELATED: Flu visits could increase ER wait times

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Alternatives you can use to try to fight the flu - WBIR.com

A new study has revealed that the Siah2 protein is crucial to control Tregs in mice, which can reduce the effectiveness of immunotherapies.

Researchers have identified a new technique to improve the immune systems ability to fight cancer. Using mouse models they demonstrated that the Siah2 protein is essential to control T regulatory cells (Tregs), which can limit the effectiveness of currently used immunotherapies.

The study was conducted at the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, in collaboration with NYU Langones Perlmutter Cancer Center, both US.

While Siah2 is involved in control of activities that govern cancer development, this study offers the first direct evidence for its role in the immune system, namely in anti-tumor immunity, says Dr Zeev Ronai, professor in Sanford Burnham Prebys Tumor Initiation and Maintenance Program and senior author of the study. Our study shows that a PD-1 inhibitor can be used to treat tumors that currently do not respond to this therapy, when administered in mice lacking the Siah2 gene, thereby offering a means to expand the effectiveness of immunotherapy. The findings also provide further justification for our efforts to find a drug that blocks Siah2.

In the study, the scientists used genetically engineered mice that did not produce the Siah2 protein and then introduced BRAF-mutant melanoma, a mutation that occurs in about half of human melanomas. This approach allowed the researchers to study the role of Siah2 in the tumours microenvironment, of which the immune system is a major component. In the absence of the Siah2 gene, the melanoma tumors receded, which contrasted to mice with the Siah2 gene, in which the tumour continued to grow. Giving these mice anti-PD-1 therapy effectively eliminated melanoma that otherwise resisted this therapy, demonstrating a new path to enhance the effectiveness of current immunotherapies.

The scientists discovered that in the Siah2 mutant mice, the tumours were infiltrated by killer but not Treg immune cells, indicating the immune system was more active in clearing the tumours. The lack of the Treg cells was attributed to reduced proliferation and recruitment into the tumour due to the role of Siah2 and its control of cell cycle regulatory proteins.

Ronai explains: In our study, mice lacking the Siah2 gene were able to mount an immune attack against melanoma. Moreover, the effectiveness of Siah2 in immunotherapy was demonstrated for cold tumors those that do not respond to immunotherapy which were effectively eliminated by a PD-1 blockade in Siah2-mutant mice.

The researchers say that their findings offer a new means to make immunotherapies more effective in individuals who do not respond to anti-PD-1 therapy.

The findings were published in Nature Communications.

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Siah2 protein discovered as a regulator of the immune system - Drug Target Review

PARK CITY, Utah, Jan. 8, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --ZAND, the #1 natural lozenge brand in health food stores known for herbal-based immune support has announced the launch of the brand's first rapid immunity product, Immune Fast. This breakthrough new supplement delivers clinically supported immune support within two hours1 whenever and wherever you need it: at work, the airport, school, large gatherings, anywhere.

Simply put, ZAND's new Immune Fast producthelps boost your immune function, which is increasingly under stress in the modern world. So, if you're sick and tired of missing work or dragging yourself through the day feeling less than your best, then your immune system could use a boost. And nothing may work faster than Immune Fast.

Fluke or Happy Accident?

Uncovering the remarkable immune-boosting power of Immune Fast with EpiCor was what you might call "a happy accident." Made from yeast through a top-secret fermentation process, EpiCor is a patented ingredient created by Embria Health Sciences that was originally intended for use in agricultural products. But the company noticed that workers who manufactured the yeast cultures seemed to rarely, if ever, take any sick days. Why?

After conducting subsequent clinical studies, scientists were shocked to learn that EpiCor boosted immune cell activity within two hours.1

With that information in hand, scientists and health experts from ZAND took the patented ingredient and combined it with other immune helpers like vitamin C, zinc, echinacea, and elderberry to create convenient, fast-delivery chewable tablets that can do in two hours what other so-called "immunity helpers" can't do.

An Apple a Day But Maybe Better

"We believe people shouldn't have to sacrifice their preference for natural immune support products when they want to be proactive about boosting their immunity or when they feel off," said John D'Alessandro, chief marketing officer at Nutraceutical Corporation. "It is possible to have better-for-you products that are effective, and Zand Immune Fast delivers."

Immune Fast is now available to consumers at natural products stores and on Amazon for an SRP of $8.99 for the on-the-go 15 pack and $15.99 for the 30 pack.

About ZAND

Founded by a doctor of traditional Chinese medicine and a leading expert on dietary supplement regulations, ZAND is no stranger to premium herbal-based supplements. In fact, the company's Herbalozenges are the #1 seller in America.

The company continues to develop new herbal supplements using the best Eastern traditional philosophies combined with the latest scientific advances and produced prepared FDA-registered, state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities.

For more information, visitimmunefast.com and zand.com.

These statements have not been evaluated by theFDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

1. World Health Organization (WHO) monographs on selected medicinal plants; Vol. 1; 1999. Results observed with 500 mg dose of EpiCor in clinical study of 12 adults. Individual results may vary. EpiCor is a registered trademark of Embria Health Sciences. See https://www.immunefast.com/epicor/.

View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/an-on-the-spot-immune-system-boost-wherever-and-whenever-you-need-it-most-300983122.html

SOURCE ZAND

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An "On-the-Spot" Immune System Boost... Wherever and Whenever You Need It Most - P&T Community

All life on Earth has evolved to cope with a rotating planet which results in the predictable transition between day and night. The details differ between plants, fungi, bacteria and animals, but the consistent feature is a biological clock that allows the organism to anticipate the change and prepare for it.

In animals, the central clock that keeps track of night and day is in the brain where it receives light from the retina to keep synchronised with the light or dark. But all cells in the body have their own clocks. Because these biological clocks have a cycle that is close to 24 hours they are termed circadian (circa meaning about and dian, meaning day, from the Latin dies).

We now live with cheap, bright, artificial light, shift-work, sleep-deprivation and jet-lag all major challenges to the ancient circadian control mechanisms in our bodies. All these circadian and sleep challenges are associated with disease. But in our latest study, using mice, we discovered that infections at different times of the day cause different severity of disease.

Read more: The ancient clock that rules our lives and determines our health

Surprisingly, we found that the clock ticking in the cells of the immune system was responsible for the change in response to bacterial infection. In particular, specialised cells called macrophages, which are big cells that engulf and kill bacteria.

Macrophages, either growing in a dish or in a mouse, responded differently at different times of the day. And disabling the clock in these cells resulted in super macrophages, which moved faster and ate more bacteria than the normal macrophages.

We found that clockless macrophages protected mice from bacterial infection with many types of bacteria. A closer look at the macrophages revealed that the cells looked different, with a major change in the structural proteins that maintain the cell shape and are needed for cell movement and for eating bacteria. The change in the cells internal architecture, or cytoskeleton, became a focus of our studies.

We discovered that the macrophage circadian clock directly controlled the components of the cytoskeleton. We saw changes in the amount of cytoskeletal protein building blocks, and also in the activity of a master regulator of cytoskeletal change. This master regulator is a protein called RhoA.

RhoA is activated by bacterial contact and drives the macrophage to move and consume bacteria. We found that RhoA was active in the clockless macrophages even when no bacteria were present. When bacteria contacted the normal macrophages RhoA became active, but there was no further change in the clockless macrophages, as the RhoA was already active. So the clockless macrophages were always switched on, and so able to respond to bacterial attack more rapidly.

To find out how the clock was changing the behaviour of macrophages, we turned to the core clock mechanism. This comprises a small group of proteins that change in abundance through time, so allowing the cells to tell the time. We found that one of these clock factors, called BMAL1, was the essential link between the clock and the macrophage behaviour.

One of the major issues facing the modern world is the growing resistance of bacteria to antibiotics. There have been no new classes of antibiotics for 30 years. Bacterial resistance to antibiotics means that we have untreatable infections and face a future where surgery will become riskier.

Read more: What will happen when antibiotics stop working?

Finding new ways to enhance defence against bacteria is a high priority. Discovery of a circuit linking the clock to bacterial defence opens up a new route to reduce our reliance of the limited range of existing antibiotics. It may be possible to enhance natural defences to bacterial infection by targeting the clock.

The operation of the circadian clock can be altered by light exposure, by changing meal times, by genetic variability within human populations and by new drugs capable of regulating this system. One problem with targeting the clock with drugs is that the impact on other systems will be broad and the consequences hard to predict. But short-term intervention to boost immunity to infection may offer benefits, at low cost.

Similarly, reinforcing the circadian rhythm of high-risk people, in hospitals for example, by controlling lighting and meal times may boost immunity and prevent hospital-acquired infections.

See more here:
Body clock affects how the immune system works -- new findings - The Conversation UK

BEIJING Yisheng Biopharma Co. Ltd., of Beijing, said it has inked a pact with U.S. biotech Tavotek Biotherapeutics, of Ambler, Pa., to co-develop a combination therapy with Yishengs YS-ON-001/002 and Tavoteks Tavo-301/303, which the companies hope could prove a more efficacious cancer treatment than the popular anti-PD-1/PD-L1 monotherapies.

YS-ON-001 and YS-ON-002 are potent agonists of TLR3, MDA5 and RIG-I pathways. Meanwhile, Tavo-301/303 is a series of novel multispecific antibody-based immuno-oncology assets.

Our approach allows us to develop a combination therapy that can activate the immune system differently from PD-1/PD-L1-based molecules, Yishengs CEO David Shao told BioWorld.

He added that current immune-oncology approaches such as PD-1/PD-L1 antibodies as a single agent achieve only around 20% to 30% response rates in clinical settings.

By combining YS-ON-001/002 with multispecific antibodies like Tavo-301/303 directed against tumors, the two companies hope they can develop a first-in-class immunotherapy with potentially higher response rates.

We may find a very good application of this combination for different types of solid tumor, such as lung cancer, breast cancer and liver cancer, he said, adding that the two drug candidates can create synergy.

Shao also revealed to BioWorld that both companies aim to move this combination approach into clinical development in 2021, potentially in multiple countries, including China and the U.S.

Chinese biotechs have started to look beyond PD-1/PD-L1 antibodies as monotherapies, as the country has approved six of them so far and the craze for them has cooled down.

PD-1/PD-L1 antibodies as monotherapy is the first-generation approach. Right now, people are working on the second generation, such as bispecific antibodies, in order to improve the response rate for different tumor types, he added.

According to Yisheng, YS-ON-001 and YS-ON-002 have demonstrated promising effects in activating the innate and adaptive immune systems and modulating the tumor microenvironment. They can reduce the immunosuppressive effects of tumor microenvironments and enhance antitumor immune responses.

Currently in a phase I trial in China and Singapore, YS-ON-001 has shown a good safety profile to date. It also received orphan drug designations from the FDA for the treatment of pancreatic and liver cancers. The drug candidate can be delivered via intramuscular, subcutaneous or intratumoral injection.

In preclinical studies, YS-ON-001 was found to significantly increase the proportion of natural killer and natural killer T cells in addition to increasing CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses. The drug candidate also reduced the number of T regulatory cells and myeloid-derived suppressor cells in some tumor models.

Meanwhile, YS-ON-002 is in the IND-ready stage. It was found to significantly enhance the expression levels of PD-L1 in tumor cells, proving the rationale for combination therapy with PD-1 antibodies.

Yisheng has said it believes that YS-ON-001/002 could prove to be integral immunotherapy components of standard oncology care, joining other therapies such as chemotherapies, targeted therapies and checkpoint inhibitors or emerging immunotherapies for additive or synergistic treatment benefits.

Both compounds were developed using the companys PIKA immunomodulating technology, which augments both innate and adaptive immune responses through the TLR3, RIG-I and MDA5 pathways. Through TLR3, RIG-I and MDA-5 signaling, PIKA technology can enable the prompt production of interferon, cytokines, chemokines and co-stimulatory factors. Producing type I interferon using PIKA administration can facilitate antigen cross-presentation by dendritic cells, while augmenting CD4+ T-cell, CD8+ T-cell and natural killer cell responses. That makes PIKA-based therapeutics suitable for both antiviral and antitumor applications.

Our PIKA technology platform has achieved proof-of-concept results in phase I and phase II trials. It has demonstrated a good result in activating human immune system in clinical trials, Shao said.

He revealed to BioWorld that in the companys immune-oncology pipeline, a third drug candidate is being developed to target human papillomavirus-induced cancer.

What is intriguing is that Yisheng is better known as a vaccine maker, with four known assets in its vaccine pipeline.

Using the same PIKA technology platform, Yisheng has developed hepatitis B vaccine YS-HBV-001 and the PIKA rabies vaccine for accelerated protection against rabies infection.

Its most advanced asset is the YSJA rabies vaccine, which has been marketed already. It is also developing YS-HBV-002 for chronic hepatitis B treatment.

Its new U.S. partner, Tavotek, however, has kept a lower profile, with an undisclosed pipeline. It is known for extensive work on multispecific antibodies and advanced technology platforms with a focus on cancers, autoimmune conditions and infectious diseases.

Its Tavoselect platform, which the company used to develop Tavo-301/303, is designed to offer highly diversified human antibody sequences that can be utilized in different formats, such as multispecific antibodies. It is said to be able to capture and optimize the best candidates rapidly with NGS analyses and AI.

Tavotek also has three technology platforms for biologics, namely the Targeted Biologics Engineering Platform to develop monoclonal and multispecific antibodies against unique targets; the Tavo-Immune Modulator Platform to enable novel synthetic biologic design for auto-immune diseases and chronic viral infections; and the Multicyclic Intracellular Peptide Platform to develop unique multicyclic peptides with great potency targeting intracellular protein-protein interactions.

The partnership with Yisheng is the first that the U.S. biotech has unveiled, and the collaboration could go beyond oncology.

Continued here:
Yisheng and Tavotek to co-develop combination therapy for cancer - BioWorld Online

Researchers with Rush University Medical Center injected tumors with flu vaccines, even some FDA-approved seasonal flu shots, and found that this attracted immune cells to attack the tumors. In the language of immuno-oncology, it turned cold tumors, which dont cause much of an immune reaction, hot. The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

We wanted to understand how our strong immune responses against pathogens like influenza and their components could improve our much weaker immune response against some tumors, said Andrew Zloza, assistant professor in Rush Medical Colleges Department of Internal Medicine and senior author of the study.

Some immunotherapies against cancer leverage live pathogens, but they havent shown lasting effects in most patients or cancer types. Pulling data from a National Cancer Institute database, the research team found that lung cancer patients who had been hospitalized for a lung infection caused by influenza at the same time lived longer than lung cancer patients who had no flu. They ran experiments and found similar results in mice with tumors and flu lung infections.

However, there are many factors we do not understand about live infections, and this effect does not repeat in tumors where influenza infections do not naturally occur, like skin, Zloza said.

So they worked with an inactivated flu virus, which is basically a flu vaccine. A direct injection of this vaccine into the skin melanoma of the mice caused the tumors to either shrink or grow slower. It appears to increase the proportion of dendritic cells in the tumor, which are immune-stimulating cells. This resulted in an increase in CD8+ T-cells, which recognize and kill cancer cells.

In addition, injecting the vaccine into the skin melanoma tumor on one side of the body also reduced growth of a second skin tumor on the other side of the mouses body that had not been injected. This means that the vaccine, although dosed locally, had a systemic effect.

The researchers also observed similar systemic results in a mouse model of metastatic triple-negative breast cancer where it reduced the primary tumor but also the metastasis of the breast tumor to the lungs.

Based on this result, Zloza said, we hope that in patients, injecting one tumor with an influenza vaccine will lead to immune responses in their other tumors as well. Our successes with a flu vaccine that we created made us wonder if seasonal flu vaccines that are already FDA-approved could be repurposed as treatments for cancer.

He went on to add, Since these have been used in millions of people and have already been shown to be safe, we thought using flu shots to treat cancer could be brought to patients quickly.

And their experiments showed that they did. Additional experiments involved a mouse model called AIR-PDX, where they implanted tumor cells and immune cells from a cancer patient into a mouse that didnt have a functioning immune system of its own. This prevents the mouse from rejecting the implanted cells. They used a human lung tumor and a melanoma metastasis in their AIR-PDX models. What they found was that injecting the flu shot into the patient-derived tumors also caused them to shrink, while the untreated tumors continued to grow.

They also ran experiments using checkpoint inhibitors, a type of immuno-oncology treatment, such as Mercks Keytruda (pembrolizumab). The flu vaccines reduced cancer growth alone whether the tumor was responsive to checkpoint inhibitors or not. And when they combined the flu vaccine with a checkpoint inhibitor, they showed an even greater decrease in tumor growth.

These results propose that eventually both patients who respond and who do not respond to other immunotherapies might benefit from the injection of influenza vaccines into the tumor, and it may increase the small proportion of patients that are now long-term responders to immunotherapies, Zloza said.

The researchers used five different flu shots from the 2017-2018 flu season in their research, and four were effective in fighting tumors.

The next step is to plan clinical trials. Because the flu vaccine is already FDA approved, the study time may be shorter.

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Can a Flu Shot Be Used to Improve Cancer Immunotherapies? - BioSpace

Researchers at the University of Toronto have discovered how a brief disruption to a molecular pathway in the guts of mice before they are born can compromise immunity in adulthood to a common and often deadly intestinal virus.

The researchers found that in utero inhibition of molecular signalling in the lymphotoxin pathway, long known as important in the development of the immune system, prevented a robust antibody response in adult mice to rotavirus. In humans, rotavirus causes an estimated 215,000 deaths annually, mostly in the developing world.

That early disruption limits the ability of the immune system to later trigger and generate production of Immunoglobulin A (IgA) antibodies, the researchers showed. It also interferes with the nature and function of cells in the gut that support the antibody response, called mesenteric lymph node stromal cells.The research was recently published in the journal Science Immunology.

It was surprising that these non-immune stromal cells were so important to the immune response, saysJennifer Gommerman, a professor ofimmunologyin U of Ts Faculty of Medicine and principal investigator on the study.

It turns out that stromal cells affect the ability of immune B cells to produce IgA that neutralizes rotavirus. Were just beginning to understand the influence these stromal cells can have.

Gommerman says the findings highlight the growing importance of research on the environment in which immune cells function. We typically think of a lymph node as just a bag of lymphocytes, but there is also this supporting structure that clearly has an active role in shaping immunity.

The studys first author, post-doctoral researcherConglei Li, identified a broad subset of stromal cells that affect the immune response to rotavirus. But the key players are likely a subset of that subset, Gommerman says. New technology known as single-cell RNA sequencing should soon enable researchers to identify many more of those cells, she adds.

That work could, in turn, lead to a better understanding of the genetic and environmental factors that may undermine immunity to rotavirus in the developing world, where rotavirus vaccines are much less effective than in high-resource settings.

Gommerman says that while several dysfunctions in the immune system likely contribute to reduced immunity to rotavirus in low-income countries, the current study offers a hint that prevention may be possible.

The thinking would be that if youre pregnant in a resource-depleted area, you may take a dietary supplement at a specific point to ensure proper development of tissues that support immunity, and which enable a vaccine to be more effective, she says.

That kind of intervention is likely a long way off, adds Gommerman, and replicating her results in human pregnancy presents obvious ethical problems. A more immediate next step for her lab is a collaborative study on IgA immune responses to other pathogens such as norovirus, another highly contagious disease.

A focus on single pathogens is useful in studies of IgA, according to Gommerman, because so many factors can influence IgA response. If you simplify the system of study, you get more predictable kinetics and can ask more discrete questions, she says. Weve made a contribution with that approachon a question that has been percolating in several labs for years. That feels good.

The research received support from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation and the Swiss National Science Foundation.

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Molecular mechanism suggests new ways to bolster immunity to deadly rotavirus: U of T researchers - News@UofT

Borna disease virus 1 (BoDV-1) causes a bizarre and deadly neurological infection in horses, sheep and other domesticated mammals in parts of Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Austria. Borna disease was named after a city in eastern Germany where it once killed numerous horses in the late 19th century. Infected animals have been known to engage in strange behaviors, such as smashing their heads into things, as well aspipe smokingan informal term for when animals are eating hay and suddenly stop chewing mid-mouthful, with the uneaten portion protruding like a pipe. But the disease does not appear to spread between horses; they are thought to acquire it from shrews, which can live in hay and secrete or excrete fluids containing the virus.

About 14 years ago, researchers identified the bicolored white-toothed shrew as a reservoir hostan organism in which a virus replicates but does not usually cause illnessfor BoDV-1. Horses and sheep are considered dead-end hosts that cannot spread the pathogen. For decades, scientists had debated whether the virus is zoonotic, or capable of jumping from animals to humans. Several studies even suggested that it might be present in people with psychiatric disorders such as depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. It was later shown, however, that the viral RNA sequences detected in these studies were likely the result of laboratory contamination, and research on human infections subsided.

But in 2015 a related type of bornavirus found in exotic squirrels was implicated in at least four human deaths. Then, between 2018 and 2019, scientists detected the classical bornavirus, BoDV-1, in five people in Germany who suffered serious or fatal encephalitis (brain inflammation caused by infection)three of whom were recipients of organ transplants and were taking drugs to suppress their immune system. Now, in a study published Tuesday in Lancet Infectious Diseases, researchers have reported eight additional cases of BoDV-1 infection in humans who died of encephalitis. The pathogen appears to have flown under the radar for decades, but the researchers say doctors should be considering it a potential cause in such deaths.

We now have eight more cases, and these provide additional material for a better understanding of the disease, says Martin Beer, head of the Institute of Diagnostic Virology at the Friedrich Loeffler Institute in Germany, who was co-senior author of the new study and was also part of the team that reported the squirrel bornavirus infections. The findings confirm that the virus can infect humans and cause deadly encephalitis. But the risk is, to our opinion, pretty low, Beer says.

Beer and his colleagues analyzed postmortem brain tissue from 56 patients in southeastern Germanys state of Bavaria between 1999 and 2019. The samples were tested for genetic material from BoDV-1, which the researchers verified by additional testing for antibodies to it. Seven out of nine patients who died of encephalitis of unknown cause at one diagnostic center later tested positive for the virus (one of these cases had been reported previously). An additional two cases that tested positive were also included in the analysis.

The results confirm the virus had caused eight new encephalitis cases; two of these were immune-compromised individuals who had received organ transplants, and six were not. Because other recipients of organs from the same donor did not test positive for the virus, researchers think the transplant recipients that died from the virus probably acquired it from being immune-compromised, not from the donor. The patients suffered symptoms including headache, fever and confusion, which later progressed to coma and ultimately death.

All of the patients lived in rural areas and worked or spent a lot of time outside. Most had also been around cats, which are known to catch shrews and sometimes present them to their owners. Beer and his team hypothesize that the patients were exposed to BoDV-1 this way or perhaps by inhaling dust containing dried shrew urine. Future research will be needed to determine the exact infection route, he says.

Once in a human or horse host, the virus is thought to cross the blood-brain barrier into the central nervous system, where it triggers the hosts immune system to attack brain tissue. Its not the virus killing the brain cell or nerve tissue, Beer explains. Its the [hosts] own immune system recognizing the infection and starting to kill parts of brain.

There is no known treatment for the disease, but researchers are exploring whether antivirals such as ribavirinwhich has been shown to kill a range of bornaviruses in cells grown in a dish and in animal studiescould be effective in treating BoDV-1 infections in humans. Beer and his colleagues have plans to test newer antivirals against the virus in animal studies.

I think its an excellent paper, says Norbert Nowotny, a professor of virology at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, who was not involved in the new study but was part of the group that discovered shrews were a reservoir host for the virus. This Borna disease is really a strange diseaseits not like a flu, he adds, noting that it does not cause epidemics. Its a single-animal disease, and it seems to be the same in humans.

The virus itself is somewhat unusual in that it has a very short genome and makes only a few proteins. It does not seem to infect many individualsbut when it does, it kills them very efficiently. Numerous other zoonotic viruses infect many people but are seldom deadly. Previous research has found that humans and most mammals actually have bornavirus sequences in their genomes, which may help organisms protect themselves against infection, some hypothesize.

Fortunately, the virus does not appear to be transmitted between humans. I think we are all happy that this is not a virus that can spread easily, Beer says. But in light of these new findings, doctors should consider BoDV-1 as a possible cause of encephalitis in areas where it has been known to infect humans and horses.

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Virus Spread by Shrews Linked to Human Deaths from Mysterious Brain Infections - Scientific American

WESTPORT, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Intensity Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing proprietary intratumoral immunotherapy products to kill tumors and increase immune system recognition of solid cancers, today announced that Lewis H. Bender, President and CEO, will be a featured panelist on the Developments in The Oncology Landscape panel at East/West CEO. The conference will take place January 11-12, 2020, the weekend before the 38th Annual J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference, at the Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco.

The panel, which will examine the next wave of innovations and developments in oncology, will be held on Sunday, January 12, 2020 from 1:45 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. PST.

About Intensity Therapeutics

Intensity Therapeutics, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering a new immune-based approach to treat solid tumor cancers. Intensity leverages its DfuseRxSM technology platform to create new, proprietary drug formulations that, following direct injection, rapidly disperse throughout a tumor and diffuse therapeutic agents into cancer cells. Intensitys product candidates have the potential to induce an adaptive immune response that not only attacks the injected tumor, but also non-injected tumors. The Company executed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with the National Cancer Institutes (NCI) Vaccine Branch in 2014. The Company is also collaborating with Merck Sharpe & Dohme to evaluate the combination of INT230-6, Intensitys lead product candidate, and KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab), Mercks anti-PD-1 (programmed death receptor-1) therapy, in patients with advanced solid malignancies. For more information, please visit http://www.intensitytherapeutics.com and follow us on Twitter @IntensityInc.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding Intensity Therapeutics plans, future operations and objectives. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual performance or achievements to be materially different from those currently anticipated. These forward-looking statements include, among other things, statements about the initiation and timing of future clinical trials.

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Intensity Therapeutics to Participate in East/West CEO Conference - Business Wire

CLEVELAND, Ohio Cleveland Clinic Childrens Hospital is seeing a significant rise in cases of respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, an illness that causes respiratory tract infections in infants.

Most of the children hospitalized for RSV at the Clinic have been less than 2 years old, and some are as young as 6 months, said Dr. Camille Sabella, head of the Center for Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the childrens hospital.

In adults and older, healthy children, RSV symptoms are mild and typically mimic the common cold.

But RSV can cause severe infection in some people, especially premature babies, older adults, infants and adults with heart and lung disease, or anyone with a very weak immune system.

RSV is the most frequent cause of bronchiolitis inflammation of the small airway passages entering the lungs in infants and young children. The illness accounts for approximately 125,000 hospitalizations and 250 infant deaths every year in the United States, according to an American Academy of Pediatrics study.

The virus typically begins circulating in the fall, and peaks in January or February. This is prime season, Sabella said.

As of December, visits to the Clinics pediatric emergency department for flu and RSV were up 20% over December 2018, Sabella said. Numbers for RSV cases alone were not available.

The Clinic is also seeing a rise in flu cases, it reported Wednesday. Having peaks in both influenza and RSV results in more hospitalizations and emergency department visits, Sabella said.

At University Hospitals, the number of RSV cases declined for the week ending Jan. 4, as compared with previous weeks, the hospital system reported. Flu activity was also slightly lower from a peak seen during the week of Dec. 22-28.

Dr. Amy Ray, director of infection prevention at MetroHealth, said in a statement that the hospital system is seeing patients with symptoms that include fever, sore throat, cough and body aches. Many are being tested for both influenza and RSV.

The number of RSV diagnoses hit 80 five weeks ago and have been stable around 60 or 70 for the following four weeks, Ray said.

MetroHealth is still seeing widespread cases of flu. Flu season usually peaks around late January but its not certain when it will peak this year, Ray said.

Hospitals are not required to report cases of RSV to county health officials. However, the percentage of emergency department visits for congestion and/or cough was at an eight-year high last week, according to the Cuyahoga County Board of Health.

RSV spreads through direct person-to-person contact and can live on surfaces, Sabella said. Unlike the flu virus, the RSV virus does not survive in the air.

Premature babies or infants and adults who have chronic heart or lung problems may get a severe case of RSV, according to the Mayo Clinic website. Symptoms of severe RSV infection in infants include short, shallow and rapid breathing; cough; lack of appetite; tiredness; and irritability.

There is no vaccine to prevent RSV. Ways to stop the spread of the virus include disinfecting surfaces and shared toys, covering coughs and sneezes with an elbow, washing hands frequently and avoiding touching the face and eyes.

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Cleveland Clinic Childrens Hospital sees rise in cases of respiratory illness RSV - cleveland.com

Last year left us with this piece of bombshell news: He Jiankui, the mastermind behind the CRISPR babies scandal, has been sentenced to three years in prison for violating Chinese laws on scientific research and medical management. Two of his colleagues also face prison for genetically engineering human embryos that eventually became the worlds first CRISPRd babies.

The story isnt over: at least one other scientist is eagerly following Hes footsteps in creating gene-edited humans, although he stresses that he wont implant any engineered embryos until receiving regulatory approval.

Biotech stories are rarely this dramatic. But as gene editing tools and assisted reproductive technologies increase in safety and precision, were bound to see ever more mind-bending headlines. Add in a dose of deep learning for drug discovery and synthetic biology, and its fair to say were getting closer to reshaping biology from the ground upboth ourselves and other living creatures around us.

Here are two stories in biotech were keeping our eyes on. Although successes likely wont come to fruition this year (sorry), these futuristic projects may be closer to reality than you think.

The idea of human-animal chimeras immediately triggers ethical aversion, but the dream of engineering replacement human organs in other animals is gaining momentum.

There are two main ways to do this. The slightly less ethically-fraught idea is to grow a fleet of pigs with heavily CRISPRd organs to make them more human-like. It sounds crazy, but scientists have already successfully transplanted pig hearts into baboonsa stand-in for people with heart failurewith some recipients living up to 180 days before they were euthanized. Despite having foreign hearts, the baboons were healthy and acted like their normal buoyant selves post-op.

But for cross-species transplantation, or xenotransplants to work in humans, we need to deal with PERVsa group of nasty pig genes scattered across the porcine genome, remnants of ancient viral infections that can tag along and potentially infect unsuspecting human recipients.

Theres plenty of progress here too: back in 2017 scientists at eGenesis, a startup spun off from Dr. George Churchs lab, used CRISPR to make PERV-free pig cells that eventually became PERV-free piglets after cloning. Then last month, eGenesis reported the birth of Pig3.0, the worlds most CRISPRd animal to further increase organ compatibility. These PERV-free genetic wonders had three pig genes that stimulate immunorejection removed, and nine brand new human genes to make themin theorymore compatible with human physiology. When raised to adulthood, pig3.0 could reproduce and pass on their genetic edits.

Although only a first clinical propotype that needs further validation and refinement, eGenesis is hopeful. According to one (perhaps overzealous) estimate, the first pig-to-human xenotranplant clinical trial could come in just two years.

The more ethically-challenged idea is to grow human organs directly inside other animalsin other words, engineer human-animal hybrid embryos and bring them to term. This approach marries two ethically uncomfortable technologies, germline editing and hybrids, into one solution that has many wondering if these engineered animals may somehow receive a dose of humanness by accident during development. What if, for example, human donor cells end up migrating to the hybrid animals brain?

Nevertheless, this year scientists at the University of Tokyo are planning to grow human tissue in rodent and pig embryos and transplant those hybrids into surrogates for further development. For now, bringing the embryos to term is completely out of the question. But the line between humans and other animals will only be further blurred in 2020, and scientists have begun debating a new label, substantially human, for living organisms that are mainly human in characteristicsbut not completely so.

With over 800 gene therapy trials in the running and several in mature stages, well likely see a leap in new gene medicine approvals and growth in CAR-T spheres. For now, although transformative, the three approved gene therapies have had lackluster market results, spurring some to ponder whether companies may cut down on investment.

The research community, however, is going strong, with a curious bifurcating trend emerging. Let me explain.

Genetic medicine, a grab-bag term for treatments that directly change genes or their expression, is usually an off-the-shelf solution. Cell therapies, such as the blood cancer breakthrough CAR-T, are extremely personalized in that a patients own immune cells are genetically enhanced. But the true power of genetic medicine lies in its potential for hyper-personalization, especially when it comes to rare genetic disorders. In contrast, CAR-Ts broader success may eventually rely on its ability to become one-size-fits-all.

One example of hyper-tailored gene medicine success is the harrowing story of Mila, a six-year-old with Batten disease, a neurodegenerative genetic disorder that is always fatal and was previously untreatable. Thanks to remarkable efforts from multiple teams, however, in just over a year scientists developed a new experimental therapy tailored to her unique genetic mutation. Since receiving the drug, Milas condition improved significantly.

Milas case is a proof-of-concept of the power of N=1 genetic medicine. Its unclear whether other children also carry her particular mutationBatten has more than a dozen different variants, each stemming from different genetic miscodingor if anyone else would ever benefit from the treatment.

For now, monumental costs and other necessary resources make it impossible to pull off similar feats for a broader population. This is a shame, because inherited diseases rarely have a single genetic cause. But costs for genome mapping and DNA synthesis are rapidly declining. Were starting to better understand how mutations lead to varied disorders. And with multiple gene medicines, such as antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) finally making a comeback after 40 years, its not hard to envision a new era of hyper-personalized genetic treatments, especially for rare diseases.

In contrast, the path forward for CAR-T is to strip its personalization. Both FDA-approved CAR-T therapies require doctors to collect a patients own immune T cells, preserved and shipped to a manufacturer, genetically engineered to boost their cancer-hunting abilities, and infused back into patients. Each cycle is a race against the cancer clock, requiring about three to four weeks to manufacture. Shipping and labor costs further drive up the treatments price tag to hundreds of thousands of dollars per treatment.

These considerable problems have pushed scientists to actively research off-the-shelf CAR-T therapies, which can be made from healthy donor cells in giant batches and cryopreserved. The main stumbling block is immunorejection: engineered cells from donors can cause life-threatening immune problems, or be completely eliminated by the cancer patients immune system and lose efficacy.

The good news? Promising results are coming soon. One idea is to use T cells from umbilical cord blood, which are less likely to generate an immune response. Another is to engineer T cells from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC)mature cells returned back to a young, stem-like state. A patients skin cells, for example, could be made into iPSCs that constantly renew themselves, and only pushed to develop into cancer-fighting T cells when needed.

Yet another idea is to use gene editing to delete proteins on T cells that can trigger an immune responsethe first clinical trials with this approach are already underway. With at least nine different off-the-shelf CAR-T in early human trials, well likely see movement in industrialized CAR-T this year.

Theres lots of other stories in biotech we here at Singularity Hub are watching. For example, the use of AI in drug discovery, after years of hype, may finally meet its reckoning. That is, can the technology actually speed up the arduous process of finding new drug targets or the design of new drugs?

Another potentially game-changing story is that of Biogens Alzheimers drug candidate, which reported contradicting results last year but was still submitted to the FDA. If approved, itll be the first drug to slow cognitive decline in a decade. And of course, theres always the potential for another mind-breaking technological leap (or stumble?) thats hard to predict.

In other words: we cant wait to bring you new stories from biotechs cutting edge in 2020.

Image Credit: Image by Konstantin Kolosov from Pixabay

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The Top Biotech Trends We'll Be Watching in 2020 - Singularity Hub

Nobody likes being sick. Skipping work can be fun sometimes, but when you're miserable, it's hard to enjoy it. And if you're an entrepreneur or freelancer who isn't salaried, you simply can't afford it.

You need to do everything you can to stay healthy, especially during flu season. And while ingesting vitamin C is a good bet, there's another hack you should take advantage of immediately, due to its sheer multitude of advantages.

If you live in a heated house or apartment, the air in your home is dry. Really dry. This is a problem for a variety of reasons, the most salient being that a2013 study showed that in a low-humidity environment, 70-77 percent of flu viruses can transmit themselves through coughs. When humidity levels were boosted to 43 percent or higher, the transmission number fell to just 14 percent.

In the words of study researcher John Noti of the CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, at high humidity levels "the [flu] virus just falls apart."

In short,if you want to protect yourself and your family from cold and flu season this year, you need a humidifier. Where? In your bedroom, where you spend crucial resting hours.

Here are a few other advantages to using a humidifier:

1. It softens your skin

Dry air saps the moisture from your skin, which you already know leads to noticeably dry skin and flaking. But did you know that this dryness also accelerates the aging process?A humidifier gives your skin that precious moisture back, which keeps you looking your best.

2. It promotes quicker healing

Say do end up succumbing to a cold or flu--using a humidifier helps you get better faster. Why? Because when you keep your nasal passages and throat moist, it reduces coughing and sneezing, which helps you recover quicker.

3. It gives your sinuses a break

Winter air dries out your sinuses--you're already familiar with that annoying, tight feeling you get in your nose when it's cold out. But dry sinuses are more than just uncomfortable--they leave you more vulnerable to bacteria and viruses. A humidifier keeps your sinuses healthy and happy, which keeps you the same.

4. It lowers your heating bill

Ever feel like when it's more humid out, it's hotter? It's true--moist air feels warmer. When you add moisture to the air in your home, it'll feel warmer, so you'll be able to lower the thermostat and save money on your heating bill.

5. It reduces electric shocks

If you feel likestatic electricity is worse in the winter, you're right. The dry air increases your chances of that painful snap when you touch a doorknob after moving over carpet. Add moisture back into the air and you'll be shockedby how much better this issue gets.

6. It protects your wood furniture

Dry air is bad for wood furniture, moldings and doors--it can cause the wood to split and crack. A humidifier helps preserve the integrity of the wood, maintaining your valuable pieces.

7. Better sleep

If you or your partner snores, a humidifier can help, since snoring often worsens when the person has a dry throat or sinuses. Plus, moist air in your bedroom will make the room warmer and more comfortable overall, which promotes restful sleep.

Ready to take the plunge? There are a few things to keep in mind. First, you'll need to regularly clean your humidifier (about once a week). If you don't, the humidifier itself can turn into a source of bacteria and mold.

Second, it's best to use distilled or de-mineralized water in your humidifier. Depending on where you live, your tap is likely to have minerals in it that will generate buildup in your machine (which then promotes the growth of bacteria).

It's easy tomake distilled water from tap water at home, for free. Useit in your humidifier and you'll have to clean it less often.

Third, if your humidifier has a filter, be sure to change it regularly. Same idea--you don't want bacteria to grow in there.

Finally, don't go overboard and turnyour bedroom into thetropics--too much humidity is just as bad as too little. Pick up a hygrometer to measure the humidity level in your room (they cost less than $8). According to the study, the ideal humidity level is 40-50 percent.

Then breathe deeply and be proud. You're taking good care of yourself.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

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Want Glowing Skin and a Healthy Immune System This Winter? Institute This 1 House Hack Immediately - Inc.

An unpleasant tingling in the hands and feet, numbness, furry and burning sensations these symptoms may indicate a neuropathy, a disease of the nervous system. If the pain persists for several months, it is referred to as chronic pain. By then, it is very difficult to treat, and the available drugs often have serious side effects. Researchers at the Translational Medicine and Pharmacology TMP branch of the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME have found a way to prevent the development of neuropathic pain early on.

Around five million people in Germany suffer from neuropathic pain, which is the result of damage to the peripheral or central nervous system. Its causes are numerous and diverse. Neuropathic pain can occur after an operation, such as bypass surgery, or an accident, for instance when the spinal cord has been injured. Phantom pain, which many patients experience following an amputation, is also a neuropathic, mechanically induced pain.

A change in skin sensitivity is typical for neuropathic pain. Stimuli such as cold, heat or touches are felt more intensely or hardly at all. The situation becomes problematic when the pain takes on a life of its own and becomes chronic, as this has a major adverse effect on the patients quality of life.

The development of neuropathic, trauma-induced pain that often occurs following an operation or accident should be prevented at as early a stage as possible, because once neuropathic pain has developed, treatment has only a limited effect and the relevant drugs have strong side effects.

When immune cells become the enemy

This is where the researchers at the Frankfurt-based Fraunhofer IME began their approach. They are researching alternative therapies for the early treatment of neuropathic pain. They conducted tests in which they were able to show that various lipids that act as signaling molecules and are produced when an injury occurs control the inflammatory responses in the damaged nerves. The nerves sound the alarm and release lipids to signal to the immune system that an injury has occurred and the cause must be eliminated, says Prof. Klaus Scholich, group manager for biomedical analytics and imaging at Fraunhofer IME.

In the case of neuropathic pain, the immune cells that were lured to the site of the injury soon become the enemy, interacting with the nerves in a way that results in permanent inflammation in the affected areas. The neuropathic pain can no longer subside and becomes chronic. We can significantly reduce the pain by blocking signaling pathways that attract immune cells. One way to do this is by using painkillers such as ibuprofen and diclofenac. Administered at an early stage, these drugs can stop the production of prostaglandin E2, a lipid that plays a key role in trauma-induced pain because it both sensitizes the nerves and activates the immune system.

Prostaglandin E2 also binds the EP3 receptor. Neurons that express this receptor produce the signaling molecule CCL2, which in turn contributes significantly to pain development because it constantly lures new immune cells to the injured nerves and, as the IME researchers discovered in their studies, is itself involved in amplifying pain perception. We were able to shed light on the subsequent mechanisms that promote the genesis of neuropathic pain by means of inflammatory responses, explains Scholich.

The EP3 receptor recognizes the prostaglandin E2. By switching off the EP3, thus inhibiting CCL2 release, pain genesis can now be significantly reduced. The CCL2 could be intercepted with specific therapeutic antibodies, which are used for chronic pain when conventional drugs such as ibuprofen no longer work. The disadvantage of this approach is that antibodies have to be injected. Since most patients find this unpleasant, Scholich and his colleagues are researching alternative agents that can be administered orally.

This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

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Targeting the Immune System Could Prevent Neuropathic Pain - Technology Networks