Three Parent Child- M. Aldridge

Mitochondrial diseases are deadly and kills many children a year. Many mitochondria diseases like Huntington's disease don't present until adulthood and the carrier has no way of preventing the transmission of this disease to her children. However, during mitosis one of the X chromosomes winds up and becomes dormant in the cell. If these are the chromosomes containing the genes for these mitochondrial diseases, they can still be passed on to their children while never affecting them. By using this new technique, a child will receive DNA from the mother and father, with some from the donor, with no risk of inheriting a mitochondrial DNA. 

Mitochondrial DNA is stored in the protein within the mother’s cells. By using a donor cell that does not contain mitochondrial disease, we can replace the nucleus of the donor cell with the DNA from the mother. Once the and DNA is successively transfer the new egg cell contains DNA from the mother and mitochondrial DNA from the donor that is clear of diseases. This new healthy egg is then fertilized by the father’s sperm and DNA. This fetus is now guaranteed to not develop a mitochondrial disease greatly improving the child’s life.

Once enough children are created through this process, the population could theoretically eradicate the presence of mitochondrial disease in a population, not including the chance of mutation within the mitochondrial DNA. 

This article was very informative and changed the way I look at disease. Instead of simply looking at treatments, we are now able to prevent them on a genetic basis. Once this can be perfected we can look at preventing other genetic disease like Sickle-cell anemia and many other. 

“Five Cutting-Edge Cancer Treatments”

In an article from Scientific American titled “Five Cutting-Edge Cancer Treatments”, the author illustrates five advances in medicine that are changing the way cancer is treated today. The reason why I chose this topic is due to my interest in cancer biology. In the past, I had an aunt who was diagnosed with colon cancer. We were devastated and frankly had no idea what it would take for her to be healed. This has fueled my interest in this subject and although the name of cancer is well-known among society, I think it is simultaneously one of the least understood. A common theme across the board for families who have been affected by cancer is fear of not knowing what will happen to your family member and not fully understanding what cancer is. One day I would like to contribute to this field of research and help further the progression of medicine in this aspect.

The article first introduced one of these treatments titled “precision medicine”. This is a type of treatment that is currently being tested and developed. The article states that in January of this year, there was a precision medicine initiative announced by President Barack Obama. The initiative announced was an emphasis on researching and developing treatment through this method. The benefits of this type of treatment are endless, however, the article focuses on how it applies to the treatment of cancer. Precision medicine is personalized care that treats each individual specifically. This is done directly through a person’s genetics and health history. In the past, precision medicine has given options to patients to have therapy that targets the specific gene mutations that cause a tumor or cancer. Through precision medicine, doctors and physicians will be able to identify mutations in the patient's DNA early on which could lead to prevention of the spread of cancer in the body.

Another method of treatment that has been essential in the fight against cancer is using the patient's own immune system to attack the cancer cells. This is a breakthrough idea because the usual treatment for most types of cancer is chemotherapy and radiation which destroys the cancer cells but also destroys many other types of cells causing extreme sickness and pain in the patient. Using the patient’s immune system is a safer and more effective way to eliminate the cancer. The drugs that have been designed for immunotherapy has been created to boost the immune system to fight off the cancer cells in the body. The article mentions two drugs called nivolumab and ipilimumab that boost the T cells in the immune system which fight off cancer.

The third treatment that the article mentions is: “cell-based therapy”. Cell-based therapy is a form of treatment that manipulates the T cells to attack the cancer cells more readily. Using the T cells that are already present in the patient’s body to fight off the cancer cells is a way that could fight off the cancer cells in the patient’s body.

Another treatment that has been extensively researched in the past several years in “epigenetic therapy”. This uses a method that is quite opposite of chemotherapy and radiation. Rather than poisoning the cells or trying to cut them out, scientists have come up with a treatment that simply turns “off” the cancer cells leaving the rest of the good cells unharmed. A drug called AG 221 has been tested in recent years and according to the article has had a 38% percent positive response rate from the 159 patients who were tested. Scientists hope to make improvements and continue to increase the positive response rate in future patients.

The fifth treatment in the article is research on metastasis. Metastasis is the process whereby cancer is spread from one portion of the body to another by breaking off from the tumor origin and growing in a new part of the body. The states that, “Metastasis causes nine out of ten deaths from cancer, and survival rates haven’t improved much since the 1960s.” It is because of statistics like these that scientists are tirelessly researching the process and how to prevent this from occurring. Groundbreaking discoveries by scientists in 2014 have “open[ed] up a promising new avenue for treatment.” These discoveries include the idea that tumor cells have “remarkable tendency to cling to blood vessels”. Scientists believe that this might explain how cancer cells could “hide out and remain undetected”.

The article concludes with a quote from Joan Massague, PhD that I believe summarizes the conclusions from this article. It states, “Mankind is turning cancer from what we’ve known it to be - the way we’ve related to it in the 20th century as an impossible disease - into a ‘normalized’ disease, Our relationship with it will be much more like the one we have with infectious diseases, for which we have antibiotics and other treatments.” Science is on a road to having reliable treatments for cancers of all types.

--AS

https://www.scientificamerican.com/page/sponsored/memorial-sloan-kettering-cancer-center/five-cutting-edge-cancer-treatments/?wt.ac=SA_Native_MSK_CancerOptimism_BCAD#

Biology News Net, "How ionizing radiation damages DNA and causes cancer."

Biology News Net, "How ionizing radiation damages DNA and causes cancer."

In this article DR Peter Campbell, who lead the study, was trying to find how and if radiation could cause cancer. Him and the others at Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute found two "Fingerprints" of how the ionizing radiation damages the DNA. Firstly, and in my opinion the most frightening, is whats called a balanced inversion. this is where two points in the DNA are cut and then, as if on a pivot, it rotates 180 degrees and reattaches. The second is deletion, where a small number of DNA bases are cut out entirely.

The balanced inversion changes the order of what's read as the RNA transcribes the DNA. with this change it can change what the protein turns out to be, or even terminate it prematurely. A deletion of one of those nitrogenous bases would change the reading frame of the RNA, essentially doing the same thing; changing the outcome of the proteins and/or terminating it before it reaches what it was supposed to be.

I found this article quite interesting because this knowledge will change how some cancers are treated in the future. I have an aunt who passed away this year after a 7 year battle against cancer. she was originally given a year to live, and she fought it for 7 before it finally took her. I would hope that this new advancement in the field of cancer research, and many more as they continue to study, will eventually lead to a cure, and better ways to help treat the cancers without inadvertently causing more damage.

D. Austin Kropushek

Radiation Damages DNA and Causes Cancer

The article is explaining how researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute discovered a pattern in human cancers that help doctors better identify if tumors have come about because of radiation. More specifically, they are looking at the DNA damage and mutation signatures and how they can tell the story of whether these cancers came about by radiation or not. They also are looking at if these cancerous tumors from radiation should be treated differently.

In this article I learned that DNA damage can leave what is called a mutational signature. Dr. Peter Campbell from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute led a study where the researchers looked for mutational signatures in 12 people with secondary radiation-associated tumors. They compared these with 319 that had not been exposed to the radiation. It was said that from this study they concluded that these mutational signatures can be compared with other DNA sequences of various cancers and will be diagnosis’ tools for the future in learning how radiation causes cancer.

I also learned about balanced inversions and how they do not occur naturally in our bodies. If these inversions were found in a human with cancer, then the researchers concluded that they were caused by high-energy radiation that can cause enough DNA breaks at the same time. One reason the radiation does so much damage to the DNA is because the DNA repair system cannot keep up with the amount of damage that is happening simultaneously.

I thought the article was interesting because I wanted to see what the connection was between DNA and cancer. Also, I’m very interested and hopeful that one day we can cure cancer. Any potential break-through in technology or information about cancer is interesting to learn more about it. If we can figure out the cure for cancer, then not only our society, but the entire world will be changed for the better.

Scientists “Switch Off” Self-Control Using Brain Stimulation

This study was conducted to find the region of the brain that deals with our perspective of our future selves and also of others. The brain region that they discovered is called The Temporoparietal Junction (TPJ) and it controls our perspective and also helps us in social situations. In the experiment that was conducted, there were two groups of people, one group had small coils of electric currents hitting their TPJ and the other group (the control) had the coils on a different part of their head. They were asked a few questions and based on the answers that were given when the TPJ was affected, the people were less focused on their future self and more on the present. For example, one of the questions that was asked was whether they wanted to wait a year for all of the money guaranteed or gamble and take whatever they would give them now. Almost all of the people took the money now. Not only does the TPJ help with our self-control but it helps us with seeing the perspective of others.  Which is one reason why drug addicts do not think about the perspective of others or the perspective of what their future self could potentially be. 
When I was searching for an article to read, this article caught my eye because it has to do with self-control and whether or not we can turn our self-control off. I read a few lines and decided this would be more interesting to read because it deals with how people think and what happens in their brains. I am not a psychology major but the idea of having your self control turned off can be a scary thought! The thing that I found most fascinating was how drug addicts do not cannot see their future self and they cannot get better until they change their way of thinking.

B.N.K.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-switch-off-self-control-using-brain-stimulation/

Can a drug used for Diabetes help prevent Alzheimer’s?

Can a drug used for Diabetes help fix Alzheimer’s?

I’m a pharmacy technician who is fascinated by the history and exploration of drugs. It’s amazing to me what mankind has been able to manipulate and discover in the field of medicine in the last few decades, and that being said, it’s no wonder that this article from Scientific American seemed to call to me. The article discusses a new study published from Tulane University in Louisiana, detailing their observations of metformin, a drug prescribed primarily for diabetes, and its apparent link to Alzheimer’s prevention. Wait a minute. What? Were they really saying that a blood sugar medicine could help prevent and possibly cure a debilitating cognitive disorder? I just had to know more.

Before we get into the details here, let’s talk about the drug in question: metformin. What is this drug really? Well, it’s currently the cheapest and most effective pill option for type 2 diabetics, and it’s used to help your body regulate its blood glucose levels and metabolism. The drug is tolerated extremely well, with rarely occurring minor side effects. Scientists studying this drug recently noticed that people who take metformin have a smaller population percentage that acquires an age related disease as opposed to people who don’t take metformin. Based on some small scale observations, they decided to undertake their own research project to see if this was really the case.

Their sample size consisted of 6,000 people who had diabetes. They surveyed them and found that people on metformin had a significantly lower chance of developing not only Alzheimer’s, but Parkinson’s and dementia as well. It’s proposed that metformin helps to regulate insulin levels in the brain.

From what it looks like, we might be closer than ever to finding a safe prevention mechanism for several incurable diseases.

For further reading, check out this article on the pros and cons of metformin:

Metformin in the diabetic brain: friend or foe?


By Jordan Woods