Lifeboat Foundation

The kidney used in the new procedure was obtained by knocking out a pig gene that encodes a sugar molecule that elicits an aggressive human rejection response. The pig was genetically engineered by Revivicor and approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use as a source for human therapeutics.

Dr. Montgomery and his team also transplanted the pig’s thymus, a gland that is involved in the immune system, in an effort to ward off immune reactions to the kidney.

After attaching the kidney to blood vessels in the upper leg, the surgeons covered it with a protective shield so they could observe it and take tissue samples over the 54-hour study period. Urine and creatinine levels were normal, Dr. Montgomery and his colleagues found, and no signs of rejection were detected during more than two days of observation.

Continue reading “In a First, Surgeons Attached a Pig Kidney to a Human — and It Worked” »

Multiple myeloma (MM) remains an incurable disease regardless of recent advances in the field. Therefore, a substantial unmet need exists to treat patients with relapsed/refractory myeloma. The use of novel agents such as daratumumab, elotuzumab, carfilzomib, or pomalidomide, among others, usually cannot completely eradicate myeloma cells. Although these new drugs have had a significant impact on the prognosis of MM patients, the vast majority ultimately become refractory or can no longer be treated due to toxicity of prior treatment, and thus succumb to the disease. Cellular therapies represent a novel approach with a unique mechanism of action against myeloma with the potential to defeat drug resistance and achieve long-term remissions. Genetic modification of cells to express a novel receptor with tumor antigen specificity is currently being explored in myeloma. Chimeric antigen receptor gene-modified T-cells (CAR T-cells) have shown to be the most promising approach so far. CAR T-cells have shown to induce durable complete remissions in other advanced hematologic malignancies like acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL). With this background, significant efforts are underway to develop CAR-based therapies for MM. Currently, several antigen targets, including CD138, CD19, immunoglobulin kappa (Ig-Kappa) and B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA), are being used in clinical trials to treat myeloma patients. Some of these trials have shown promising results, especially in terms of response rates. However, the absence of a plateau is observed in most studies which correlates with the absence of durable remissions. Therefore, several potential limitations such as lack of effectiveness, off-tumor toxicities, and antigen loss or interference with soluble proteins could hamper the efficacy of CAR T-cells in myeloma. In this review, we will focus on clinical outcomes reported with CAR T-cells in myeloma, as well as on CAR T-cell limitations and how to overcome them with next generation of CAR T-cells.

Multiple myeloma (MM) is an hematological malignancy characterized by the clonal proliferation of malignant plasma cells. Myeloma develops from a pre-malignant monoclonal proliferation of plasma cells (monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance) which progresses to smoldering myeloma and finally to symptomatic disease (1, 2). With an incidence of 5.6 cases per 100.000 people/year in Western countries it accounts for 1% of all cancers and around 10% of hematological malignancies. Diagnosis of MM is based on the presence of clonal plasma cells plus monoclonal protein in serum or urine and clinical manifestations including hypercalcemia, renal impairment, anemia and/or bone lesions (acronym: CRAB) (4, 5).

Scientists reworked CRISPR prime’s molecular makeup to precisely cut out up to 10,000 DNA letters in one go, and increased the tool’s efficiency eight-fold.

Knocking out transposon promoter leads to pup death in mice; similar promoters found in many mammals.

Nearly half of our DNA

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is a molecule composed of two long strands of nucleotides that coil around each other to form a double helix. It is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms that carries genetic instructions for development, functioning, growth, and reproduction. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).

Continue reading “So-Called Junk DNA — Genetic ‘Dark Matter’ — Is Actually Critical to Survival in Mammals” »

Integrated And Cross-Disciplinary Research Focused on Diagnosing, Treating And Curing Cancers — Dr. Antonio Giordano MD, PhD, President & Founder, Sbarro Health Research Organization.

Dr. Antonio Giordano, MD, Ph.D., (https://www.drantoniogiordano.com/) is President and Founder of the Sbarro Health Research Organization (https://www.shro.org/), which conducts research to diagnose, treat and cure cancer, but also has diversified into research beyond oncology, into the areas of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other chronic illnesses.

Continue reading “Dr. Antonio Giordano, MD, Ph.D. — President and Founder, Sbarro Health Research Organization” »

For most of the time since the first description of multiple sclerosis (MS) in 1,868 the causes of this disabling disease have remained uncertain. Genes have been identified as important, which is why having other family members with MS is associated with a greater risk of developing the disease.

A recent study my colleagues and I conducted found that several types of infection during the teenage years are associated with MS after age 20. Our study didn’t investigate whether people who are more likely to have genetic risks for MS were also more likely to have worse infections.

This might explain why people with MS also have more infections that need hospital treatment.

Continue reading “A Common Infection Could Be a Trigger For Multiple Sclerosis, Large Study Finds” »

Latest scientific findings suggest the ancestral Native American population does not originate in Japan, as believed by many archaeologists.

A widely accepted theory of Native American origins coming from Japan has been attacked in a new scientific study, which shows that the genetics and skeletal biology “simply does not match-up.”

The findings, published on October 12 2021, in the peer-reviewed journal PaleoAmerica, are likely to have a major impact on how we understand Indigenous Americans’ arrival to the Western Hemisphere.

Continue reading “Genetics and Skeletal Biology Debunks Popular Theory of Native American Origins” »

Talking about RejuvenateBio starts at 20:30. Mentions there are 300 known genes concerning human aging and 45 of those have been tested in mice with what sounds like success.

Wow! Where do I start. I woke up and seen Dr. George Church on Bloomberg news. They was discussing a new biotech startup company called Rejuvenate Bio. A life extension company that seeks to reverse aging in dogs. Then apply that knowledge to humans. I ask Dr. Church about what he thinks is the cause of aging. t. Dr. Church thinks its a genetic reason why we age. Dr. Church is a cofounder of a company called Colossal is a company that wants to create a hybrid between the east asian elephant and the woolly mammoth. The purpose of doing this is to fight climate change and prevent the extinction of the east asian elephant.

Continue reading “Harvard University professor geneticist Dr. George Church stops by the Institute” »

The structural integrity of the brain’s white matter as measured with an advanced MRI technique is lower in cognitively normal people who carry a genetic mutation associated with Alzheimer’s disease than it is in non-carriers, according to a study in Radiology. Researchers said the findings show the promise of widely available imaging techniques in helping to understand early structural changes in the brain before symptoms of dementia become apparent.

People who carry the autosomal dominant Alzheimer disease (ADAD) mutation have a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease, a type of dementia that affects about one in nine people in the United States. The mutation is linked to a buildup of abnormal protein called amyloid-beta in the brain that affects both the gray matter and the signal-carrying white matter.

“It’s thought that the amyloid deposition in the gray matter could disrupt its function, and as a result the white matter won’t function correctly or could even atrophy,” said study lead author Jeffrey W. Prescott, M.D., Ph.D., neuroradiologist at the MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland.

Continue reading “Brain’s White Matter Integrity Disrupted in People With Alzheimer’s Gene Mutation” »