1) Digital Chemotherapy Pill
Proteus Digital Health recently launched a digital pill that contains a sensor to help track treatment in cancer patients. This pill was designed to help patients with stage 3 and stage 4 colorectal cancer, helping them stick to their medication schedule. The pill is designed to emit a signal before being dissolved. The information collected from the pill can help doctors and caretakers gain insights and may reduce the need for patients to go visit the office. Doctors are hoping the pills can help patients stay on therapy and avoid hospital admissions.
2) Cancer-Causing Proteins
Cancer comes from DNA damage and mutations in the gene structure. Through E. coli, scientists have identified proteins that promotes DNA damage and lead to cancer. They discovered higher levels of DNA damage-up proteins in cancer patients. This new understanding can lead to new ways of preventing and treating cancer.
3) Cellular Process That Can Help Stop Cancer
Replicative crisis is a process that prevents cells from dividing out of control and becoming malignant. Macroautophagy is needed for cell death and suppression of this function can lead to instability. Autophagy is generated when telomere can no longer adequately protect the chromosome. Autophagy can be an early cancer-suppressing mechanism that can prevent tumors from forming and the loss of this function can lead to increase risks for cancer. This discovery can help doctors develop methods to help prevent and stop cancer.
4) Muscle Protein Aids Nerve Regeneration
There have been many research over the years to help promote nerve regeneration after nerve damage. Scientists recently discovered a correlation between muscle LIM protein (MLP) and regeneration. Overexpression of MLP promoted axonal regeneration while fewer MLP showed the contrary effect. This discovery can have implications for the development of new therapy to aid in nerve repair. Doctors may be able to find ways to trigger the production of MLP increase the body’s ability to heal itself.
5) Activating Cells' Ability to Heal Themselves
With multiple sclerosis (MS) and other autoimmune diseases, failure of oligodendrogenesis - the ability to generate oligodendrocytes which is an important part of the center nervous system - leads to demyelination and axon degeneration causing disabilities. Scientists have discovered that Chi3l3 controls oligodendrogenesis and targeting it may help promote oligodendrocyte repair, helping patients improve their body’s capability to repair their myelin sheath.
6) Proteins Can Affect Brain Diseases
In studying flies with the gene C9orf72, scientists looked specifically at proteins. They found that RanGAP was the strongest suppressor of neurodegeneration. Using this knowledge, many firms have begun research treatment options and chemists at Karyopharm have developed inhibitors KPT-276 and KPT-350 that may be able to treat brain disease. This discovery can lead them in a new direction when dealing with other brain diseases, such as Alzheimer's.
7) Protein Can Help Combat Aging
Scientists have discovered Pumilio2 (PUM2), a RNA-binding protein, is more prevalent in older animals. They realized that PUM2 affects encoding for mitochondrial fission factor (Mff) which impedes mictochondrial fission and mitophagy. Scientists discovered that mediating PUM2 affected Mff translation and helped moderate age-related mitochondrial dysfunctions. The results of this study can lead to the potential for reducing age-related diseases.
8) Restoring Memory in Alzheimer's
Epigenetic dysregulation can lead to neurodegeneration. Researchers found that histone H3 dimethylation at lysine 9 (H3K9me2) is elevated in patients with Alzheimer’s. They also discovered that the repression of H3K9me2 helps glutamate receptors and synaptic function recover as well as improve cognitive impairment.There is a potential for developing a therapeutic strategy to restore homeostasis of histone methylation to deal with neurodegenerative disorders related to Alzheimer’s.
9) Blood Test to Predict Alzheimer's Before Onset
Scientists have discovered a link between the protein neurofilament light chain (NfL) and Alzheimer's, finding that Alzheimer's patients have higher levels of the protein. Rate of change of serum NfL can help doctors determine whether a patient is a mutation carrier 16 years before symptoms appear. Although currently, this test only applies to mutation carriers, this discovery can lead to new findings for ways to predict Alzheimer's through simple blood tests.
10) Early Discovery of Pancreatic Cancer Based on Tongue Microbiome
Pancreatic cancer is often difficult to diagnosed and not discovered till the later stages. Scientists discovered that the microbiome of pancreatic cancer patients differed from that of healthy individuals. From this study, researchers realized that the microbiota of the tongue can like provide insights into whether someone has pancreatic cancer.
