Certain cancer drugs could be used in the future to treat COPD

New research has shown the potential for clinically available cancer treatments to treat chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Scientists from the University of Sheffield have been investigating the effect of drugs used to treat a variety of cancers on this inflammatory response; the main driver of lung damage in people living with COPD.

COPD slowly develops over many years - often patients are not aware they have it until their 40s or 50s - and for the 1.2 million people in the UK who have been diagnosed, it makes breathing progressively more difficult.

People living with COPD experience a wide range of symptoms that have an increasing impact on their quality of life, including breathlessness, coughing and frequent chest infections.

The damage to the lungs is driven by inflammation caused by immune cells called neutrophils.
A research team at the University's Department of Infection, Immunity and Cardiovascular Disease screened a library of cancer drugs and identified a number of compounds which accelerate the death of the neutrophil cells and promote healing in the lungs.

The research, funded mainly by the Medical Research Council, discovered that specific cancer drugs inhibit a cell signaling process controlling the death-rate of the harmful neutrophils. The team also discovered that editing the genes that encode the cell signaling in the first place, further decreased inflammation.

Dr Lynne Prince, Russell Fellow at the University of Sheffield, said:

COPD is usually treated with steroids and airway muscle relaxants which ease symptoms, but there is currently no effective treatment clinically available to counteract the damage it does to the lungs.

Our research now shows that inhibitors of these cell signaling processes, or ErbB kinases, could have therapeutic potential in neutrophilic inflammatory disease.
The hope of these drugs is that they can clear the damaging cells from the lungs of people living with COPD, preventing any further damage and therefore the progression of the disease for the first time."

Repurposing a clinically available drug has many benefits, said Professor Stephen Renshaw, from the University of Sheffield:

We are in desperate need of a new treatment for COPD, millions of people all over the world live with the disease and it has a massive impact on their quality of life, especially as the disease progresses.
What is exciting about this research is that these drug compounds are available now, which means if our continued research can effectively find a lead compound to benefit people living with COPD, they are ready to use.
As neutrophilic inflammation is also central to the progression of other chronic inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, the research has the potential to impact not only people living with COPD.
Our next step is to find a way to test these drugs in people with COPD to understand how the ErbB kinase signaling process has an effect on lung inflammation and to address any potential side effects."

 his is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.     

https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations  
https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes    
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement 

source- Uni. of Sheffield

A cancer drug may help treat human papillomavirus infections

Pre-clinical experiments by  researchers suggest the cancer drugs vorinostat, belinostat and panobinostat might be repurposed to treat infections caused by human papillomaviruses, or HPVs. 

HPV infections caused an estimated 266,000 deaths from cervical cancer worldwide in 2012, according to the World Health Organization. Routine screening by Pap smears or HPV DNA tests has reduced death rates in developed countries compared to less developed regions of the globe. Still, an estimated 12,200 United States women are diagnosed with cervical cancer each year.

Highly efficacious vaccines against HPV infection exist—including the recently approved Gardasil 9, which immunizes against nine genotypes of HPV known to cause cervical, vulvar, vaginal and anal cancers, and genital warts. But the vaccine needs to be given before a person becomes sexually active, since it has no therapeutic efficacy against existing HPV infections.

"Safe, effective and inexpensive therapeutic agents are urgently needed," said an assistant professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics.

Epithelium of anogenital sites—the cervix, penis and anus—or epithelium of the mouth and throat are sites of HPV infection. But HPVs cannot be propagated in conventional cell culture, hampering the investigation into their pathogenic effects. The researcher has investigated HPV-host interactions for decades. They discovered that the productive program of HPV depends on differentiation of the epithelium into a full-thickness, squamous epithelium. Furthermore, HPV reactivates host DNA replication in these differentiated cells, such that the replication proteins and substrates become available to support viral DNA amplification.

A researcher re-produced a fully differentiated human squamous epithelium by culturing primary human keratinocytes at an air-media interphase for two to three weeks, a growth they call raft culture. In 2009, their lab developed a breakthrough model for a raft culture of HPV-18-infected primary human keratinocytes, allowing a robust amplification of HPV-18 DNA and production of infective viral progeny. This productive raft culture is an ideal model for preclinical investigation of potential anti-HPV agents.
 
The  hypothesized that inhibitors of histone deacetylases, or HDACs, would inhibit HPV DNA amplification because of their known mechanism of disrupting chromosomal DNA replication. Chromosomal replication requires HDAC alterations of histone proteins, the proteins that act like spools that wind DNA to help package and condense chromosomes and the viral genome. Vorinostat inhibits many HDACs, so it might interrupt not only chromosomal replication but also viral DNA replication.

Using the HPV-18 model raft cultures, the researchers found that vorinostat effectively inhibited HPV-18 DNA amplification and virus production. Importantly, vorinostat also induced the programmed cell death called apoptosis in a fraction of the differentiated cells. Cell death could be attributable to DNA breakage when chromosomal DNA replication was interrupted. Similar results were obtained with two additional HDAC inhibitors, belinostat and panobinostat. In contrast, the differentiated cells of uninfected raft cultures, which do not replicate their DNA, were thus largely spared in the presence of the inhibitors.

The team also examined how vorinostat affected levels and functions of viral oncoproteins, and they described the mechanisms that led to programmed cell death in HPV-18-infected cultures. "On the basis of these detailed studies," the Prof. said, "we suggest that HDAC inhibitors are promising compounds for treating benign HPV infections, abrogating progeny production and hence interrupting infectious transmission."

The  team also reported that vorinostat caused extensive cell death in raft cultures of dysplastic and cancer cell lines harboring HPV-16. HPV-16 and HPV-18 are the most prevalent, high-risk HPVs responsible for causing anogenital and oropharyngeal cancers. "But further investigation would be required to verify that these agents could also be useful in treating HPV associated dysplasias and cancers," the Prof. said. 

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/                                                                                                                                                                             FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                                                             https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/                                                                                       FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com

These Commonly Used Cancer Drugs May Increase Chemo Toxicity

Cancer kills close to 9 million people every year. Early detection and prevention are of the utmost importance in the fight against this debilitating disease. Cancer treatment has a range of medication plans and therapies including radiation therapy, surgery, hormonal therapy and chemotherapy among others.

Chemotherapy is known to have its own side-effects. The potent drugs that the therapy uses harm healthier cells also in the process of destroying their cancerous counterparts. Experts at the University of Southern California recently examined the side-effects of a combination of chemo drugs. It was found that the administration of doxorubicin along with other drugs like rapamycin and dexamethasone led to greater chemo-related cell damage and high blood sugar levels as opposed to doxorubicin alone. The study was conducted on mice.


Cancer Research UK describes doxorubicin as a type of chemo drug used to treat many kinds of cancer. It works by, "stopping the growth of cancer cells. One way that doxorubicin works is by blocking an enzyme called topo isomerase 2 that cancer cells need to divide and grow." Associated side-effects depend of the health of the patient receiving doxorubicin, the number of times and the quantity of the drug received.

Some of the common side-effects of doxorubicin when received in isolation are weakness, hair loss, sensitivity to sunlight, sore throat and watery eyes; more than 10 out 100 patients may experience more than one of the above mentioned symptoms. Occasional side-effects include loss of appetite, inflamed drip site, drop in platelet count, skin rash, diarrhea among others; less than 10 patients out of 100 may experience these symptoms.

However, experts at the University of Southern California studied the side-effects of doxorubicin in combination with other drugs that are known to battle ill-effects of chemo but also elevate blood sugar levels and encouraged the development of infections. High blood sugar levels are known to raise chemo-triggered cellular damage in the body.

"This combination [doxorubicin with dexamethasone or rapamycin] could be very dangerous; it made the mice much more sensitive to chemotherapy and it could also make patients more sensitive to chemotherapy," he said. "What is concerning is that drugs such as dexamethasone could be toxic even though they are often given to patients to reduce minor side effects of chemotherapy treatment," noted the study published PLOS Biology. The team suspected that the vulnerability of otherwise healthy cells was increased due to elevated blood sugar.

 Fasting or a low calorie diet was initiated in the mice group that received dexamethasone or rapamycin along with doxorubicin in order to offset the potentially dangerous hike in blood glucose. It was found that the mice-group that was on a fasting diet during the combination treatment showed less damage to healthy heart cells than the mice that had eaten a normal diet.

 this is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on.  https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations    
htps://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes  
https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement

New bubble technology can shoot drugs deep into tumours

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOUR PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.

PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO VIEW MY BLOG-
HTTP:GSEASYRECIPES.BLOGSPOT.COM         

FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG

HTTP://KNEE REPLACEMENT-STICK CLUB.BLOGSPOT.COM/

FOR CROCHET DESIGNS- http://My Crochet Creations.blogspot.com/

 An international team of scientists have invented a novel, non-invasive and safe method to deliver cancer drugs deep into the tumour cells.
"Our invention is the first of its kind that allows drug particles to be directed deep into a tumour in a few milliseconds," said lead researcher Xu Chenjie, assistant professor at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore.
The micro-sized gas bubbles, successfully tested in mice, are first coated with cancer drug particles and iron oxide nanoparticles. Using magnets, these bubbles are then directed to gather around a specific tumour.
Through ultrasound, the microbubbles are vibrated, which provides them the energy to direct the drug particles into the targeted area.
The drug particles can penetrate a depth of 50 cell layers or more - which is about 200 micrometres, twice the width of a human hair.

 "The first unique characteristic of our microbubbles is that they are magnetic. After injecting them into the bloodstream, we are able to gather them around the tumour using magnets and ensure that they don't kill the healthy cells," explained Chenjie in the paper published by the Nature Publishing Group in Asia Materials.

 The method ensures that the drugs can reach the cancer cells on the surface and also inside the core of the tumour.

Also, it can be a good alternative treatment in the future, which is low cost and yet effective for the treatment of cancers involving solid tumours, as it might minimise the side effects of drugs, the researchers added.

According to the team, the current chemotherapy drugs are largely non-targeted. The drug particles flow in the bloodstream, damaging both healthy and cancerous cells.

These drugs are also typically flushed away quickly in organs such as the lungs and liver, limiting their effectiveness.

Cancer drugs, stents at 60% discount soon

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.

PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO VIEW MY BLOG-
HTTP:GSEASYRECIPES.BLOGSPOT.COM      

FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG

HTTP://KNEE REPLACEMENT-STICK CLUB.BLOGSPOT.COM/

FOR CROCHET DESIGNS- http://My Crochet Creations.blogspot.com/


 Over 200 cancer drugs, 186 medicines to treat cardiovascular diseases and 148 stents and cardiac implants will now be available at central government hospitals at prices 50-60% lower than the open market.

The health ministry has launched a programme called AMRIT (Affordable Medicines and Reliable Implants for Treatment), under which the government will run pharmacy retail stores to sell medicines in hospitals like All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Safdarjung Hospital and Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital.

TOI was the first to report on September 19 that the health ministry was working on a project to make cancer medicines and stents available at a substantially lower price by procuring such drugs in bulk at a negotiated price and supplying them to hospitals and consumers through its own retail system.

The idea is to make treatment of critical diseases more affordable by bringing down the cost of medicine, which constitute a major part of the total health expenditure, mainly in case of tertiary care.

"This is certainly an innovative initiative. Patients can buy medicines and implants at rates 50-60% cheaper than open market from AMRIT outlet in AIIMS," health minister J P Nadda said while inaugurating the first store. "The government is pinning a lot of hope on it. We are exploring the possibility of scaling up the facility and also making it accessible to larger number of people in various parts of the country," he added.   Since the incidence of cancer and heart diseases is high and rapidly increasing in India, the government has chosen these two therapeutic categories for initial focus of the pragramme, an official said. In India, deaths from cancer have increased by 60% since 1990, according to the latest report 'Global Burden of Cancer-2013', released worldwide on Friday. In 2013, there were 14.9 million new cancer cases registered worldwide, whereas 8.2 million people died due to the disease. Cardiovascular diseases are also found to be the leading cause of death globally. The government has already started the project in AIIMS on a pilot basis. The model is expected to be replicated in other central government hospitals within two to three months. The government will also expand the programme in regional cancer centres.

The project has been floated in partnership with the government-owned HLL Lifecare Ltd. The company will set up AMRIT stores and also run them across the country. Prices will be negotiated with the companies by the government for bulk procurement.

Currently, prices of only 51 cancer medicines are capped or regulated by the government. However, several oncologists, public health experts and even institutes like Tata Memorial Cancer Hospital have advocated bringing in more cancer drugs under price control as these medicines are extremely expensive and often out of reach of majority of patients.