Scientists have found a naturally occurring strain of bacteria which can help stop the transmission of malaria from mosquitoes to humans.

They found it by chance, after a colony of mosquitoes in one experiment did not develop the malaria parasite.

The researchers say the bacteria could be a new tool for fighting one of the world’s oldest diseases, which kills 600,000 people every year.

Trials assessing its safety in the real world are now taking place.

Scientists at a research facility in Spain, run by the GSK pharmaceutical company, made the discovery after noticing that a colony of mosquitoes being used for drug development had stopped carrying malaria.

« The infection rate in the mosquitoes started dwindling and so by the end of the year the mosquitoes just would not be infected with the malaria parasite, » says Dr Janneth Rodrigues, who led the programme.

The team froze the samples from their 2014 experiment and went back to them two years later to explore what had happened.

Further studies revealed that a specific strain of bacteria – TC1 – which is naturally present in the environment, had stopped the development of the malaria parasites in the gut of the mosquitoes.

« Once it colonises the mosquito, it lasts for the entire lifespan, » says Dr Rodrigues.

« And we found out that, yes, it is the bacteria which was responsible for reducing transmission in those mosquitoes. »

New data published in Science magazine suggests the bacteria can reduce a mosquito’s parasite load by up to 73%.

The bacteria works by secreting a small molecule, known as harmane, which inhibits the early stages of the malaria parasite growing in the mosquito’s gut.

In conjunction with Johns Hopkins University, the GSK scientists discovered that harmane can either be ingested orally by the mosquito, if mixed with sugar, or absorbed through its cuticle on contact.

This lays open the possibility of treating surfaces in areas where the insects rest with the active compound.

End the threat

More trials are now taking place at a contained field research facility called MosquitoSphere in Burkina Faso to assess how effective and safe it would be to use harmane at scale in the real world.

The hope is that by developing this bacteria-based intervention into a product, scientists may soon have another tool in the box against one of the world’s oldest diseases.

Malaria kills about 620,000 people a year – often children under the age of five. Vaccines have now been developed, but they are still in the early stages of being rolled out in Africa.

Gareth Jenkins, from the charity Malaria No More, said the new discovery was promising.

« Malaria kills a child every minute. Significant progress has been made in reducing the global burden of malaria, but to get us back on track we need new and innovative tools in the arsenal.

« With a strong innovation pipeline, it is possible to end the threat of malaria in our lifetimes. »

By Naomi Grimley – BBC News

L’article Chance discovery helps fight against malaria est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

People with untreatable cancers have had their immune system redesigned to attack their own tumours.

The experimental study involved only 16 patients, but has been called a « leap forward » and a « powerful » demonstration of the potential of such technology.

Each person had a treatment developed just for them, which targeted the specific weak spots in their tumour.

It is too early to fully assess the therapy’s effectiveness and it is expensive and time-consuming.

The work focuses on a part of the immune system called T-cells, which patrol the body and inspect other cells for problems.

They use proteins – called receptors – to effectively sniff out signs of infection or deviant cells that have become cancerous.

Cancers can be tricky for T-cells to spot. A virus is distinctly different to the human body, but cancers are more subtle because they are a corrupted version of our own cells.

The idea of the therapy is to boost levels of these cancer-spotting T-cells. It has to be tailored to each patient as each tumour is unique.

This is how it works:

• The researchers scoured patient’s blood for rare T-cells that already had receptors which could sniff out their cancer
• They then harvested other T-cells that could not find the cancer and redesigned them
• Their original receptors, which may find other problems or infections, were replaced with those from the cancer-searching T-cells
• Finally, these modified T-cells were then put back into the patient to seek out the tumour

Transforming T-cells into a form that can hunt cancer requires considerable genetic manipulation to both remove the genetic instructions for building their old receptors, and give them the instructions for the new ones.

It was made possible by tremendous advances in the gene-editing technology Crispr, which acts like a pair of molecular scissors – allowing scientists to easily manipulate DNA. The researchers who developed Crispr won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2020.

The trial involved people with colon, breast or lung cancers that had failed to respond to other treatments.

The study was designed to test the safety and feasibility of the technology, and showed the modified cells were finding their way into the tumour.

The disease continued to get worse in 11 patients, but stabilised in the other five. However, it will take larger studies to work out the correct dose and how effective it really is.

« This is a leap forward in developing a personalised treatment for cancer, » said Dr Antoni Ribas, one of the researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, who tested the approach developed by the company Pact Pharma.

The results were presented at a meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer and published simultaneously in the journal Nature.

Dr Manel Juan, head of the immunology service at Clinic Hospital in Barcelona, said it was « extraordinary work » and « undoubtedly one of the most advanced in the field ».

He added: « It opens the door to using this personalised [approach] in many types of cancer and potentially in many other diseases. »

Prof Waseem Qasim, who has given life-saving designer immune systems at Great Ormond Street Hospital, said it was a « powerful early demonstration of what might be possible with newer techniques ».

Dr Astero Klampatsa, from the Institute of Cancer Research, London, said the study was « important » but warned that the « time, labour and expense involved » were « huge ».

By By James Gallagher – BBC news

L’article ‘Leap forward’ in tailored cancer medicine est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has gone to Sweden’s Svante Paabo for his work on human evolution.

Today the 2022 #NobelPrize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Svante Pääbo. Take a look at all of today's news:https://t.co/GleXwQOxne

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 3, 2022

The Prize committee said he achieved the seemingly impossible task of cracking the genetic code of one of our extinct relatives – Neanderthals.

https://t.co/HI72Nyesxt

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 3, 2022

He also performed the « sensational » feat of discovering the previously unknown relative – Denisovans.

His work helped explore our own evolutionary history and how humans spread around the planet.

Watch the very moment the 2022 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is announced. Presented by Thomas Perlmann, Secretary-General of the Nobel Assembly.

See the full announcement: https://t.co/fcLxEf9p0W #NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/Q4emKNZ2Mo

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 3, 2022

The Swedish geneticist’s work gets to the heart of some of the most fundamental questions – where do we come from and what allowed us, Homo sapiens, to succeed while our relatives went extinct.

He was just off to pick his daughter up from a sleepover when he got the call saying he’d won. He told the BBC: « I was very surprised and overwhelmed, I had not expected this. »

In the 1990s, research on working out the human genetic code was taking place at pace. But that relied on fresh samples of pristine DNA.

Prof Paabo’s interest was in the old, degraded and contaminated genetic material from our ancestors. Many thought it was an impossible challenge. But he was, for the first time, able to sequence DNA from a 40,000-year-old piece of bone.

2022 #NobelPrize laureate in physiology or medicine Svante Pääbo was born in 1955 in Stockholm, Sweden.

In 1999 he founded the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany (@MPI_EVA_Leipzig) where he is still active.https://t.co/w31ccQ5218 pic.twitter.com/SQveQE3AZL

— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 3, 2022

Those results showed that Neanderthals – who mostly lived in Europe and Western Asia – were distinct from both modern day humans and chimpanzees.

His work focused on hominins – the group of modern humans that includes us, Homo sapiens, but also our extinct relatives.

« By revealing genetic differences that distinguish all living humans from extinct hominins, his discoveries provide the basis for exploring what makes us uniquely human », the Nobel committee said.

Further comparisons between Neanderthal DNA and humans from around the world showed their DNA was a closer match to humans coming from Europe or Asia.

This tells us that Homo sapiens had sex and children with Neanderthals after migrating out of Africa around 70,000 years ago.

And you can still see the legacy of that today. Between 1-4% of modern human DNA comes from our Neanderthal relatives and this even affects our body’s ability to respond to infection.

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L’article Nobel Prize goes to Svante Paabo for Neanderthal work est apparu en premier sur World Opinion | Alternative Média.