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Drugs to Prevent Cell Suicide
MrErlenmeyer writes "Many injuries and diseases including heart attacks, stroke, and Parkinson's cause healthy cells to kill themselves. A group of scientists at Washington University in Saint Louis believe they have a lead on how to stop apoptosis (unwanted cell suicide) and thus minimize the tissue damage that occurs as a result of these injuries. They designed drugs that halt the actions of executioner caspases, proteins that act as a molecular wrecking crew. Other scientists had found that a chemical called isatin could prevent tissue damage in rabbit hearts that were deprived of oxygen. This was the starting point for the team of researchers in Missouri. By making some changes to the molecule, they were able to develop an even more effective molecule. With some further refinement, this may lead to a new class of emergency medications."
In other news: if you care about your daughter, get her vaccinated for HPV.
If you care about other people's daughters, get your son vaccinated for HPV too.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
This is a cure for death, unless I'm badly mistaken. This relates to ischemia and other avenues of organ failure. This will lead to some pretty interesting stuff in the future.
Best regards.
Apoptosis is a natural cell mechanism, and one of our bigger problems (cancer) is caused when cells _fail_ to commit suicide.
I suppose apoptosis-preventing drugs might have their place, but don't smoke or try to get a tan while you're taking them.
If you care about other people's daughters, get your son vaccinated for HPV too. Or, if you DON'T care about other people's daughters, campaign against the vaccine for political reasons. Because nothing says "moral principles" like wanting kids to die from a preventable disease!
They don't recommend that as yet. However, it seems like you'd get more milage out of recommending vaccinnating the ones who can be most directly hurt by the disease.
Of course, TFA also mentions that this method allows researchers to study apoptosis further, by allowing them to observe individual cells undergoing the process. Conceivably, once the mechanisms of the process are understood better, it will eventually be possible to trigger apoptosis in malignant cells (i.e., curing cancer). This development could possibly have revolutionary implications in the realm of cancer treatment.
BTW: The seemingly ultra-religious, daddy's-little-angel types have sex in high school, too. They are just better at lying about it.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
Man, but I'd love to have some webs between my fingers! Or a few billions more brain cells... Or a bazillion T-Lymphocytes trying to kill me... On the other hand, such medication would indeed be great for all those people who were cut off from oxygen for too long and whose myocard cells usually go into apoptosis once they're re-oxygenated.
They should probably have a related reading link for the story posted in May regarding the discovered consequences of oxygen reperfusion in the human body.
Quick summary: Doctors and scientists are finding that the cells of the heart and brain are still alive after clinical death, but they go into a dormant state. Jolting them back with oxygen and adrenaline after 4-5 minutes seems to kill the otherwise still living cells. A trial run on 34 cardiac patients indicates a significant increase in CPR success when done in a very gradual and controlled manner after that 4-5 minute mark (about 80% success opposed to around 15% for traditional CPR techniques)
Even people that believe in pre-destiny look both ways before crossing the street.
I disagree.
When I've just had a heart attack, and apoptosis would rather kill 40% of my heart tissue, thereby killing me outright, than possibly increase my cancer risk, it's most certainly unwanted.
For emergency purposes, stopping apoptosis is perfectly valid, and in fact desired to the grim alternative. I'd assume that once the treatment is out of your system, apoptosis is no longer suppressed, and everything goes back to normal... well, after a triple bypass to avoid future heart-attacks due to clogged arteries.
This could also mean prolonged stasis. If cells only die when they reactivate, things like brain death due to lack of oxygen could be almost completely eliminated. Again, apoptosis here is absolutely unwanted. Let's see... death now or possibly cancer later. Yeah, that's a tough one.
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