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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."
Since cancer is uncontrolled cell growth, has increased risk for cancer been looked at?
Cessation of programmed cell death is often called cancer.
I'm sure they have all sorts of good research and know lots about this, and I freely grant that a 10x increase in your chances of getting cancer somewhere down the line beats Parkinson's, but this still sounds really scary.
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
As stated in the second paragraph of the article, apoptosis is simply the process of cell death--a something perfectly normal and required by the body. Hardly "unwanted"! See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apoptosis
The summary characterizes apoptosis as unwanted cell suicide which, in most cases, it most certainly is not. Apoptosis is one of the natural mechanisms by which the body eliminates cells which have become damaged, dysfunctional, or are simply no longer needed.
Especially with respect to cancer research apoptosis is a pathway which we seek to activate. Cells which become cancerous are supposed to enter apoptotic cycles and prevent themselves from creating tumors within the tissue. Cancerous cells manage to win the race condition between apoptotic and survival pathways but, in terms of the mechanisms at work within the cell, are tottering on the edge. Many new cancer treatments rely on this on the edge circumstance in the interest of introducing a pharmacologically active substance into the body which will cause cancerous cells, on the edge of apoptosis, to move fully into apoptotic function.
Since the cells in the body are constantly in a state of self-regulation and interregulation it is possible that cells which enter apoptosis too easily are similarly causes of diseases. It is this set of conditions that the researchers in the article wish to treat.
Don't be misled about what apoptosis actually is, though, or be swayed to view it as good or bad. Different conditions within the tissue call for different actions within the cells which make up that tissue.
the NPG electrode was replaced with carbon blac
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!
Most suicide attempts are cries for help, you know.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
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.
Why would you want to stop prisoners killing themselves? It would save tax-payers millions, and would be a much more effective form of justice than today's "OK you ran over a granny whilst drunk and stoned off your head on your way back from a bank robbery, you're sentenced to six months with sky TV, pool table and gym, out in two months due to good behaviour, plus free benefits if you can't be bothered working" form of justice that is doled out today, in Britain at least.
Boy, this has got "Unintended Consequences" written all over it. Seriously, I hope that this works brilliantly and the thousands of sufferers of Parkinson's disease etc. are able to be helped by this, but it seems like it could be a very shiny wrapper around an all new Pandora's box.
Any plan which depends on a fundamental change in human behavior is doomed from the start.
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!
All my cells are filled with emo-globin.
What if the Hokey Pokey really is what it's all about?
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.
I agree, this rush to drugs to treat suicidal cells is just going to create a generation of drug-dependent artificially happy zombie cells, and the last thing I want is for my cells to be wandering aimlessly around my body with a perma-grin, glazed eyes, and an irresistible urge to eat my delicious brain. Psychotherapy should be tried before resorting to drugs. Even if drugs are determined to be the best course, they should still be coupled with regular therapy sessions.
If you care about other people's daughters, get your son vaccinated for HPV too. I even care about internet pornstars, I'm vaccinating my dog, horse, goat and pig for HPV.
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.
Those drugs don't have anything to do with contagious diseases, so they are not a public health issue. You fail at logic. And at love for your own children. You have so much to be proud of.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
First of all, this doesn't seem like a huge deal. By the time you get to the hospital, most of the cells that are going to die are already undergoing apoptosis (BTW, that's programmed cell death and not necessarily unwanted cell death). The other issue is that hypoxia also causes cell necrosis, which is another form of cell death that's completely different from apoptosis and wouldn't be saved by this kind of drug.
The major issue, however, is simply that most of the cells that are going to die are irreparably damaged byt he time you get to the hospital. They ER will likely give you drug thinners and do whatever else is needed to get oxygen supply back. Not that this drug wouldn't be somewhat helpful, but I'd be really surprised if there's any great improvement in the % of lives saved. And any life saved is certainly worth the effort, but I just don't see this as a major breakthrough.
Now, show me a drug that can selectively induce apoptosis in certain cells, and then we'd have a cure for most forms of cancer (most forms of cancer are the result of cells whose apoptosis pathway is failing for some reason), and that would be a big deal.
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.
Considering that this is a transient treatment, the problem with cancer will probably depend on the length of the treatment, which probably would not lead to a very large increase in cancer rates. There is still a lot of ground to cover for cancerous cells to become malignant (angiogenesis, telomere limits) and these sorts of things take decades of accumulated mutation and selection.
A three month suppression of apoptosis and then a return to homeostasis is probably safer than a three month vacation to Hawaii, after which the genetic damage is permanent.