Anyone facing chemotherapy would undoubtedly welcome a treatment advance that would dramatically reduce his dose of these harsh, toxic drugs. Now, using nanotechnology, researchers at Washington University think they have taken a stop closer to that goal.
The researchers focused a powerful drug directly on tumors in rabbits using drug-coated nanoparticles. Even a drug dose 1,000 times lower than previously used was found to markedly slow tumor growth.
"Many chemotherapeutic drugs have unwanted side effects," said Dr. Patrick M. Winter, the lead author of the new study. "We've shown that our nanoparticle technology has the potential to increase drug effectiveness and decrease drug dose to alleviate harmful side effects."
The nanoparticles are extremely tiny beads of an inert, oily compound that were treated with fumagillin, which has been shown to be an effective human cancer treatment when used in combination with other drugs. The study can be found in the online edition of The FASEB Journal.
Enlarged prostate
Laser therapy lecture planned
Men looking for a more conservative remedy for an enlarged prostate may want to attend a lecture on laser treatment at 6 p.m. Wednesday at St. Anthony's Medical Center in South St. Louis.
In the program, Dr. Salim Hawatmeh will discuss the difference between the traditional operation and a new procedure for an enlarged, benign prostate that involves the GreenLight HPS laser. The new treatment is quicker, has fewer side effects and can be done in a doctor's office. It is also covered by Medicare. A question-answer session will follow.
The talk is free, but reservations are necessary by calling South County Urological (314) 843-8000.
Are you ready?
Seminar deals with flu outbreak
If a deadly flu outbreak hit the Midwest, would the region be ready?
That's the question they'll pose Friday during the all-day seminar "Pandemic Flu: Are You Ready?" at the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville School of Nursing.
The seminar will examine the history of pandemics in the United States; focus on developing a pandemic plan for businesses; and discuss how to use personal protection equipment.
The program is free from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Hickory-Hackberry Room in SIUE's Morris University Center. A tabletop pandemic planning exercise is schedule for the afternoon.
PET scans change cancer treatments
A nationwide study has found that positron emission tomography (PET) led doctors to change treatment for more than a third of cancer patients, according to a report in a recent Journal of Clinical Oncology.
After analyzing data on nearly 23,000 patients, researcher found that PET scans resulted in a 36.5 percent change in decisions on whether or how to treat a patient's cancer. In the most dramatic finding, doctors were able to determine that biopsies were unnecessary for nearly three-fourths of patients scheduled to receive them.
Dr. Barry Siegel, professor of medicine and radiology at Washington University and one of the lead authors, plans to use the results to lobby for Medicare coverage of PET scans in the diagnosis, staging and restaging of cancer.
'Genetic patch' corrects mutation
By injecting a customized "genetic patch" into young fish embryos, researchers at Washington University say they corrected a mutation, allowing the embryos to develop normally.
The research eventually could help prevent up to one-fifth of birth defects in humans caused by genetic mutations, according to the scientists.
Erik Madsen, the study's first author, made the groundbreaking discovery using a zebrafish model of disease. Menkes is a rare, inherited disorder of copper metabolism caused by a mutation in the ATP7A gene. Zebrafish are vertebrates that develop similarly to humans, and their transparency allows researchers to observe embryonic development.
Children born with Menkes have seizures, extensive neurodegeneration in the gray matter of the brain, abnormal bone development and kinky, colorless hair. Treatment with copper is largely ineffective, and most children die before their 10th birthday.
Madsen and his team injected the fish with morpholinos, which are synthetic molecules that apparently patched over the defect so the gene could generate its normal product. The research is in the current online edition of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Parkinson's patients benefit from tango
One of the world's most passionate dances apparently can add some fire to the treatment of Parkinson's disease, according to researchers at Washington University in St. Louis.
They found that Parkinson's patients who took part in regular tango dance classes showed significant improvements in balance and mobility when compared to patients who did conventional exercise. The results were reported in the December issue of the Journal of Neurologic Physical Therapy.
Gammon Earhart, an assistant professor of physical therapy and Madeleine Hackney, a predoctoral trainee in movement science, randomly assigned 19 patients to either 20 one-hour sessions of tango dancing or group strength and flexibility exercise. All were similar in age and disease stage.
The dance sessions included stretching, balance exercises, tango-style walking, footwork patterns and dancing with and without a partner. The regular exercise classes included 40 minutes of seated exercise followed by standing exercises and core strengthening and stretching.
Both groups showed significant improvement in the United Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale for movement. But the tango participants fared better on the Berg Balance Scale and the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test, which measures functional mobility rising from a chair, walking a short distance, turning and returning to a chair.
"Given these preliminary results, we think that tango is feasible for individuals with Parkinson's disease and may be an appropriate and effective form of group exercise for individuals," Earhart said.
Grant funds study of lung transplants
Washington University in St. Louis has received a five-year, $3.9 million grant to lead an international study designed to improve the results of childhood lung transplants.
Such transplants often are the only treatment for children with severe lung disease, but such patients face more frequent infections, organ rejections and other complications. Despite improvements in surgical techniques, there has been no improvement in outcomes or survival in 10 years.
The new pediatric lung network will study respiratory viral infections that often strike these young patients. The idea is to identify the viruses and the underlying immune mechanism in the lungs that contribute to these complications.
"Pinpointing these viruses and immune responses will allow us to design new ways to predict a patient's risk of infection and to improve the outcomes of children who have lung transplants," said Dr. Stuart C. Sweet, who directs the school's pediatric lung transplant program.
The grant is from the National Institutes of Health. The school's pediatric lung transplant program was the first of its kind in the country; it has performed more than 300 transplants since 1991.
Epilepsy drugs raise thoughts of suicide
Epilepsy drugs used by millions of people may increase the risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior, the Food and Drug Administration warned last week in an alert to doctors.
The FDA analyzed nearly 200 studies that involved 11 anti-seizure drugs. The studies followed 28,00 people given the medications and another 16,000 given dummy drugs. The researchers found that .43 percent of drug-treated patients experienced suicidal thoughts or behavior compared to .22 percent of those who took placebos. In all four people who took the drugs committed suicide, none who took the dummy pills.
The FDA advised doctors to weigh a patient's need for the drug against the small risk and to alert patients taking the medications that such thoughts and behaviors may occur and to seek help immediately if they do. Drugs analyzed included Pfizer's Neurontin, Novartis' Tegretol and Abbott's Depakote.
Viruses resistant to Tamiflu
A small number of flu viruses resistant to Tamiflu, a leading antiviral drug, have popped up in Europe, health officials said last week.
Data from more than a dozen European countries show that Tamiflu doesn't work in about 13 percent of H1N1 viruses, the main flu strain causing illness this year. Normally, resistance levels are well below 1 percent.
"It's an unexpected finding and a signal worth watching," said Fred Hayden, a flu expert at the World Health Organization. The resistant strains most likely emerged elsewhere, but were first identified in Europe.
The new flu strain doesn't cause more serious disease and can be treated with other drugs. But experts are worried that if the resistance becomes widespread, Tamiflu, one of the best tools for fighting flu, might become useless.
