Scientists Have Grown Snake Venom Glands in The Lab. Here’s Why That’s Awesome – ScienceAlert

For the first time, scientists have produced snake venom toxins in the lab, opening up a much-needed path for developing drugs and venom antidotes that doesn't involve having to breed and milk real-life snakes.

The toxins have been produced through mini glands called organoids, following a process adapted from growing simplified human organs something that is already helping in a wide range of scientific and medical research projects.

In the case of the snakes, researchers were able to blow organoids matching the Cape coral snake (Aspidelaps lubricus cowlesi) and seven other snake species, and they say this new approach is a welcome upgrade on current methods of farming snakes to extract their venom.

"More than 100,000 people die from snake bites every year, mostly in developing countries," says molecular biologist Hans Clevers, from Utrecht University in the Netherlands. "Yet the methods for manufacturing antivenom haven't changed since the 19th century."

By tweaking the recently developed process for growing human organoids including reducing the temperature to match reptiles rather than mammals the researchers were able to find a recipe that supports the indefinite growth of tiny snake venom glands.

Tissue was removed from snake embryos and put into a gel mixed with growth factors, but access to stem cells which is how human and mouse organoids are usually developed wasn't required.

The cells quickly began dividing and forming structures, giving the team hundreds of growing samples in the space of a couple of months, and producing small white blobs from which venom toxins could be harvested.

Al least four distinct types of cell were identified by the researchers within the artificially grown venom glands, and they were also able to confirm that the venom peptides produced were biologically active, closely resembling those in live snake venom.

Snake venom gland organoids. (Ravian van Ineveld/Princess Mxima Center)

"We know from other secretory systems such as the pancreas and intestine that specialised cell types make subsets of hormones," says developmental biologist Joep Beumerfrom Utrecht University.

"Now we saw for the first time that this is also the case for the toxins produced by snake venom gland cells."

The use of snake venom toxins to develop medicines and treatments has been going on since the time of ancient Greece. In the modern age, drugs fighting everything from cancer to haemorrhages have been developed with the help of toxins we find in snake venom.

Having faster and more controlled access to these toxins could mean these treatments can be developed more easily and on a shorter time scale, say the researchers.

Besides drug development, these organoid venom glands should make it easier and faster to develop antivenoms and with so many people suffering deaths, injuries or disabilities because of snake bites, that will make a considerable difference.

"It's a breakthrough," snake venom toxicologist Jos Mara Gutirrez from the University of Costa Rica, told Science.

"This work opens the possibilities for studying the cellular biology of venom-secreting cells at a very fine level, which has not been possible in the past."

The research has been published in Cell.

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Alopecia: What causes the hair loss condition? – Home – WSFX

Everyone sheds about 100 hairs each day as part of the normal hair growth cycle, but excess loss is usually a distressing development.(iStock)

Hair loss is typically considered the domain of aging men, but this equal-opportunity condition which has many causes can affect virtually anyone.

Alopecia is the medical term for hair loss, and it doesnt only happen on the scalp. Some illnesses and medications can trigger balding over the entire body, though genetics account for most cases on the head, according to theCleveland Clinic.

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Everyone sheds about 100 hairs each day as part of the normal hair growth cycle, but excess loss is usually a distressing development. Americans spend more than $3.5 billion each year trying to treat it, according to theAmerican Hair Loss Association.

Most peoples hair grows about a half-inch per month, and about 90 percentof your hair is actively growing at any given time, with the other 10 percentin dormant phase. After two or three months, this dormant hair falls out and its follicles begin growing new hair as other follicles begin a dormant phase.

Shedding hair is different from hair loss, when a hair falls out and doesnt grow back. People often shed hair during stressful events, such aschildbirth, a breakup or divorce or during times of grief.

It still doesnt feel good, and it takes the hair [awhile] to reach a certain length where you perceive its presence, said Doris Day, a board-certified dermatologist New York City and an attending physician at Lenox Hill Hospital, also in New York. So it feels like a hair loss, but its not a hair loss.

Aside from heredity, noticeable hair loss can be caused by wide variety of factors, including:

Harsh hairstyles or treatments: Hairstyles that consistently use rubber bands, rollers or barrettes, or pull hair into tight styles such as cornrows, can inflame and scar hair follicles. So can incorrectly used chemical products such as dyes, bleaches, straighteners or permanent wave solutions. Depending on the degree of damage, resulting hair loss can be permanent.

Hormone imbalances: In women, hormonal shifts from birth control pills,pregnancy, childbirth, menopause or hysterectomy can induce more hair follicles than normal to enter the dormant phase.

Illness or surgery: The stress from sickness or surgery may prompt the body to temporarily cease nonessential tasks such as hair production. Specific conditions can also trigger it, including thyroid disorders,syphilis, iron deficiency,lupusor severe infection. An autoimmune condition called alopecia areata, which has no cure, causes rapid body-wide hair loss.

Medications and vitamins: Cancer chemotherapy, which attacks hair follicles in its attempt to kill all fast-growing cells around the body, is a well-known reason for hair loss. Other medications side effects include hair shedding as well, such as some that treat high blood pressure andgout(a painful joint condition caused by a buildup of uric acid). Excessive levels of vitamin A also contribute.

Nutritional deficits: Heavy dieting or eating disorders such asbulimiaandanorexiacan temporarily stun hair follicles to cease growth. This can also occur from insufficient protein, vitamin or mineral intake.

Aging: A natural effect of growing older is slowed hair growth.

Women usually dont go completely bald, but lose hair on the top of the head or the temples. Men tend to lose hair on their temples, and are more likely than women to go completely bald, Day said.

Dermatologists will examine the persons scalp and take a history of medical or stressful events to see whats been going on in their life and their world, Day said.

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The dermatologist may take a biopsy a small patch of skin that includes the hair follicle and send it to a pathologist to determine if an autoimmune disease, such as lupus, is the cause of the hair loss.

Examining the hair and follicle can also determine whether someone has a bacterial or fungal infection, Day said.

Hair loss remedies range from the mild to the extreme and the inexpensive to the costly. Much depends on how much hair is gone and how high a priority it is to mask its absence or replace it.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, treatments include:

Hair weaves or wigs: Typically expensive, wigs and hair weaves either completely cover the head or add to existing hair, restoring the appearance of a full head of hair. They are especially practical for cancer patients and those whose hair loss is temporary.

Topical creams and lotions: Over-the-counter minoxidil (also known as the brand name Rogaine) can restore some hair growth, especially in those with hereditary hair loss. It is applied directly to the scalp. Prescription-strength finasteride (Propecia) comes in pill form and is only for men. According to theAmerican Academy of Family Physicians(AFP), it may take up to six months to tell if these medications are working.

Anti-inflammatory medications: Prescription steroid-based creams or injections can calm follicles damaged or inflamed by harsh chemicals or excessive pulling.

Surgery: Men tend to be better candidates for surgical hair-replacement techniques because their hair loss is often limited to one or two areas of the scalp. Procedures include grafting, which transplants from one to 15 hairs per disc-shaped graft to other locations. Scalp reduction removes bald skin from the scalp so hair-covered scalp can be stretched to fill in the bald areas. Side effects include swelling, bruising and headaches.

Hair-growth laser treatment can also help stimulate hair follicles and improve growth, Day said. People often see results when they combine laser treatment with another intervention, she said. Treatments range in price from $30 and up for Rogaine to about $3,000 for laser treatment, she added.

According to theNational Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases(NIAMSD), alternative therapies may not help hair regrow and many are not supported by medical research. However, other treatments that reportedly improve alopecia areata include Chinese herbs, acupuncture, zinc and vitamin supplements, evening primrose oil and aroma therapy.

Viviscal, a natural supplement, has also shownmore hair growthin men compared to those who took fish extract in clinical trials, Day said.

The NIAMSD recommends discussing any alternative treatments with physicians before use.

The drug Tofacitinib is approved to treat adults witharthritis, but a growing number of cases suggest that it can also treat alopecia universalis, a condition in which people lose all of the hair on their body because theirimmune systemattacks hair follicles,Live Science previously reported.

The finding occurred after doctors prescribed a 25-year-old man with alopecia universalis the drug because they had heard it had treated a similar condition in mice,according to a statement from Yale University. After three months of treatment, the man had completely regrown the hair on his scalp, and he had visible eyebrows, eyelashes, facial hair, as well as hair elsewhere on his body.

Its exciting, said Day, who did not treat this particular patient. There seems to be a real effect here.

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Its unclear how Tofacitinib (brand name Xeljanz) works, but researchers hope to determine its mechanism soon. This data may help them learn which biological pathways lead to hair loss.

There are now clinical trials taking place around the country to test the safety and efficacy of the drug for hair loss conditions. One such study lasting 3 months gave Tofacitinib to 66 people with alopecia areata (an immune system condition that causes hair to fall out in patches). Half of the people regrew some hair, and one-third had more than 50 percentof the hair on their scalp grow back, according to the 2016 study, published in the journalJCI Insight.

However, researchers are still working to determine the best dose needed, whether the results are lasting, and whether they can develop a topical form of the drug, Day said. She added that patients should be aware that Tofacitinib has side effects. Its already associated with an increased risk of serious infections, as well as stomach and intestinal tears, according to Pfizer, the manufacturer.

Besides investigating Tofacitinib, researchers are also looking at ways to clone hair or use stem cell therapy to treat alopecia, Day said.

This article first appeared on LiveScience.

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2-year-old battles aggressive cancer – Pekin Daily Times

PEORIA For years, the Landwehrs had supported St. Jude through donations and participating in the annual runs.

But it wasn't until their 2-year-old son was a patient at the Midwest Affiliate at OSF HealthCare Children's Hospital of Illinois here in Peoria that it really sunk in how much it means to give to the health network.

"It is a story that you never think is going to be about you," said Seth Landwehr, a detective with the Peoria Police Department and a former member of the Illinois Air National Guard's 182nd Airlift Wing. "You think you can take care of your kids. You think they are healthy. You give them things. We inspect our kids all the time with my wife being a nurse.

"This happened so quickly and it's so aggressive. If it wasn't for St. Jude and everyone down there working so fast ..." he said.

The "this" Landwehr was talking about was the recent discovery that his son, Brigham, has stage 4 neuroblastoma, an aggressive form of cancer. Diagnosed less than a month ago, the little boy is finishing up his first round of chemo, and has already had an operation to remove a softball-sized tumor from his torso, just above one of his kidneys.

"It is really hard to be on this side of the care," said Stacey Landwehr, who used to work as a pediatric intensive care nurse. "You commonly hear that doctors and nurses make the worst patients as they have been on the other side. There's the heartache, the stress and the fact that you can't clock out at the end of the day and leave it.

It's my life now," she said. "But it gives you such a deeper appreciation for everything that (St. Jude) does. I have done the St. Jude runs in the past and donate every year but it now takes on a whole new meaning. It's overwhelming. Everyone's generosity has been so overwhelming."

'Darkest days of my life'

Brigham's parents noticed a dime-sized mark below his ear a few days after Christmas. Dad, who is an optimist, said it'll be fine. Mom, the nurse, worried. They thought it could be a swollen lymph node. They kept an eye on it, and then it kept growing. A sonogram was scheduled for Jan. 9. The results caused their doctor not to like what he saw. They were walked down the hall at OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center to the St. Jude area at Children's Hospital. Still, Seth was hopeful.

"I was telling my wife that everything is fine. My wife was a peds ICU nurse. She has seen the worst of the worst of the sick babies, and she goes straight to doom and gloom," he said.

The doctors at St. Jude knew right away it was neuroblastoma, which starts in the adrenal glands. An MRI was ordered to check his face, head and neck.

They got the results on a Saturday. They had taken the kids to the car show. It was a way to keep things normal. That was, until Seth saw his son's doctor, who is also a friend, parked in his driveway.

"I knew then it wasn't good," he said.

They told the couple their son had cancer. It was stage 4, and was it was moving through their son's endocrine system. Neuroblastoma is aggressive, and given that Brigham has his blood tested every few months for congenial hyperthyroidism, they figured the cancer was only a few months old.

But in that time, it had spread to his jaw, his ribs, head, spine and lungs.

"I got the news Saturday and for the next four days, I will tell you were the darkest, deepest days of my life. I didn't have a plan, I didn't know what to do," Seth said.

Pay it back

Brigham turned 2 on Jan. 18. That same day, doctors removed the softball sized tumor from his body. And he began his first round of chemotherapy. With their ties to the military Stacey remains in the Illinois Air National Guard and Seth's position as a detective, help was quick in coming. Friends and family donated toys, time, money and many shoulders to lean on.

And St. Jude was right there, the couple says. The Midwest Affiliate Clinic's location at Children's Hospital of Central Illinois has given them cause for hope and joy.

"We have been blessed with amazing surgeons and doctors," he said. "My son turned 2 on Jan. 18, and St. Jude sent up a personalized Paw Patrol cake. It's amazing the amount of love and attention they give to these kids."

And for that, they want people to help St. Jude help others. Ten years ago, Stacey noted, the prognosis for such a diagnosis was grim. Now their son has a 70% to 80% chance of beating it. And that's due to research and care which are funded by donations and events like the St. Jude runs runs, among other things.

They want to pay it back, and one way to is urge people to support St. Jude. But there are other ways.

"Donate blood or platelets when you can. This is all very new for us, and he's (Brigham) has already received a unit of blood. There is never a shortage of need when it comes to blood," Stacey said. Another way is to reduce the risk of infections for people who have their immune systems compromised. Wash your hands. If your child is sick, keep them home so they can't get others sick.

"We have good insurance, so we'll be okay, but there are a lot of people who wouldn't be in this situation," Seth said. "You now see how important the donations are.

"I'm an ambassador for St. Jude forever now."

'Caught it quick'

Brigham has a long road in front of him. There's still plenty of cancer left in his body. He still has several rounds of chemo to undergo here and then a three-month trip up to Chicago for stem cell harvesting and more treatment there. In all, his parents believe it will take a year to finish all the treatments.

But they have hope, as it appears Brigham's cancer was caught early.

"They (the doctors) ask all these questions. 'Have you noticed anything, like verbal activity impairment, balance issues?' And we were like, 'No.' In the last two to three weeks, his vocab has exploded. His imagination is off the charts. He always wants to wrestle with dad, play Star Wars or jump off the bed and into your arms," Seth said.

Normally, kids show up with a light paralysis, can't walk or their motor functions have diminished. And, he said, it's rare to have such a large tumor removed in one fell swoop without any treatment or chemo.

"We caught it quick even though it's stage 4 and it's all over his body, he has his strength and power to fight the chemo," he said.

But boys are boys. A few days after his birthday last week, Brigham got up out of bed and grabbed one of the many toys that people had brought. He fixated on a fire truck. Seth joked it settled the age-old question of what young boys want to be when they grow up. The gift came from Peoria Police Chief Loren Marion.

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Darzalex EU nod marks first newly diagnosed MM treatment in six years – PharmaTimes

Janssen has announced that the European Commission (EC) has grantedmarketing authorisationfora new Darzalex (daratumumab) combo, for newly diagnosed, transplant eligible patients with multiple myeloma (MM).

On the news, the combination, which consists of the biologic combined with bortezomib, thalidomide and dexamethasone(VTd) is now the first regimen approved in over six years for newly diagnosed patients who are eligible for a stem cell transplant. It also means that the patient population now has their first opportunity to be treated with a monoclonal antibody.

The company says that the approval was based on results from part one of the Phase III CASSIOPEIA (MMY3006) study, which showed that after consolidation, the stringent complete response (sCR) rate was 9% higher in the Darzalex-VTd arm than the VTd alone arm.

Further, at a median follow-up of 18.8 months, PFS was significantly improved in the Darzalex-VTd group, with the addition of the drug resulting in an 18-month PFS rate of 93%, compared to 85% for VTd alone.

The effectiveness of first line treatment is critical to maximise time until relapse, explained Philippe Moreau, principal investigator and Head of the Haematology Department at the University Hospital of Nantes.

He continued, The CASSIOPEIA study answered that question definitively, demonstrating that the addition of Darzalex in combination with VTd can lead to very deep remissions and also prolong PFS. Im pleased to see the European Commission have recognised this as well.

MM is an incurable blood cancer that starts in the bone marrow and is characterised by an excessive proliferation of plasma cells. In Europe, more than 48,200 people were diagnosed with MM in 2018, with more than 30,800 deaths related to the disease.

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Celavie Biosciences Presented Five-Year Follow-Up Data in Parkinsonian Patients at the World Stem Cell Summit – Financialbuzz.com

Celavie Biosciences, LLC, a company working to improve lives and restore hope by advancing innovations in CNS diseases with regenerative stem cell-based therapies, today announced their presentation of a poster, titled Five year follow-up on the first-in-human transplantation of undifferentiated stem cells into Parkinsonian patients reveals no adverse effects with improvement in motor function or arrest of the disease progression in five out of seven patients, at the Phacilitate Leaders World and World Stem Cell Summit, held January 21-24 in Miami, Florida.

The poster shows five-year follow-up data that expands on the exploratory clinical data in 7 PD patients with four-year follow-up published in Cell Transplantation in 2018. Oleg Kopyov, Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at Celavie, presented the poster on-site at the Miami Hyatt Regency.

In the results at one year after cell grafting, all but two of the seven patients completing the study showed various degrees of motor improvement, and five of them showed better response to medication. At five-year evaluation, Unified Parkinsons Disease Rating Scale III (UPDRS III) scores remained better than at baseline in 4/7 patients in the OFF condition and in 5/7 patients in the ON condition. None of the patients showed unwanted motor disturbances (dyskinesias), tumor formation, or any detectable immune responses to the grafted cells.

We are excited that the five-year data for our exploratory clinical trial suggest that the neural progenitor cells are able to stop or slow down the motor deterioration in Parkinsons patients that one would expect to see in this timespan, showing continued improvement even compared to the fourth year, said Oleg Kopyov. We anticipate filing an IND with the FDA for a Phase I U.S. trial in patients with moderate to advanced Parkinsons disease this year.

In addition, Sandy Solmon, Celavies CEO, will deliver presentations at two upcoming international industry conferences:

Ms. Solmon will discuss Celavies application of the companys human undifferentiated allogeneic pluripotent stem cells in Parkinsons disease, as well as pre-clinical data in cerebellar ataxia and upcoming milestones. To schedule a meeting with Celavie Biosciences at these conferences, please contact: Mary Beth Cicero at mbcicero@lavoiehealthscience.com.

About the World Stem Cell Summit

Produced by the non-profit Regenerative Medicine Foundation (RMF), and in its 15th year, the World Stem Cell Summit will take place January 21-24, 2020, in Miami, Florida in partnership with Phacilitate Leaders World, as part of Advanced Therapies Week. The Summit is the most inclusive and expansive interdisciplinary, networking, and partnering meeting in the stem cell science and regenerative medicine field. With the overarching purpose of fostering translation of biomedical research, funding, and investments targeting cures, the Summit and co-located conferences serve a diverse ecosystem of stakeholders. For more information about the upcoming World Stem Cell Summit in Miami, please visit: http://www.worldstemcellsummit.com.

About Celavie Biosciences

Celavie Biosciences is a privately-held company whose mission is to improve lives and restore hope by advancing regenerative stem cell therapies for the treatment of Parkinsons disease and other disorders of the central nervous system (CNS). The company develops undifferentiated, unmodified allogeneic pluripotent stem cell-based therapies, holds a strong IP portfolio, including 18 issued patents, and has an experienced management team blending expertise in concept and cell technology, product scalability and entrepreneurship. Celavet, a subsidiary, applies the same proprietary technologies for the treatment and prevention of serious veterinary diseases. More information is available at https://www.celavie.com/.

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Celavie Biosciences Presented Five-Year Follow-Up Data in Parkinsonian Patients at the World Stem Cell Summit - Financialbuzz.com