The "Science"-struck Bookworm

Myeloma
treatments require a heavy artillery of novel myeloma drugs to reduce the
number of cancer cells (ex: Revlimid, Velcade, or Thalomid), followed by
high-dose chemotherapy to wipe out the cancer. Because the latter can completely
wipe out blood-forming stem cells (a side effect that can be life-threatening
to the patient), clinicians quickly learned to collect patient stem cells right
before high-dose chemotherapy, and then transplanting them back into patients
after treatment. The feasibility of this approach depends on the effects of
myeloma drugs on patient stem cells.

While there

are many proposed “magic bullets” since the 1940s to combat cancer, more than

90% of these drug candidates fail during clinical trials. Part of the reason

for this failure is because many drugs are often effective in eliminating only

the bulk of the tumor without even touching the root of the disease. With the

discovery of cancer stem cells as the root of cancer in the 1970s, scientists

began developing therapeutics against cancer stem cells with hopes to eliminate

cancer for good.

In light of ethical concerns with using human embryonic stem (hES) cells for research and therapeutic development, scientists have since developed technologies to allow one to reprogram somatic cells into pluripotent stem cells that are akin to hES cells.

Macular teleangiectasia (MacTel) is a progressive idiopathic form of retinal degeneration that occurs in adulthood, and is caused by a number of factors including diabetic retinopathy, hypertension, venous occlusion, inflammatory diseases, and blood disorders (Yannuzzi et al., 2006) (Shen et al J Neurosci 32:15715-15727).

Studies by Ding et
al (Cell 2012) revealed that telomerase dysfunction early in disease onset
creates genomic aberrations crucial for telomerase-driven prostate cancer
metastasis into the lumbar spine.

Live
imaging technology is becoming
an increasing popular tool to visualize real-time cellular events in the tumor
microenvironment during metastatic progression.

McCormick Place- Chicago, IL,
March 31st- April 4th 2012- was flocked with scientists across the world for
the Annual American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting. As with
each year, the meeting featured endless plenary presentations, symposiums, as
well as poster sessions and exhibitions that covered exciting advancements and
technologies in the global effort to end cancer.

A major function of microRNAs is to inhibit messenger RNA (mRNA) translation by binding to a specific 3’ untranslated region (UTR) through sequence complementation. In a recent study published in the March 2012 issue of Cell Stem Cell, Boutet et al. discovered that Pax3 transcripts in muscle stem cells in vivo can have both long and short 3’UTRs, an effect controlled by differential poly-adenylation patterns during the course of development. While Pax3 transcripts with long 3’UTRs are susceptible to translational inhibition by miR-206, transcripts with short 3’UTR are profoundly resistant to miR-206. 

Cancer cells are, well, cancer cells; cells that grow uncontrollably in the host, and ignore all patterns and signals that govern the structural integrity of tissue and organs. Much research in the last several decades have defined molecular features attributed to cancer cells, and more importantly what specifically can kill them. Decades of work goes by with the discovery of drugs that change the lives of many individuals and families touched by this disease. Yet despite the euphoria of success, scientists come face to face with a troubling problem of cancer cell resistance to treatment. The same goes for rabbits thriving in Australia. Rabbits??

Cancer can be described as a cellular disease, which is thought to arise from misbehaving cells that divide uncontrollably in vivo. Our basic understanding of why this occurs is because these “cancer cells” have lost its ability to respond appropriately to endogenous stop signals that normally work to maintain the structural integrity of normal tissues. The resulting uncontrolled cell division results in the formation of a tumor.

“Extraordinary measures” is a heart-wrenching movie about a parent’s quest to save the lives of two dying children with Pompe disease. Starring Brandon Fraser (John Crowley) as the venture capitalist fathering the two children, and Harrison Ford (Robert Stonehill) as the aloof researcher with the science to curing Pompe, the story beautifully illustrates the many difficulties and challenges behind transforming basic science into a usable drug.