Illinois researchers advance understanding of schistosome reproduction

Characterizing stem cells in larval schistosomes may help control the prolific human parasite

2013-08-12

(Press-News.org) Ancient Egyptian mummies revealed that humans have been hosting parasitic flatworms called schistosomes for more than 5,000 years. Today these parasites continue to plague millions of people across the world, causing roughly 250,000 deaths each year.

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign believe that one key to controlling this destructive parasite is being able to control their incredibly prolific life cycle that can produce tens to hundreds of thousands of schistosomes each generation.

In a recent study published in the journal eLife, they have come one step closer to understanding the unique mechanisms that allow larval schistosomes' germinal cells (stem cells that multiply and form other types of cells) to create thousands of clones inside a specific snail host.

They discovered that germinal cells possess a molecular signature—a collection of expressed genes—that is similar to that of neoblasts (adult stem cells) that allow free-living, non-parasitic flatworms to regrow missing body parts. Among these genes, they identified some that are required for maintaining the germinal cell population.

This evidence suggests that schistosome larvae may have evolved by adapting a developmental program used by free-living flatworms in order to rapidly increase their population—essentially giving them the opportunity to reproduce twice within their life cycle, once asexually inside snail hosts and once sexually inside human hosts.

Illinois researchers believe they can apply this newfound developmental knowledge to future studies that may lead to ways to control, or even eradicate, schistosomes. They have already discovered that they can make the reproductive system of a planarian disappear by removing the function of a neuropeptide; eventually, they hope to do the same in schistosomes.

INFORMATION:

This study was published by first author Bo Wang, an Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) Fellow; James Collins III, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology (CDB) at University of Illinois; and Phillip Newmark, a Professor of CDB at University of Illinois, an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and an affiliate of the Regenerative Biology and Tissue Engineering research theme at the IGB.

The National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) funded this study. Wang was also supported by the IGB, who sponsored his fellowship. The IGB at the University of Illinois is an interdisciplinary and collaborative research institute.

For the full feature article, please visit http://bit.ly/16FPcJh.

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

New IBS treatment shows potential in Phase 2 study

2013-08-12

Bethesda, MD (August 12, 2013) — Patients with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS-D, treated with eluxadoline achieved better clinical response and experienced more symptom improvement than those using placebo, according to a recent study in Gastroenterology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association. Eluxadoline, which is currently in phase 3 trials, is under development as a potential treatment for IBS-D. "There is a critical need for a safe and effective treatment for IBS-D, a disorder affecting approximately 10 to 15 percent ...

Protein that delays cell division in bacteria may lead to the identification of new antibiotics

2013-08-12

In 1958 a group of scientists working in Denmark made the striking observation that bacterial cells are about twice as large when they are cultured on a rich nutrient source than when they are cultured on a meager one. When they are shifted from a nutrient-poor environment to a nutrient-rich one, they bulk up until they have achieved a size more appropriate to their new growth conditions. It has taken 60 years to figure out how the bacteria are able to sample their surroundings and alter their cell cycles so that they grow to a size suited to the environment. In 2007 ...

Tumor suppressor is needed for stem cells to mature into neurons

2013-08-12

CHD5 has previously been proposed as a tumour suppressor, acting as a brake that prevents healthy cells from developing into cancer cells. But the part played by the protein in healthy tissue, and whether this role is important for its ability to counter tumour growth, has remained largely uncharted. Working with colleagues at Trinity College in Dublin and BRIC in Copenhagen, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have revealed its function in normal nervous system development and as a tumour suppressor. The recently published study shows that when stem cells approach the ...

Carnegie Mellon researchers say readers' identities can reveal much about content of articles

2013-08-12

PITTSBURGH -- Articles that people share on social networks can reveal a lot about those readers, research has shown. But a new Carnegie Mellon University study reverses the proposition, asking the question: What can be learned about an article from the attributes of its readers? To find out, the CMU researchers, along with colleagues at the University of Washington, analyzed almost 3 million news articles and the public profiles of the people who shared those articles on Twitter. This enabled them to generate a few thousand "badges" that characterized the content of ...

Rice writes rules for gene-therapy vectors

2013-08-12

HOUSTON -- Rice University researchers are making strides toward a set of rules to custom-design Lego-like viral capsid proteins for gene therapy. A new paper by Rice scientists Junghae Suh and Jonathan Silberg and their students details their use of computational and bioengineering methods to combine pieces of very different adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) to create new, benign viruses that can deliver DNA payloads to specific cells. The research appears this month in the American Chemical Society journal ACS Synthetic Biology. AAVs are found in nature and commonly ...

Onsite colposcopy clinic improves cancer screening rates: Study

2013-08-12

TORONTO, ON, August 12, 2013 – Women who had a colposcopy at a sexual health clinic that provided extra support and counselling were 34 per cent more likely to undergo the cancer screening procedure compared to women who were referred to a hospital or doctor's office, according to a new study by Women's College Hospital's Dr. Sheila Dunn. Although colposcopy is an important component of cervical cancer screening, some women, particularly those who are disadvantaged, fail to attend colposcopy appointments. However, researchers in the study, published today in the Journal ...

Mayo Clinic: Preclinical tests may lead to new approach to treat CNS lymphoma

2013-08-12

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A drug recently approved for use in multiple myeloma is now being tested for its ability to fight central nervous system (CNS) lymphoma, a deadly cancer of the immune system that can affect the brain, spinal cord and fluid, and eyes. The clinical trial, now open at the three campuses of Mayo Clinic -- in Florida, Minnesota and Arizona -- follows successful testing of the drug, pomalidomide, in mouse models of CNS lymphoma. Details of the preclinical testing are available in the science journal PLOS ONE. Approximately 5,000 patients are diagnosed ...

Communicating nightingales: Older males trill better

2013-08-12

Older male nightingales perform faster and more demanding trills than their younger rivals. These findings were published by researchers at the University of Basel and the Netherlands Institute of Ecology in the online edition of Journal of Avian Biology. With up to 100 trill elements a second, nightingales belong to the fastest singers. Nightingales are famous for their large song repertoire: Each male can perform around 200 different song types. Facing this great variety, how can a female listener assess correctly if the male counterpart is a suitable mating partner? ...

Competition changes how people view strangers online

2013-08-12

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- An anonymous stranger you encounter on websites like Yelp or Amazon may seem to be just like you, and a potential friend. But a stranger on a site like eBay is a whole different story. A new study finds that on websites where people compete against each other, assumptions about strangers change. Previous research has shown that people have a bias toward thinking that strangers they encounter online are probably just like them. But when they are competitors, strangers are seen as different, and not sharing your traits and values -- and that changes ...

New materials for bio-based hydrogen synthesis

2013-08-12

Researchers at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB) have discovered an efficient process for hydrogen biocatalysis. They developed semi-synthetic hydrogenases, hydrogen-generating enzymes, by adding the protein's biological precursor to a chemically synthesized inactive iron complex. From these two components, the biological catalyst formed spontaneously in a test tube. "Extracting hydrogenases from living cells is highly difficult," says Prof Dr Thomas Happe, head of the work group Photobiotechnology at the RUB. "Therefore, their industrial application has always been a long ...

Modular assembly of chiral nitrogen-bridged rings achieved by palladium-catalyzed diastereoselective and enantioselective cascade cyclization reactions

Illinois researchers advance understanding of schistosome reproduction

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: