New research discovers immune system protein can fix cystic fibrosis cells
2015-09-02
(Press-News.org) Scientific experiments examining what happens to the faulty channel protein that causes cystic fibrosis during inflammation have yielded unexpected and exciting results. The study, conducted by Sara Bitam and her colleagues at INSERM in France, has just passed peer review on open science publishing platform F1000Research.
Cystic fibrosis is a life-limiting auto¬somal recessive monogenic disorder that affects 1 in every 2000 - 3500 newborns in the EU and US per year. It is caused by mutations in the gene that encodes the CFTR protein, an epithelial ion channel involved in salt and fluid transport in multiple organs including those in the respiratory system. F508del, the most common mutation, produces a faulty CFTR protein that degrades shortly after creation. The lack of a functional CFTR protein makes individuals more prone to respiratory infections with excessive inflammation, which in turn leads to deterioration of lung function, the main cause of death in patients.
In their article, titled 'An unexpected effect of TNF-α on F508del-CFTR maturation and function', the authors report that a 10 minute exposure of cells expressing the faulty CFTR channel to TNF-α, an inflammatory cytokine produced by white blood cells, can 'fix' these cells, at least temporarily.
They first found a transient form of this effect in HeLa cells (derived from a cervical cancer cell line). This was surprising, and when they repeated the experiments in human bronchial epithelial cells, which have more clinical relevance to the condition, they found an even better effect with the cells working as they should for at least 24 hours.
Further experiments elucidated that TNF-α achieves this by preventing the faulty CFTR protein from being degraded before it is successfully transported to the cell membrane.
Aleksander Edelman, the Principal Investigator of the study, outlined his group's next steps: "We hope to investigate whether TNF-α is linked to the severity of cystic fibrosis; if so then TNF-alpha levels might be one of a panel of molecules that could be used as a prognostic marker in the disease."
Rebecca Lawrence, Managing Director of F1000Research, said: "These findings are an exciting development in the bid to find a cure for cystic fibrosis - a devastating disease that affects many thousands of people worldwide.
"It is really important that results of this nature are published in the public domain as quickly as possible for peer review and we are pleased to be able to facilitate this through our open science publishing platform."
INFORMATION:
For more information:
Andrew Baud, Tala (on behalf of F1000 Research), +44 (0) 20 3397 3383 or +44 (0) 7775 715775
About F1000Research
F1000Research is an open science publishing platform for life scientists that offers immediate publication and transparent peer review, avoiding editorial bias and ensuring the inclusion of all source data. This process helps scientists to avoid the traditional, anonymous, pre-publication peer-review process that can cause long delays before new results become visible.
All articles must pass an initial in-house quality check prior to publication on F1000Research. Following open, invited peer review where the referee's name and affiliation and the referee reports are published alongside the article, authors can make revisions that are then published as new article versions.
Since its launch in January 2013, F1000Research has published more than 900 articles across the life sciences, written by more than 3,000 authors. For more details on F1000Research go to http://www.f1000research.com
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2015-09-02
Gum disease is a common condition among adults that occurs when bacteria form biofilms or plaques on teeth, and consequently the gums become inflamed. Some severe cases, called periodontitis, call for antibiotics. But now scientists have discovered that wild blueberry extract could help prevent dental plaque formation. Their report in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry could lead to a new therapy for periodontitis and a reduced need for antibiotics.
Many people have had some degree of gum inflammation, or gingivitis, caused by dental plaque. The gums get ...
2015-09-02
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - In the popular mind, mass extinctions are associated with catastrophic events, like giant meteorite impacts and volcanic super-eruptions.
But the world's first known mass extinction, which took place about 540 million years ago, now appears to have had a more subtle cause: evolution itself.
"People have been slow to recognize that biological organisms can also drive mass extinction," said Simon Darroch, assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences at Vanderbilt University. "But our comparative study of several communities of Ediacarans, ...
2015-09-02
New research from Royal Holloway, University of London has found that changes in lifestyle over the past 30 years have led to a sharp reduction in the strenuousness of daily life, which researchers say may explain why there has been a dramatic rise in obesity.
The study, carried out by Dr Melanie Luhrmann from the Department of Economics along with Professor Rachel Griffith and Dr Rodrigo Lluberas, revealed that while obesity rates have almost trebled, surprisingly, our actual calorie intake has fallen by around 20 per cent compared to 30 years ago.
The researchers found ...
2015-09-02
Advances in 3-D printing have led to new ways to make bone and some other relatively simple body parts that can be implanted in patients. But finding an ideal bio-ink has stalled progress toward printing more complex tissues with versatile functions -- tissues that can be loaded with pharmaceuticals, for example. Now scientists, reporting in the journal ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, have developed a silk-based ink that could open up new possibilities toward that goal.
Most inks currently being developed for 3-D printing are made of thermoplastics, silicones, ...
2015-09-02
China's economic downturn plus other factors, including overcapacity and tightening regulations, mean the next two to three years could be challenging for the foreign chemical and pharmaceutical companies located there. To survive in China as it adjusts to a slower pace of growth, businesses will likewise need to adapt, reports Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society.
Jean-François Tremblay, a senior correspondent at C&EN, notes that owing to reforms initiated in 1978, China has been a profitable place for chemical ...
2015-09-02
MANHATTAN, Kansas -- A Kansas State University wheat geneticist is part of a breakthrough study that identifies one of the wheat genes that controls response to low temperature exposure, a process called vernalization. Natural variation in vernalization genes defines when the plant begins to flower and is critical for adaptation to different environments.
Researchers anticipate this will help wheat breeders design wheat varieties that can adapt and thrive in changing environments around the world.
Eduard Akhunov, associate professor in the plant pathology department, ...
2015-09-02
In China, smoking now causes nearly a quarter of all cancers in adult males. The finding comes from a large study published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, as part of a Special Issue on Lung Cancer in China. High uptake rates of cigarette smoking in teenaged males and continued use in adulthood foreshadow even greater tobacco-related cancer risks for the nation.
Tobacco-related deaths have been declining steadily in most developed countries; however, China now produces and consumes about 40 percent of the world's cigarettes, ...
2015-09-02
School age children who are born prematurely are more likely to have low mathematical achievement, thought to be associated with reduced working memory and number skills, according to a new study published today in the neurology journal Brain.
Researchers assessed up to 224 preterm children at age five and age seven to examine the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after birth to identify infants at risk of later academic impairment. The study participants are from Melbourne, Australia and are part of a Murdoch Children's Research Institute study. The authors suggest ...
2015-09-02
DURHAM, N.C. -- A new Duke University-led study has revealed the presence of radioactive contaminants in coal ash from all three major U.S. coal-producing basins.
The study found that levels of radioactivity in the ash were up to five times higher than in normal soil, and up to 10 times higher than in the parent coal itself because of the way combustion concentrates radioactivity.
The finding raises concerns about the environmental and human health risks posed by coal ash, which is currently unregulated and is stored in coal-fired power plants' holding ponds and landfills ...
2015-09-02
New York, NY--September 2, 2015--Researchers from Columbia Engineering and Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) have developed a new method that can target delivery of very small volumes of drugs into the lung. Their approach, in which micro-liters of liquid containing a drug are instilled into the lung, distributed as a thin film in the predetermined region of the lung airway, and absorbed locally, may provide much more effective treatment of lung disease. The work was published in the August 31 online Early Edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] New research discovers immune system protein can fix cystic fibrosis cells
