(Press-News.org) A research group from the Graduate School of Medicine and iGCORE at Nagoya University in Japan, has discovered that using an antibiotic to target Fusobacterium reduced the formation of lesions associated with endometriosis, a gynecological disorder characterized by endometrial tissue usually found inside the uterus being found outside it. Their findings suggest an alternative treatment for this disorder. The study was published in Science Translational Medicine.
Endometriosis affects one in ten women between the ages of 15 and 49. The disorder can cause lifelong health problems, including pelvic pain and infertility. Although it can be treated using hormone therapy and surgical resection, these procedures sometimes lead to side effects, recurrence, and a significant impact on pregnancy.
The group led by Professor Yutaka Kondo (he, him) and Assistant Professor Ayako Muraoka (she, her) from the Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, in collaboration with the National Cancer Center, found that the uterus of mice infected with Fusobacterium had more and heavier lesions. However, mice that had been given an antibiotic to eradicate Fusobacterium saw improved lesion formation.
The team’s findings strongly suggest that targeting Fusobacterium is an effective non-hormonal antibiotic treatment for endometriosis. Dr. Kondo praised the potential for easier diagnosis and treatment. “Eradication of this bacterium by antibiotic treatment could be an approach to treat endometriosis for women who are positive for fusobacteria infection, and such women could be easily identified by vaginal swab or uterus swab,” he said.
This study also shows the benefit of looking at upstream events to determine causative agents. The initial finding was that a protein called transgelin (TAGLN) was often upregulated in patients with endometriosis. This was unsurprising because the protein is associated with processes that are important in the development of endometriosis. However, this finding led them to determine that transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) seemed to cause the upregulation of TAGLN. Since TGF-β is released by macrophages, the natural anti-inflammatory response and immune regulation cells of the body, this led them to conclude that these macrophages were being activated in response to Fusobacterium.
“In this study, we demonstrated that the Fusobacterium-TAGLN-endometriosis axis is frequently dysregulated in endometriosis,” said Dr. Kondo. “Our data provide a strong and novel rationale for targeting Fusobacterium as a non-hormonal antibiotic-based treatment for endometriosis.”
Clinical trials of antibiotic treatment for human patients are ongoing at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Nagoya University Hospital.
END
Elimination of type of bacteria suggests treatment for endometriosis
2023-06-14
[Attachments] See images for this press release:
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Newly planted vegetation accelerates dune erosion during extreme storms, research shows
2023-06-14
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Newly planted vegetation on coastal sand dunes can accelerate erosion from extreme waves, a study involving researchers from the Oregon State University College of Engineering suggests.
The authors note the findings run counter to the widely accepted paradigm that vegetation always acts to reduce erosion on dunes, the first line of storm defense for landscapes that are among the world’s most ecologically important and economically valuable.
The experiments involved building beach dune profiles 70 meters long and 4.5 meters high and subjecting ...
Preserving forests to protect deep soil from warming
2023-06-14
A recent study led by scientists at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of Zurich has revealed that the organic compounds proposed for carbon sequestration in deep soil are highly vulnerable to decomposition under global warming.
The finding has implications for a key strategy in carbon management that relies on soil and forests – natural carbon “sinks” – to mitigate global warming.
About 25 percent of global carbon emissions are captured by forests, grasslands, and rangelands. During photosynthesis, plants store carbon in their cell walls and in the soil. Because ...
Treatment creates steel alloys with superior strength and plasticity
2023-06-14
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — A new treatment tested on a high-quality steel alloy produces extraordinary strength and plasticity, two traits that must typically be balanced rather than combined. Ultra-fine metal grains that the treatment produced in the outermost layer of steel appear to stretch, rotate and then elongate under strain, conferring super-plasticity in a way that Purdue University researchers cannot fully explain.
The researchers treated T-91, a modified steel alloy that is used in nuclear and petrochemical ...
TCT 2023 Program Guide now available
2023-06-14
NEW YORK – June 14, 2023 – The Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) has announced the TCT 2023 Program Guide is now available. TCT is the annual scientific symposium of CRF and the world’s premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine. TCT 2023 will take place October 23-26 in San Francisco, California, at the Moscone Center and will celebrate 35 years of leading the field.
Every year, TCT features major medical research breakthroughs and gathers ...
Plate tectonics not required for the emergence of life
2023-06-14
Scientists have taken a journey back in time to unlock the mysteries of Earth’s early history, using tiny mineral crystals called zircons to study plate tectonics billions of years ago. The research sheds light on the conditions that existed in early Earth, revealing a complex interplay between Earth’s crust, core, and the emergence of life.
Plate tectonics allows heat from Earth’s interior to escape to the surface, forming continents and other geological features necessary for life to emerge. Accordingly, “there has been the assumption that plate tectonics is necessary for life,” says John Tarduno, who teaches in the Department ...
Novel research shows older breast cancer survivors experience accelerated aging, worse functional outcomes
2023-06-14
For Immediate Release
Contact
Colleen McDonald
Sr. Consultant, Earned Media - MCW
414.801.3146 | cmcdonald@mcw.edu
Milwaukee, Wis., June 14, 2023 – In a new multi-center study, researchers from the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) joined with leading cancer centers from across the nation to examine whether cancer and its treatments accelerate aging. Using novel epigenetic measures to assess biological aging, investigators found that older breast cancer survivors – particularly those exposed to chemotherapy – showed greater epigenetic aging than their same-aged peers without cancer, which ...
The life below our feet: team discovers microbes thriving in groundwater and producing oxygen in the dark
2023-06-14
WOODS HOLE, Mass. – Nearly a third of Earth’s freshwater resources lie in groundwater – much more than in all lakes, rivers and the atmosphere combined, and exceeded only by the frozen water in polar ice caps. Accordingly, about half of humankind depends on groundwater as a source of drinking water.
Despite the global occurrence and essential importance of groundwater, however, knowledge of the organisms that inhabit it, and how they survive, remains thin.
A recent investigation led by microbial ecologist Emil Ruff of the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) has discovered ...
IEEE Photonics Society in search for Editor-in-Chief
2023-06-14
The IEEE Photonics Society invites applications and nominations for the volunteer position of Editor-in-Chief (EiC) for the IEEE Photonics Journal, delivered through IEEE’s research digital library IEEE Xplore. The term for the current EiC will end this year and the Society is conducting an open search for potential candidates.
“The IEEE Photonics Journal led the way for the IEEE, being the IEEE’s first open access journal. We’re excited to find a candidate who can lead this pioneering journal for the next term, and I encourage all qualified ...
Gemini North detects multiple rock-forming elements in the atmosphere of a scorching exoplanet
2023-06-14
WASP-76b is a strange world. Located 634 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation of Pisces, the Jupiter-like exoplanet orbits its host star at an exceptionally close distance — approximately 12 times closer than Mercury is to the Sun — which heats its atmosphere to a searing 2000°C. Such extreme temperatures have “puffed up” the planet, increasing its volume to nearly six times that of Jupiter.
At such extreme temperatures, mineral- and rock-forming elements, which would otherwise remain hidden in the atmosphere of a colder gas-giant planet, can reveal themselves.
Using ...
Network of channels tried to saturate YouTube with pro-Bolsonaro content during 2022 Brazil election
2023-06-14
Experts have identified coordinated efforts to saturate YouTube’s recommender algorithm, flooding users with pro- Bolsonaro content during the 2022 Brazil election.
Researchers from the University of Exeter and Instituto Vero have uncovered a complex, web-like influencer system of channels that shaped political narratives during this period. This is in addition to YouTube’s own recommender algorithm which also generates suggestions based on users’ viewership patterns.
This network of influencer-driven videos was promoted by mentions, tags, interviews, and cuts (shorter video formats) and heavily contributed ...