Tobacco use makes precancerous cells that fertilize cancer growth: Study

Agencies
April 3, 2019

Apr 3: A recent study has found that tobacco consumption leads to the formation of precancerous cells that fertilize cancer growth. There have been a lot of studies dedicated to cancer-related topics, exactly how this precancerous field influences cancer has been often overlooked. As part of the study, the researchers wanted to understand how these precancerous cells may impact neighboring cancer.

The study explores this communication between precancerous and cancer cells in the context of an enzyme called PI3K. The enzyme PI3K is activated in many or even most cancers, with some researchers considering PI3K over-activation an essential feature driving the disease. Attractively, PI3K is a “kinase” and the class of drugs known as kinase inhibitors has proven effective against a host of cancer types. Kinase inhibitors have been developed against PI3K as well, and by and large they do a lovely job of killing cancer cells in dishes.

The ongoing question has been why PI3K inhibitors do not necessarily work in patients – what are cancer cells doing to resist this therapy that should kill them? The current study offers an intriguing hint: “These cancer cell lines in culture are sensitive to PI3K inhibition, but when you put them next to precancerous cells, they become resistant,” Young says. “These cancer cell lines in culture are sensitive to PI3K inhibition, but when you put them next to precancerous cells, they become resistant,” said Christian Young, senior author of the study discussed in AACR Annual Meeting 2019.

To explore this observation, the team of researchers including first author Khoa Nguyen, grew head and neck cancer cells in the same dish as precancerous cells (called NOK cells), and then hit the cells, alone and together, with PI3K inhibitors. Cancer cells grown with NOK cells grew faster and resisted PI3K inhibition compared with cancer cells grown alone. When the researchers grew NOK cells alone, then removed the cells, and “fertilized” cancer cells with the culture medium in which NOK cells had grown, they saw similar cancer cell growth and PI3K inhibitor resistance. Additionally, the NOK cells were stimulating cancer stem cell-like features in the recipient cancer cells. This means that in addition to resisting PI3K therapy, cancer cells that sit alongside precancerous cells may themselves become more dangerous, for example, more able to restart the disease.

“What this means is that some properties of cancer cells may not necessarily be intrinsic. In our study, cancer cells were given some of their cancer-like and stem cell-like properties by nearby, precancerous cells,” Young says. Continuing the line of study, Young and his team asked what these precancerous cells were giving to head and neck cancer cells that allowed them to resist PI3K therapy and gain cancer stem cell-like traits. What they found is a dramatic increase in EGFR ligands – think of PI3K like an engine driving cancer growth. EGFR is another engine that can work alongside PI3K. In this analogy, EGFR ligands are like fuel, allowing cancer cells, in the absence of PI3K, to power their growth and survival through the engine of EGFR instead.”It was the precancerous cells that were providing this fuel,” Young says.

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Agencies
June 27,2020

After admitting that the world may have a COVID-19 vaccine within one year or even a few months earlier, the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Friday said that UK-based AstraZeneca is leading the vaccine race while US-based pharmaceutical major Moderna is not far behind.

WHO Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan stated that the AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine candidate is the most advanced vaccine currently in terms of development.

"I think AstraZeneca certainly has a more global scope at the moment in terms of where they are doing and planning their vaccine trials," she told the media.

AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine candidate developed by researchers from the Oxford University will likely provide protection against the disease for one year, the British drug maker's CEO told Belgian radio station Bel RTL this month.

The Oxford University last month announced the start of a Phase II/III UK trial of the vaccine, named AZD1222 (formerly known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19), in about 10,000 adult volunteers. Other late-stage trials are due to begin in a number of countries.

Last week, Swaminathan had said that nearly 2 billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine would be ready by the end of next year.

Addressing the media from Geneva, she said that "at the moment, we do not have a proven vaccine but if we are lucky, there will be one or two successful candidates before the end of this year" and 2 billion doses by the end of next year.

Scientists predict that the world may have a COVID-19 vaccine within one year or even a few months earlier, said the Director-General of the World Health Organization even as he underlined the importance of global cooperation to develop, manufacture and distribute the vaccines.

However, making the vaccine available and distributing it to all will be a challenge and will require political will, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Thursday during a meeting with the European Parliament's Committee for Environment, Public Health and Food Safety.

One option would be to give the vaccine only to those who are most vulnerable to the virus.

There are currently over 100 COVID-19 vaccine candidates in various stages of development.

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Agencies
March 25,2020

The practice of washing your hands for 20 seconds is one of the best preventive measures you can take to avoid the spread of any virus including coronavirus as recommended by the WHO.

The modern day concept of handwashing was introduced by Hungaraian doctor Ignaz Semmelweis, in 19-th century Vienna. Semmelweis proposed the practice of washing hands with chlorinated lime solutions in 1847 while working in the city's general hospital.

Decades later, in the modern times too the practise has not lost it's relevance. To connect with savvy consumers the message is being sent through social media? But social media can also be a dark place where misinformation is rampant; consumers can end up being misguided and compromised on sensitive issues like health and hygiene.

Dettol, recently kickstarted its #HandWashChallenge on TikTok aiming to raise awareness on four simple steps of handwashing. Strategically aimed at creating awareness among audience, a unique song has been created pairing it extremely well with the hashtag #HandWashChallenge. The hashtag filter has a branded Dettol strip across the top with the hashtag and names the steps involved in washing hands. The user can dance out the steps to the challenge and share it with their friends to further amplify the message on hygiene and safety.

Commenting on the same, Pankaj Duhan, Chief Marketing Officer, RB Health South Asia said, "We are elated with the response to the #HandWashChallenge, it has definitely become one of the most successfully led initiatives by any of our brands at RB. Understanding the consumer's mindset is of the utmost importance to us, therefore our campaign communication is built in a way that creates meaningful conversations to drive awareness amongst consumers. The participation by TikTok users across India has helped deliver the right message in a more engaging and interactive manner.

"I personally would like to encourage more and more people to join this global health & hygiene educational exercise. Together, let us all build a healthier nation, four steps at a time."

He further said, "Over the past couple of weeks we have witnessed a lot of misinformation floating around hygiene practices, especially over the internet. Realizing the gravity of the issue and being the responsible brand, we felt it was our prerogative to initiate this awareness campaign."

The campaign witnessed several quirky activities on each day leading to increased consumer interest. Joining the force were some of Bollywood's popular celebrities like Kartik Aaryan and Urvashi Rautela among several other TikTok influencers who have millions of followers on the platform. As part of Phase II, Dettol plans to take the challenge global by encouraging more users to participate while the audience worldwide.

The challenge has witnessed over 18 Billion views and generated over 123K user participation videos in one week of starting the campaign.

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News Network
March 5,2020

Bergen, Mar 5: Divorce of parents may impact the academics of children negatively, suggests a new study.

According to the study, parental divorce is associated with a lower grade point average (GPA) among adolescents, with a stronger association seen in teens with more educated mothers.

The study was published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Children and adolescents with divorced or separated parents are known to do less well in school than adolescents with nondivorced parents and to be less well-adjusted, on average, across a spectrum of physical and mental health outcomes.

In the new study, researchers used data from the youth@hordaland study, a population-based survey of adolescents aged 16-19 conducted in the spring of 2012 in Hordaland County, Norway.

19,439 adolescents were invited to participate and 10,257 agreed; of those, 9,166 are included in the current study.

Overall, adolescents with divorced parents had a 0.3 point lower GPA (standard error 0.022, p<0.01) than their peers.

Controlling for parental education reduced the effect by 0.06 points to 0.240 (SE 0.021, p<0.01). This heterogeneity was predominantly driven by maternal education levels, the researchers found.

After controlling for paternal education and income measures, divorce was associated with a 0.120 point decrease in GPA among adolescents whose mothers had a secondary school education level; a 0.175 point decrease when mothers had a Bachelor's level education; and a 0.209 point decrease when mothers had a Master's or PhD level education (all estimates relative to adolescents with a mother who had a basic level of education, such as ISCED 0-2).

Due to the cross-sectional structure of the study, researchers could not investigate specific changes between pre- and post-divorce family life, and future studies are needed to investigate potential mechanisms (such as reduced parental monitoring or school-involvement) which might drive this finding.

Nonetheless, this study provides new evidence that the negative association between divorce and teens' GPA is especially strong in families with more educated mothers.

"Among Norwegian adolescents, parental divorce was hardly associated with GPA among youth whose parents have low educational qualifications. In contrast, among adolescents with educated or highly educated mothers, divorce was significantly associated with lower GPA," said the authors.

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