Molecule could prevent prediabetes

Levels of CoQ and the presence of insulin resistance were analysed in a range of experimental laboratory settings, mouse models and samples from humans, as part of an ambitious research collaboration conducted with the University of Sydney, Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Duke University School of Medicine, Garvan Institute of Medical Research, Genentech Inc. and the University of New South Wales.

Concentrations of CoQ were found to be lower in insulin resistant body fat and muscle tissue. When the researchers replenished CoQ, insulin resistance or pre-diabetes was reversed. Co-author Dr Daniel Fazakerley from the University of Sydney's School of Life and Environmental Science and Charles Perkins Centre said CoQ provides a vital role in converting nutrients like fat and sugar into usable energy.

CoQ is found in mitochondria, the power plants in the cells of human body, where it is required for the flow of electricity to the cell's 'motor' which is responsible for energy production. Energy production can also generate reactive chemical species-often referred to as 'reactive oxygen species' or 'oxidants' as by-products, which can be damaging to cells. Previous studies have shown that these oxidants can cause insulin resistance. Our study has found that lower mitochondrial CoQ enhanced oxidant formation by mitochondria.

Replenishing CoQ in mitochondria, either in cells or in animals, we were able to restore 'normal' mitochondrial oxidants and reverse insulin resistance. Eating a high fat, high sugar diet has long been known to be a major risk factor for obesity and pre-diabetes. Replenishing CoQ could prove an invaluable preventive measure for insulin resistance- or pre-diabetes-linked diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancers and dementia.

However, oral CoQ supplements may not effectively restore mitochondrial CoQ due to its low absorption. The research has provided an impetus to find alternate means of increasing CoQ in mitochondria to treat insulin resistance and pre-diabetes. If not an external supplement, perhaps we can stimulate the body to form more of the coenzyme itself.
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How immune system's organ regenerates

A molecule called BMP4 that plays a key role in the thymus's extraordinary natural ability to recover from damage. Dr. Jarrod Dudakov of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, one of the study's leaders, talks about the importance of the thymus, the discoveries he and his colleagues have made about how it regenerates. The researchers hope to translate their work into new therapies to improve the function of the immune system in old age and make immunotherapies more effective.

The thymus is like a boot camp for new recruits to the immune system. From their birthplace in the bone marrow, immature white blood cells go to the thymus to mature into disease-killing machines. A healthy, active thymus gets you a diverse set of different T cells, each equipped to recognize and kill a slightly different foreign target. Thus, the organ is critical for a strong immune system that's ready to prevent any threat.

The thymus is sensitive to damage from everything from infections to life stress, it is also naturally resilient. Its power to bounce back from injury, however, fades with age, and it can take a serious hit from certain aggressive cancer therapies. BMP4, the molecule identified in the team's new study, is only the second known driver of natural thymic regeneration.

 The researchers found that BMP4 is produced by certain cells lining the inside of the organ. That molecule signals other cells of the thymus to turn on genes that promote development and repair.
Now, the team is working to figure out whether there's a master trigger that activates the whole regeneration process and then translate that knowledge into new therapies that help patients.
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Aging impairs immune response to flu

Aging impairs the immune system's response to the flu virus in multiple ways, weakening resistance in older adults, researchers examined the innate immune response to the flu virus. They collected blood samples from healthy young adults and older adults.

They isolated monocytes, a type of white blood cell, from the samples and stimulated the monocytes with either flu virus or a mimic of the virus. The immune response in cells from older adults was severely impaired in critical ways, the researchers found.

To fight the flu virus, the body needs to activate potent antiviral proteins called interferons. But in older adults, this response is weakened by age-related damage to a molecule, TRAF3, that signals immune cells to make interferon. Without that signal, and another involving antiviral genes, resistance to flu falls short.
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Molecules in zebrafish may heal spinal cord injury

Researchers have discovered mechanism in the damaged spines of zebrafish that helps nerve connections to regrow. Zebrafish have the remarkable ability to regain full movement within four weeks of injury to their spinal cord.

Damage to human spinal cord leads to paralysis. After injury to the spinal cord in zebrafish, wound-healing cells called 'fibroblasts' move into the site of damage.

The fibroblasts produce a molecule called collagen 12, which changes the structure of the support matrix that surrounds nerve fibres.

This enables the damaged fibres to grow back across the wound site and restore the lost connections.
Scientists found that fibroblasts are instructed to make collagen 12 by a chemical signal called 'wnt'.

Understanding these signals could hold clues for therapies to heal the spinal cord after injury. This connections between the brain and muscles of the body lost after spinal cord injury in humans can be used to provide better treatment
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New method of using T-cell therapy to treat cancer

Scientists have empowered immune cells with a new surface molecule that makes the cells to respond aggressively when they encounter a protein that tumors use to camouflage themselves from the immune system.

Cancer develop from the body's own cells, this make it difficult for the immune system to differentiate between good cells cancer cells.

 Adoptive T-cell therapy is the removing of immune cells from the body and genetically strengthen them. The cells are given new structures on the surface that accurately lead them to the cancer cells.

The binding  activates the T-cell's killer program, making it strong enough to destroyed more tumor cells.



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