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The kidney cancer drug sorafenib targets a genetic mutation active in about one-third of patients with acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, MD Anderson Cancer Center researchers said. In a study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, an early-stage clinical trial of sorafenib reduced the median percentage of leukemia cells circulating in the blood to 7.5 percent from 81 percent and in the bone marrow to 34 percent from 75.5 percent among AML patients whose leukemia includes a mutation in the FLT3 gene. Two patients had circulating leukemia cells, or blasts, drop to zero. The drug has little effect on cells with normal versions of the gene and does not interfere with normal blood cell formation. Sorafenib, known commercially as Nexavar and co-developed by Bayer AG and Emeryville, California-based Onyx Pharmaceuticals, is already approved for advanced renal cell carcinoma and inoperable liver cancer by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.  

REGENERATIVE MEDICINE: CYTORI TREATS FIRST PATIENTS IN HEART ATTACK STUDY

San Diego-based Cytori Therapeutics enrolled the first two patients in a clinical trial using adipose-derived stem and regenerative cells in the treatment of heart attack. In this trial, patients’ cells are made available using Cytori’s Celution System, a real-time cell processing device. Fat, known medically as adipose tissue, is one of the body’s richest known sources of regenerative cells. Adipose-derived regenerative cells include adult stem cells in addition to other important cell types that have been shown to increase blood flow in and around damaged and oxygen-deprived tissues. As a result, these cells hold potential to revolutionize the treatment of heart disease, which affects millions of patients worldwide each year.

 

OBESITY: PREDISPOSITION FOR BEING FAT MAY BE WIRED IN THE BRAIN
A predisposition for obesity might be wired into the brain from the start, according to researchers at the University of Southern California. In a study published in the journal Cell Metabolism, the researchers found rats selectively bred to be prone to obesity show abnormalities in part of the brain critical for appetite control. Specifically, the researchers show that the obese rats harbor defects in neurons of the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus, which leaves their brains less responsive to the hunger-suppressing hormone leptin. The researchers said the neurodevelopmental differences in these animals can be seen as early as the first week, and that the results show that obesity can be wired into the brain from early life. While their condition might be ameliorated by exercising and eating right, the findings suggest that the propensity to gain weight can’t be reversed. The researchers said it’s possible that treatments delivered during a critical early period of development might be capable of rewiring the brain.

 

ADDICTION: MORPHINE DEPENDENCY BLOCKED BY SINGLE GENETIC CHANGE

Morphine’s serious side effect as a pain killer—its potential to create dependency—has been almost completely eliminated in research with mice by genetically modifying a single trait on the surface of neurons, according to researchers at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center. The scientists at the University of California at San Francisco-affiliated institute believe a drug can be developed to similarly block dependency. The research, published in the journal Current Biology, is the first direct demonstration that a single cellular change can block the body’s tendency to become tolerant of the drug. Morphine remains the pain killer of choice for many types of short-term pain, such as surgery, but it is less useful for the treatment of chronic pain because its effectiveness decreases with continued use in a process called tolerance. The researchers showed that morphine’s unwanted effects were caused by the failure of its receptor to withdraw from the cell surface as receptors do to regulate the body’s natural pain relievers such as endorphins.

 

Researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles’ Jonsson Cancer Center have discovered biomarkers that predict which patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer will respond to a combination treatment of the anti-inflammatory drug Celebrex and the growth factor receptor blocker Tarceva. The findings, published in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, may help oncologists personalize treatment, prescribing drugs they know patients will respond to and sparing them from therapies that won’t work. Both drugs are taken in pill form once a day and result in fewer side effects than conventional treatments such as chemotherapy. If the findings are confirmed in further studies, the personalized drug combination would offer an alternative therapy in a disease population in which new, more effective treatments are needed, the researchers said. This year alone, more than 213,000 Americans will be diagnosed with lung cancer.

MARIJUANA: REGULAR USE LINKED TO RISK OF HEPATITIS C-RELATED LIVER DAMAGE
Patients with chronic hepatitis C (HCV) infection should not use marijuana daily, according to a study published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Researchers at the University of California at San Francisco found that HCV patients who used cannabis daily were at significantly higher risk of moderate to severe liver fibrosis, or tissue scarring. Additionally, patients with moderate to heavy alcohol use combined with regular marijuana use experienced an even greater risk of liver fibrosis. The recommendation to avoid cannabis is especially important in patients who are co-infected with HCV/HIV since the progression of fibrosis is already greater in these patients. Hepatitis is an inflammation of the liver. Hepatitis C is the most common form of hepatitis and infects nearly 4 million people in the U.S., with an estimated 150,000 new cases diagnosed each year.

 

Aliso Viejo, California-based Clarient and Mukilteo, Washington-based CombiMatrix said they established a strategic partnership to market and sell a genomics-based cancer test called HemeScan, a comprehensive test related to the treatment and care of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, or CLL, among other cancers. The HemeScan test was developed by CombiMatrix and validated in collaboration with a team of high-profile academic centers. Clarient is a cancer diagnostic service laboratory and deploys a national sales force with strong relationships with community pathologists and oncologists. The HemeScan test is a comprehensive test enabling prognosis at the time of diagnosis in the treatment and care of CLL patients. The test provides prognostic marker precision with simultaneous diagnostic monitoring of the entire genome in CLL.