Therapeutic reversal of food allergen sensitivity by mature retinoic acid–differentiated dendritic cell induction of LAG3+CD49b−Foxp3− regulatory T cells

As someone who has a food allergy to the most random things, I found this research to be super exciting. Anaphylaxis can be life threatening and there isn't really a cure found yet. Regulatory dendritic cell therapy has been effective in mice with allergic disease and has worked with cells from atopic asthmatic patients. So far, it has been found that DC immunotherapy can be effective in reversing food allergies through the operative mechanism.

More can be read at: http://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(16)30969-1/abstract

Long-Term Administration of Nicotinamide Mononucleotide Mitigates Age-Associated Physiological Decline in Mice

If it were possible to live a much longer life, would you take the opportunity? Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine are working on a way to do this. NAD⁺ availability decreases as a person ages or when they get certain diseases. Nicotinamide mononucleotide or NMN is a NAD⁺ intermediate that can enhance NAD⁺  biosynthesis in mice. When mice were administered NMN over a 12 month period, NAD⁺ was quickly synthesized which reduces age-associated physiological decline. The age-associated gene expression changes in certain organs was also prevented. Instead of the mice just keeping what appears to be a steady age, the mice were actually doing the opposite of aging. This research would have to be tested much further until it was applied to humans but it showed no toxicity in the mice tested. This could be a really good thing for people with life threatening disease but can also be abused.

To read more: http://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/pdf/S1550-4131(16)30495-8.pdf

New Molecular Biology Technique Could Help Identify Virus-Fighting Potential of Existing Drugs

According to a study reported in PLOS Computational Biology, a new molecular biology technique can be used to identify the virus-fighting potential of existing drugs designed to treat other conditions. Researches at Vanderbilt have developed a strategy to identify drugs with the potential to fight other deadly viral infections. Gene-trap insertional mutagenesis is being used to identify genes that allow viruses to take over human cells but are not necessary for cell survival. Next, a computational framework was used to screen existing drugs that effect these genes. There were 110 genes that produce proteins that could serve as targets for existing drugs. Many of these genes were involved in HIV-1 and Ebola. So far, it was found that the anti-arrhythmia drug ajmaline as a potential Ebola treatment. This method still has a lot of research to be done and many trials to go through before it can actually be used but I believe that it is a good start. By using drugs that have known effects, known side effects, and are already approved for treatment for other conditions could be a very big advancement in the medical field. Instead of having to do massive amounts on research for a new treatment and for the treatment to be specifically designed for one virus such as Ebola, it would be a time saver to just use known drugs.

Read more at: http://www.news-medical.net/news/20161003/New-molecular-biology-technique-could-help-identify-virus-fighting-potential-of-existing-drugs.aspx

Newborn Gut Microbiome Predicts Later Allergy and Asthma, Study Finds

Allergy season is here unfortunately but what if the microbes in your gut during the first month of life determine your risk of having allergies or asthma later in life? Researchers at the University of California in San Francisco and the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit have studied this and the results show that certain gut microbes in infants increase the risk of allergies and asthma later in childhood. It was found that a molecule that reduce the abundance of a certain immune cell that prevents allergies were present in at-risk babies. The only other strong links found between allergies and asthma were males were more likely to be affected and having a dog in the household actually lowered the risk of allergies and asthma. Could the microbes in these baby's gut be altered so that they will not have such a high risk of having allergies or asthma later in life?

Read more at: https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2016/09/404071/newborn-gut-microbiome-predicts-later-allergy-and-asthma-study-finds

News from the Primordial World

How the life began on Earth is a question that might not ever be answered during our lifetime for certain. However, there is a new theory being looked at. Instead of assuming RNA was evolved into DNA and proteins, the new theory assumes that RNA and DNA evolved simultaneously.  Researchers at The Scripps Research Institute discovered that there is a significant loss of stability when RNA and DNA share the same backbone which they would have if it was a RNA world. The instability would cause difficulties in the ability to hold information and replicate correctly. There showed to be a loss of function when RNA and DNA were mixed. The researchers have come to the conclusion that RNA in the beginning would have been altered like they are today if RNA nucleobases accidentally join a DNA strand; enzymes will come and fix this mistake. The researchers have assumed that the sophisticated enzymes were probably not around at this time. If DNA and RNA arose at the same time, DNA would have had its own homogeneous system early on. RNA would have still produced DNA but DNA would have had its own raw material first.

To read more: http://www.scripps.edu/newsandviews/e_20161003/krishnamurthy.html