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Celebrate Christmas in July with PinkDrive

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Cold Nights, Warm Hearts, Festive Vibes – and Support for Early Detection

Think log fires, festive cheer, a three-course dinner and dancing to a live band – all wrapped up in the joy of giving. On Saturday, 5th July 2025, PinkDrive will host a Christmas in July dinner at the Indaba Hotel in Johannesburg, a night of holiday cheer and hope in action: raising funds for a life-changing cause. And you’re invited.

PinkDrive is a non-profit (NPC) committed to prolonging lives through the early detection of gender-related cancers. It delivers essential health services to thousands of South Africans every year by bringing mobile mammography units directly to communities that need them most, from rural villages to peri-urban areas across the nine provinces. These trucks provide clinical breast exams, mammograms, pap smears, and PSA testing, helping to detect cancer early in areas where healthcare access is often limited or unavailable.

Like many non-profits, PinkDrive depends on the support of corporate partners, sponsors, government, and the public to sustain its vital work, among them, Lee-Chem Laboratories. “This is a cause that is close to our hearts,” says Bhavna Sanker, Marketing Manager at Lee-Chem Laboratories. “Each year, we proudly support PinkDrive through our Mandy’s brand sponsorship, focusing on spreading awareness, sharing survivor stories, and making sure people understand their healthcare options.”

As part of their continued support, every guest at the Christmas in July function will receive a goodie bag from Lee-Chem, filled with products from their Mandy’s brand. “We are truly honoured to have Lee-Chem and the Mandy’s brand as valued sponsors of our Christmas in July Dinner fundraiser,” comments Nelius du Preez, Operations Manager at PinkDrive NPC. “Their continued support, alongside our other generous sponsors, makes events like this possible and helps us not only raise vital funds but also amplify the message of early detection and health education across South Africa.”

The fundraiser will spotlight the resilience of breast cancer survivors, with Deputy Minister of Electricity and Energy, Samantha Graham-Maré, sharing her personal journey with cancer. PinkDrive CEO and Founder, Noelene Kotschan, a passionate advocate for early detection prolonging  lives, will also address guests, and your charming host for the evening? A dashing Mister Global SA finalist will take the mic as MC, steering the evening from heartfelt reflections to lively fundraising with raffles and auctions featuring holiday packages, original artworks, and other exclusive prizes.

“We call the event ‘a night of giving back’ because it is occasions like these that allow us to keep our mobile health units on the road, reaching men and women who might otherwise not have access to screening services,” says du Preez. “Together with compassionate partners like Lee-Chem, we are driving change and prolonging lives, one screening at a time. And we are grateful to every corporate and individual who supports the event by purchasing tickets,” he adds.

All proceeds from the evening will be ringfenced to build and operate a new mobile mammography unit, expanding PinkDrive’s reach to screen more South Africans and detect cancer early, when treatment is most effective. “We encourage the public to join us in this mission by purchasing tickets and supporting the evening’s fundraising efforts,” concludes Sanker.

Tickets for the Christmas in July dinner are R600 per person and available now at pinkdrive.org. Don’t miss this chance to dress up, give back, and help bring hope where it’s needed most.

Categories : Metabolic Disorders NeurologyTags : Leave a comment

Diabetes Drug May Serve as Alternative Treatment Option for Hydrocephalus

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Photo by Anna Shvets

A drug commonly used to treat type 2 diabetes may reduce excess fluid in the brains of patients with hydrocephalus, which could help treat the disease less invasively than current treatments, according to a Northwestern Medicine study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Normal pressure hydrocephalus occurs when excess cerebrospinal fluid builds up inside the skull and puts pressure on the brain. The cause of the condition is elusive and affects up to three percent of individuals over the age of 65, with symptoms including cognitive decline, difficulty walking and bladder problems.  

Patients are typically treated with permanent ventriculoperitoneal shunts, which are surgically implanted in the front or back of the skull and are connected to a valve that diverts excess cerebrospinal fluid away from the brain and into the abdomen where it is absorbed. The procedure has been shown to dramatically improve mobility, bladder control and cognitive functioning in patients with hydrocephalus, according to senior study author Stephen Magill, MD, PhD.

“It’s a great procedure because it’s one of the few things you can do that actually reverses these symptoms,” said Magill, who is assistant professor of Neurological Surgery.

There is, however, no pharmacological treatment currently approved to treat hydrocephalus. Additionally, nearly 20% of patients with normal pressure hydrocephalus also have type 2 diabetes and take sodium/glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors to manage their blood sugar, cardiovascular and kidney function, and weight loss.

Magill recently observed a reduction in the brain ventricle size in a patient with hydrocephalus who had a ventriculoperitoneal shunt surgically implanted and then began taking SGLT2 inhibitors to treat their type 2 diabetes. This phenomenon prompted Magill to further investigate the impact of SGLT2 inhibitors on ventricular size in patients with hydrocephalus.

“The medication inhibits a receptor found in the kidneys, which is where it works for diabetes. However, that receptor is also expressed in the choroid plexus, which is the structure in the brain that secretes the spinal fluid. Although this was known from animal studies, the clinical aspects of this biology have not been fully appreciated,” Magill said.

In the current study, three patients with hydrocephalus underwent CT scans both before and after surgery for ventriculoperitoneal shunts. After surgery, each patient began taking SGLT2 inhibitors for a medical indication and then underwent additional CT scans.

From analyzing these scans, Magill’s team discovered that all three patients showed a reduction in ventricle size as well as structural changes in their brains after starting SGLT2 therapy. One patient demonstrated dramatic ventricle size reduction due to ventricular collapse and required a shunt valve adjustment to reduce cerebrospinal fluid drainage.

“It’s a really interesting clinical observation because it raises the possibility that these medications could be used to treat normal pressure hydrocephalus in the future, which would normally require surgery,” Magill said.

Magill said the findings have sparked a new line of research in studying how SGLT2 inhibitors could help prevent hydrocephalus, adding that his team is now studying SGLT2 knockout mouse models to better understand the drug’s impact on ventricular size.

Their findings could ultimately inform new therapeutic strategies for treating normal pressure hydrocephalus as well as post-traumatic hydrocephalus, or the buildup of cerebrospinal fluid after traumatic brain injury, according to Magill.

“This sparks a new line of research on how normal pressured hydrocephalus develops, what causes it, how this protein works in creating and secreting spinal fluid, and has direct translational implications,” Magill said. “There’s a whole new avenue of potentially treating this disease that might save a patient from having surgery, and there’s always risks with surgery. It will also evolve our understanding of how these drugs work.”

Source: Northwestern Medicine

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New Strategy for the Treatment of Severe Childhood Cancer

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Credit: National Cancer Institute

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Lund University have identified a new treatment strategy for neuroblastoma, an aggressive form of childhood cancer. By combining two antioxidant enzyme inhibitors, they have converted cancer cells in mice into healthy nerve cells. The study is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Neuroblastoma is a type of childhood cancer that affects the nervous system and is the leading cause of cancer-related death in young children. Some patients have a good prognosis, but those with metastatic tumours often cannot be cured despite modern combinations of surgery, radiation, chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

“The children who survive often have lifelong cognitive difficulties due to the harsh treatment, so there is a great need for new forms of therapies for children with neuroblastoma,” says Marie Arsenian Henriksson, professor at the Department of Microbiology, Tumour and Cell Biology at Karolinska Institutet.

Transform cancer cells

Differentiation therapy is a treatment method used in neuroblastoma that aims to transform cancer cells into more mature and healthy cells. The problem with the current retinoic acid differentiation therapy is that many patients do not respond to treatment, and about half develop resistance.

In collaboration with researchers at Lund University, Marie Arsenian Henriksson’s research team has shown that inhibition of two specific enzymes, PRDX6 and GSTP1, could be an alternative to retinoic acid treatment.

Mature into healthy neurons

Neuroblastoma is characterised by high oxidative stress due to the active metabolism in the cancer cells. Tumours are therefore dependent on antioxidant enzymes such as PRDX6 and GSTP1 to manage the stress and avoid cell death. High levels of these enzymes are associated with a poorer prognosis.

“When we inhibit these enzymes in cell cultures as well as in mouse models, some of the tumour cells die while others mature into active, healthy neurons, impairing tumour growth,” says Judit Liaño-Pons, researcher at the Department of Microbiology, Tumour and Cell Biology.

Needs to be tested in children

In the next step, the treatment will need to be tested in a clinical trial to investigate its safety and efficacy in children. One of the inhibitors has received orphan drug designation from the US Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of a different diagnosis in adults, making it a particularly promising drug candidate, according to the scientists.

Source: Karolinska Institutet

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Study Finds that Cognitive Impairment is Common After Cardiogenic Shock

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Pexels Photo by Freestocksorg

Many survivors of cardiogenic shock showed evidence of new cognitive impairment after leaving the hospital, according to a study led by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers. The findings, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, highlight a need to screen survivors and provide referrals to neuropsychology experts, the authors said.

“Our study demonstrated that nearly two-thirds of cardiogenic shock survivors experienced cognitive impairment within three months of hospital discharge, underscoring a critical but overlooked aspect of recovery,” said senior investigator James de Lemos, MD, Professor of Internal Medicine and Chief of the Division of Cardiology at UT Southwestern. “The findings are important for developing interventions that focus not only on improving survival but also on preventing or mitigating the functional consequences of cardiogenic shock, including cognitive decline.”

Cardiogenic shock results from heart failure, heart attack, or complications following cardiac surgery, and is characterised by a sudden drop in heart pumping ability. It results in acute hypoperfusion and hypoxia of the organs and has historically resulted in high mortality.

With advances in treatment during the past two decades, up to 70% of patients suffering from cardiogenic shock can now survive. But there is limited understanding of survivors’ recovery and quality of life after they leave the hospital.

“Our study is the first to systematically examine the cognitive outcomes of cardiogenic shock survivors, evaluating how cognition impacts patients’ ability to return to daily activities,” said Eric Hall, M.D., a clinical fellow in the Division of Cardiology who was the study leader and first author. “We found that cardiogenic shock is associated with cognitive impairment, which is an under-recognized consequence strongly linked to patients’ overall quality of life.”

UTSW researchers conducted the study by enrolling 141 patients who had survived cardiogenic shock before being discharged. To establish a baseline, family members completed a questionnaire, the AD8 survey, about the patients’ cognitive function before hospitalisation.

Before discharge, each patient completed the Montreal Cognitive Assessment-Blind (bMoCA) to screen for signs of cognitive impairment. Three months after discharge, patients repeated the assessments, allowing researchers to track changes in thinking ability and daily functioning over time.

Among patients with no sign of cognitive impairment before admission, 65% were found to have new impairment at discharge, and 53% continued to show impairment at their three-month follow-up. UTSW researchers emphasized that these findings should inform the development of comprehensive survivorship programs including screening protocols to identify impairments patients face and rehabilitation programs to help them recover from those challenges.

“We hope to use this study as a foundation to develop targeted rehabilitation strategies that connect patients with neuropsychology experts and improve long-term recovery in cardiogenic shock survivors,” Dr de Lemos said.

Source: UT Southwestern Medical Center

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No Evidence that Common Medications Trigger Microscopic Colitis in Older Adults

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Study suggests that patients with the condition do not need to stop taking important medications.

Photo by Kampus Production

Microscopic colitis (MC) is a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that severely reduces quality of life. MC is responsible for over 30% of all chronic diarrhoea cases in people over 65 years of age, and its prevalence is rising worldwide. Although little is known about what causes MC, previous studies have suggested that a range of common medications could trigger the condition, including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), blood pressure medications, and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).

However, according to a new large-scale, longitudinal study of older adults in Sweden from Mass General Brigham, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Karolinska Institutet researchers, most of these medications are not associated with increased risk of MC. Results are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

“Our study demonstrated that, contrary to the previous belief, it’s unlikely that medications are the primary triggers for microscopic colitis,” said corresponding author Hamed Khalili, MD MPH, associate director of the Clinical and Translational Epidemiology Unit and director of Clinical Research at the Crohn’s and Colitis Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham health care system. “Clinicians should carefully balance the intended benefits of these medications against the very low likelihood that they cause microscopic colitis.”

To look for associations between medication use and MC diagnosis, the researchers analyzed data for over 2.8 million individuals aged 65 years and older in Sweden. The data included information on prescribed medications, hospitalizations, medical diagnoses, and gastrointestinal biopsy results.

Overall, they found that the risk of developing MC was less than 0.5%. There was no association between NSAIDs, angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE-I) inhibitors, angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARBs), proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), or statins and the risk of developing MC, but individuals prescribed SSRIs had a 0.04% higher risk of developing MC. However, the researchers also showed that individuals prescribed SSRIs were also more likely to receive a colonoscopy, which is necessary to diagnose MC.

“Our analyses suggest that surveillance bias is a likely explanation for earlier findings that implicated medications in the pathogenesis of microscopic colitis and may also explain the continued association with SSRIs,” said senior author Jonas F. Ludvigsson, MD PhD, paediatrician at Örebro University Hospital and Professor at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.

The study did not include data on primary care visits, which could impact the likelihood of colonoscopy, or lifestyle factors such as diet and smoking status.

Source: Mass General Brigham

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Healing Spinal Cord Injuries with the Help of Electricity

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Heals spinal cord injuries with the help of electricity. Researchers have developed an ultra-thin implant that can be placed directly on the spinal cord. The implant delivers a carefully controlled electrical current across the injured area. In a recent study, researchers were able to observe how the electrical field treatment led to improved recovery in rats with spinal cord injuries, and that the animals regained movement and sensation. Please note that the image shows a newer model of the implant used in the study. Photo and illustration: University of Auckland

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and the University of Auckland in New Zealand have developed a groundbreaking bioelectric implant that restores movement in rats after injuries to the spinal cord.

This breakthrough, published in Nature Communications, offers new hope for an effective treatment for humans suffering from loss of sensation and function due to spinal cord injury.

Electricity stimulated nerve fibres to reconnect

Before birth, and to a lesser extent afterwards, naturally occurring electric fields play a vital role in early nervous system development, encouraging and guiding the growth of nerve fibres along the spinal cord. Scientists are now harnessing this same electrical guidance system in the lab.

“We developed an ultra-thin implant designed to sit directly on the spinal cord, precisely positioned over the injury site in rats,” says Bruce Harland, senior research fellow, University of Auckland, and one of the lead researchers of the study.

The device delivers a carefully controlled electrical current across the injury site.

“The aim is to stimulate healing so people can recover functions lost through spinal cord injury,” says Professor Darren Svirskis, University of Auckland, Maria Asplund, Professor of bioelectronics at Chalmers University of Technology.

She is, together with Darren Svirskis, University of Auckland,

In the study, researchers observed how electrical field treatment improved the recovery of locomotion and sensation in rats with spinal cord injury. The findings offer renewed hope for individuals experiencing loss of function and sensation due to spinal cord injuries.

“Long-term, the goal is to transform this technology into a medical device that could benefit people living with life-changing spinal-cord injuries,” says Maria Asplund.

The study presents the first use of a thin implant that delivers stimulation in direct contact with the spinal cord, marking a groundbreaking advancement in the precision of spinal cord stimulation.

“This study offers an exciting proof of concept showing that electric field treatment can support recovery after spinal cord injury,” says doctoral student Lukas Matter, Chalmers University of Technology, the other lead researcher alongside Harland.

Improved mobility after four weeks

Unlike humans, rats have a greater capacity for spontaneous recovery after spinal cord injury, which allowed researchers to compare natural healing with healing supported by electrical stimulation.

After four weeks, animals that received daily electric field treatment showed improved movement compared with those who did not. Throughout the 12-week study, they responded more quickly to gentle touch.

“This indicates that the treatment supported recovery of both movement and sensation,” Harland says.

“Just as importantly, our analysis confirmed that the treatment did not cause inflammation or other damage to the spinal cord, demonstrating that it was not only effective but also safe,” Svirskis says.

The next step is to explore how different doses, including the strength, frequency, and duration of the treatment, affect recovery, to discover the most effective recipe for spinal-cord repair.

Source: Chalmers University of Technology

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Post-glucose Load Blood Glucose Linked to Increased Life Expectancy

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Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

It is well known that preventing the onset of diabetes reduces the risk of death, and that managing blood glucose levels is key to preventing diabetes. However, it remains unclear whether there are specific ranges within “normal” blood glucose levels that are associated with even lower mortality risks.

A small farming community in the Tohoku Region has possibly provided researchers with further insights.

For over 40 years, the Ohasama Study, named after a town in Iwate Prefecture, has tracked the long-term health of Ohasama’s local population. Since 1986, the study has collected health and medical data through regular checkups and tests.

As part of the study, participants have undergone a glucose tolerance test every four years. This test, which is commonly used to diagnose diabetes, measures blood glucose levels before and 120 minutes after drinking a glucose-containing beverage.

Now, a research team has analysed the glucose tolerance test data from the Ohasama Study, publishing their findings in the journal PNAS Nexus. Junta Imai and Hideki Katagiri from Tohoku University led the study.

“We first examined the relationship between mortality and various health test results, including but not limited to glucose tolerance tests, for 993 individuals,” explains Imai. “Even after adjusting for known risk factors such as age, obesity, and smoking, the one-hour post-glucose load blood glucose level showed a strong correlation with mortality.”

Participants were then divided into two groups based on the median one-hour post-glucose load blood glucose level of 162mg/dL. The survival analysis showed significantly better outcomes in the lower-glucose group.

Since some participants had already developed diabetes, the researchers narrowed their focus to 595 individuals with normal glucose tolerance. They analysed which glucose threshold had the strongest correlation with mortality and found that 170mg/dL was the most predictive.

Using this threshold, Imai and his colleagues conducted a survival analysis, comparing those with post-glucose load blood glucose levels below and above 170mg/dL. After 20 years, nearly 80% of the under-170mg/dL group were still alive, while almost 50% of the over-170mg/dL group had died – a statistically significant result.

Further analysis of cause-of-death data revealed that individuals with one-hour post-glucose load blood glucose levels under 170mg/dL had significantly fewer deaths due to heart disease caused by atherosclerosis (p < 0.0001) and malignant tumours (p < 0.0014) compared to those with higher levels.

“These findings demonstrate that even within the range considered ‘normal,’ there is a subset of blood glucose levels associated with a lower risk of death,” adds Imai. “Besides taking measures to prevent diabetes, greater efforts towards managing blood glucose spikes shortly after eating could help prevent heart disease and cancer, ultimately leading to longer, healthier lives.”

Source: Tohoku University

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Handheld TB Test for Low-cost Diagnosis in HIV Hotspots

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A new handheld tuberculosis testing device by Tulane University is the size of a credit card, requires no electricity and significantly improves detection of the disease in those with HIV. (Vincent Postle/Tulane University)

Current tuberculosis infection tests struggle to detect the disease in those with HIV. A common co-infection, HIV can hide TB from traditional tests by eliminating the immune cells relied upon to sound the alarm.

While more than 90% of the 2 billion TB cases worldwide are latent – symptom-free and not contagious – the weakening of the immune system in those with HIV can allow latent TB to turn active, increasing the potential for new infections to spread and often resulting in fatal outcomes. Tuberculosis is the leading cause of death among those with HIV worldwide.

Now, Tulane University researchers have developed a new handheld TB test that significantly improves detection in people with HIV, according to a new study in Nature Biomedical Engineering. Powered by a beetle-inspired chemical reaction, the device requires no electricity and addresses a critical gap in TB infection detection that has long hobbled efforts to eliminate the world’s deadliest infectious disease. 

“The goal was to develop a TB test that could be taken anywhere and provide quicker, more accurate results for anybody.”

Tony Hu, PhD

Dubbed the ASTRA (Antigen-Specific T-cell Response Assay), the credit card-sized device requires only a drop of blood to provide same day diagnoses without need for a laboratory or trained staff. When tested against the traditional IGRA blood test (Interferon-Gamma Release Assay), the ASTRA detected TB in HIV-infected individuals with 87% specificity compared to IGRA’s 60%, while also outperforming in detection of TB without HIV co-infection. 

“The goal was to develop a TB test that could be taken anywhere and provide quicker, more accurate results for anybody,” said senior author Tony Hu, PhD, Chair in Biotechnology Innovation at Tulane University and director of the Tulane Center for Cellular & Molecular Diagnostics. “Current tests such as the IGRA are cost-prohibitive or require access to facilities that resource-limited communities don’t have. If we are going to eliminate TB, we have to diagnose and treat as many infection cases as possible.”

Added Bo Ning, lead author and assistant professor of biochemistry at Tulane University School of Medicine: “If your community has an immunocompromised population, someone may have latent TB.  This can help block the spread of TB and ensure that no one slips through the cracks.” 

To create a test that would not be stymied by HIV, the researchers identified two new biomarkers that could detect TB without relying on the immune cells susceptible to the virus. 

After adding a drop of blood to the device, it must incubate for 4 hours to allow a preloaded reagent to stimulate a response from the immune cells. The reagent acts as a “wanted poster” asking if they’ve seen tuberculosis bacteria before. 

To avoid the use of electricity, the researchers looked to an unlikely source for inspiration: the bombardier beetle. When threatened, these large insects combine two chemicals, and the resulting reaction produces a forceful spray. Similarly, two chemicals in the ASTRA are combined to propel the sample across a chip for final analysis and diagnosis. 

The new device delivers results in about 4 hours, compared to the IGRA, which takes 24 hours, and a common TB skin test, which can take between two and three days for a diagnosis. 

The ASTRA’s performance was validated using samples collected from a cohort in Eswatini, a country with high TB incidence and the highest reported HIV prevalence (27.3%) worldwide.

Increasing testing accuracy, access and speed is even more vital as TB resistance to drugs grows more robust, Hu said. 

“The sooner you have a diagnosis, the sooner you can begin the process of determining proper treatment,” Hu said. “TB is the No. 1 pathogen HIV patients worry about globally. If treatment is available, we should be working to kill these bacteria, latent or not.”

Source: Tulane University

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RSV Vaccine Reduces the Risk of Dementia, New Research Shows

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Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

A new study by the University of Oxford, published in the journal npj Vaccines, shows that a vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is associated with a 29% reduction in dementia risk in the following 18 months. The findings suggest a novel explanation for how vaccines produce this effect.

Recent studies have shown convincingly that vaccines against shingles (Herpes zoster) reduce the risk of dementia. The shingles vaccine now in widespread use (Shingrix) has more of an effect than the previous one (Zostavax). A key difference between these vaccines is that Shingrix contains an ‘adjuvant’, an ingredient designed to enhance the vaccine’s effect. It is therefore possible that the adjuvant contributes to Shingrix’ greater effect than Zostavax on reducing dementia.

The new study, supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre (OH BRC), supports this possibility. Researchers analysed the health records of over 430 000 people in the USA in the TriNetX network. They found that the Arexvy vaccine – which protects against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common virus that causes cold-like symptoms – was also linked to a significantly lower risk of developing dementia. Arexvy, now offered to adults over 60, contains the same adjuvant as Shingrix. Both vaccines were similarly effective in reducing dementia risk compared to the flu vaccine (which does not contain the adjuvant); in the 18 months following receipt of Arexvy there was a 29% reduction in diagnoses of dementia. These findings held true across a range of additional analyses and were similar in men and women.

It is not clear how the adjuvant, called AS01, might help lower the risk of dementia. However, laboratory studies show that AS01 stimulates cells of the immune system that could help protect the brain from some of the harmful processes underlying dementia. These benefits of the adjuvant in reducing dementia risk could be in addition to the protection that comes from preventing infections like shingles and RSV themselves.

It is not yet known whether these vaccines prevent dementia or, more likely, delay its onset. Either way, the effect is significant, especially given that no other treatments are known that delay or prevent the condition.

The likely beneficial effect on dementia risk is in addition to the vaccines’ proven ability to prevent shingles and RSV, both of which are unpleasant and sometimes serious illnesses.

Lead author, Associate Professor Maxime Taquet, NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, said: “Our findings show that vaccines against two separate viruses, shingles and RSV, both lead to reductions in dementia. This gives another reason to have the vaccines, in addition to their effectiveness at preventing these serious illnesses.’

Senior author, Professor Paul Harrison, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford and Co-Lead for the Molecular Targets theme in OH BRC, said: ‘The findings are striking. We need studies to confirm whether the adjuvant present in some vaccines contributes to the reduced dementia risk, and to understand how it does so.’

Source: Oxford University

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New Clues Towards the Treatment of Myeloproliferative Neoplasms

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Scanning electron micrograph of red blood cells, T cells (orange) and platelets (green). Source: Wikimedia CC0

Northwestern Medicine scientists have uncovered key details about a group of rare but serious blood disorders, which may help inform potential treatments, according to a study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.  

Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are rare blood cancers characterised by the abnormal growth of blood cells. They have long been linked to a key signalling pathway called JAK2/STAT, but the specific details of how they develop have remained unclear. 

“These diseases are often driven by abnormal activation of a protein called JAK2,” said Peng Ji, MD, PhD, ‘15 GME, Professor of Pathology and senior author of the study. “In earlier research, we discovered that another protein, PLEK2, acts downstream of JAK2 and plays a critical role in mediating JAK2’s effects, helping to drive the progression of MPNs.” 

In the current study, Ji and his collaborators aimed to better understand the proteins that work alongside PLEK2, also known as the PLEK2 “signalosome.” 

By analysing protein expression in cultured human blood stem cells, the investigators identified a new contributor, PPIL2, that appears to help cancer cells grow by disabling the tumour suppressor protein p53. 

Under normal conditions, p53 works as a tumour suppressor protein that prevents excessive cell growth. PPIL2 effectively marks p53 for degradation, weakening its ability to control cell growth and allowing the disease to advance, according to the findings. 

Investigators found that blocking PPIL2 using cyclosporin A, an immunosuppressant drug commonly used for organ transplant patients, led to an increase in p53 levels, restoring its ability to regulate cell growth. In experiments using MPN models — including mice with a mutated JAK2 gene and lab-grown human bone marrow — cyclosporin A significantly reduced the abnormal proliferation of blood cells, according to the findings. 

“Even better results were seen when cyclosporin A was combined with another type of drug that also boosts p53,” said Ji. “This shows that targeting PPIL2 might be a powerful new way to treat MPNs using drugs that are already available.” 

While more research is needed to fully understand how cyclosporin A works in MPN patients, this study highlights a promising new target for treatment, Ji said.  

Now, Ji and his laboratory are planning to work on developing drugs that more specifically block PPIL2, since cyclosporin A affects many proteins and can have unwanted effects.  

“Clinical studies will be needed to test whether this approach works in people, possibly starting by looking at how MPN patients respond to cyclosporin A if they’ve already been treated with it,” Ji said.  

Source: Northwestern University