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New cannabis-like drugs are better pain killers
London: A new type of drug could alleviate pain in a similar way to cannabis without affecting the brain, according to a new study published in the journal Pain.
The research demonstrates for the first time that cannabinoid receptors called CB2, which can be activated by cannabis use, are present in human sensory nerves in the peripheral nervous system, but are not present in a normal human brain.
Drugs which activate the CB2 receptors are able to block pain by stopping pain signals being transmitted in human sensory nerves, according to the study, led by researchers from Imperial College London.
Previous studies have mainly focused on the other receptor activated by cannabis use, known as CB1, which was believed to be the primary receptor involved in pain relief. However, as CB1 receptors are found in the brain, taking drugs which activate these receptors can lead to side-effects, such as drowsiness, dependence and psychosis, and also
recreational abuse.
The new research indicates that drugs targeting CB2 receptors offer a new way of treating pain in clinical conditions where there are currently few effective or safe treatments, such as chronic pain caused by osteoarthritis and pain from nerve damage. It could also provide an alternative treatment for acute pain, such as that experienced following surgical operations.
The new study showed that CB2 receptors work to block pain with a mechanism similar to the one which opiate receptors use when activated by the powerful painkilling drug morphine. They hope that drugs which target CB2 might provide an alternative to morphine, which can have serious side effects such as dependency, nausea and vomiting.
Praveen Anand, Professor of Clinical Neurology and Principal Investigator of the study from the Division of Neurosciences and Mental Health at Imperial College London, said: “Although cannabis is probably best known as an illegal recreational drug, people have used it for medicinal purposes for centuries. Queen Victoria used it in tea to help with her period pains, and people with a variety of conditions say that it helps alleviate their symptoms.
“Our new study is very promising because it suggests that we could alleviate pain by targeting the cannabinoid receptor CB2 without causing the kinds of side-effects we associate with people using cannabis itself.”
The researchers reached their conclusions after studying human sensory nerve cells in culture with CB2 receptor compounds provided by GlaxoSmithKline, and also injured nerves from patients with chronic
pain.
The researchers are now planning to conduct clinical trials of drugs which target CB2 in patients with chronic pain at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, which has integrated with Imperial College London to form the UK’s first Academic Health Science Centre.
Background information
1.”Cannabanoid receptor CB2 localisation and agonist-mediated
inhibition of capsaicin responses in human sensory neurons,” Pain, published in print 15 September 2008
Corresponding author: Praveen Anand, Imperial College London (for full list of authors please see paper)
You can download a copy of this paper using this link:
https://fileexchange.imperial.ac.uk/files/d99f49dd0d0/CB2%20Pain%20paper
.pdf
2. Imperial College London – rated the world’s fifth best
university in the 2007 Times Higher Education Supplement University Rankings – is a science-based institution with a reputation for excellence in teaching and research that attracts 12,000 students and 6,000 staff of the highest international quality. Innovative research at the College explores the interface between science, medicine, engineering and business, delivering practical solutions that improve quality of life and the environment – underpinned by a dynamic enterprise culture. Website: www.imperial.ac.uk
Vitamin D fights type 2 diabetes
Helskinki: Scientists have discovered that higher levels of vitamin D may offer protection against tyep 2, adult onset diabetes.
Several thousand people, aged 40 to 74, were monitored over a 22-year-period, during which time 412 developed the disease.
Results showed that those with higher levels of vitamin D had the lower risk of diabetes. In particular, men with the highest blood level of the vitamin were 72 per cent less likely to develop the disease.
It is thought that low levels of vitamin D affect the body’s ability to produce insulin.
Vitamin D is produced naturally in the body by sunlight and it is also found in certain foods such as oily fish.
Diabetes is a growing problem, particularly in ageing adults and those who are overweight, particularly with high levels of belly fat are most at risk.
Gene therapy may offer cure for deafness
London: Research published this week in the journal Nature gives millions of deaf and hard of hearing people new hope of new gene or drug treatments for deafness and has been welcomed as a significant breakthrough by the country’s only medical research charity for deaf people, Deafness Research UK.
Deafness Research UK Research Advisory Panel member, Professor Guy Richardson, praised the work as “a technical tour de force, and very convincing proof of the principle that gene therapy could, at least in certain cases, be used to cure deafness”.
There are nine million deaf and hard of hearing people in the UK and in most cases deafness results from loss of sensory cells in the inner ear known as “hair” cells. The cells can be damaged and lost through ageing, noise, genetic defects and certain drugs and, because the cells don’t regenerate, the result is progressive – and irreversible – hearing loss. Damage to these cells can also lead to tinnitus which affects around 5 million people in the UK.
The latest research, by a team at the Oregon Health & Science University, shows that a key gene known as Atoh1 (also known as Math1) can not only cause cells to develop into hair cells but that these cells function like normal hair cells.
Vivienne Michael, Chief Executive of Deafness Research UK said: “This is an important and exciting step along the road towards an effective medical treatment for deafness. Deafness Research UK has a long history of supporting research into the repair and regeneration of the sensory cells in the inner ear, including work on the Atoh1 gene and on the use of stem cells to restore hearing. We will continue to work towards getting a cure for unwanted deafness into the clinic.”
John Brigande, Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology at the Oregon Hearing Research Center in the OHSU School of Medicine said “Our work shows that it is possible to produce functional auditory hair cells in the mammalian cochlea.”
Brigande and colleagues were able to produce hair cells by transferring a key gene called Atoh1 (also known as Math-1) into ‘progenitor’ cells in the inner ear of developing mice. This type of cell becomes specialised to perform different functions during development, according to the instructions they receive from genes. The gene Atoh1 is known to turn progenitor cells into hair cells, but it was not previously known whether the hair cells would work normally if Atoh1 was introduced artificially.
To find out, the team inserted Atoh1 into progenitor cells along with a fluorescent protein molecule that is often used in research as a marker, to make cells easily visible. They were then able to see that the gene transfer technique resulted in mice being born with more hair cells in the cochlea than are normally found.
Crucially, Dr. Anthony Ricci, Associate Professor of Otolaryngology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, demonstrated that the gene-treated hair cells function like ordinary hair cells.
Stem cells are a type of progenitor and so can be instructed by genes to become a specific cell-type. One obstacle in the way of stem cell research has been ethical objection to the use of embryonic stem cells. However, researchers at Sheffield University supported by Deafness Research UK are currently working on extracting stem cells from the bone marrow and blood that are found in the umbilical cord, with the aim of turning them into hair cells that could be inserted into the cochlea. The umbilical cells are in rich supply and avoid the ethical issues surrounding the embryonic cells.
About Deafness Research UK
” Deafness Research UK is the country’s only charity dedicated to finding new cures, treatments and technologies for deaf, hard of hearing and other hearing impaired people.
” The charity supports high quality medical research into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of all forms of hearing impairment including tinnitus.
” The Deafness Research UK Information Service provides free information and advice based on the latest scientific evidence and informed by leading experts. The Information Service can be contacted on Freephone 0808 808 2222
” For more information on research into deafness, tinnitus and other hearing conditions, log on to the website at www.deafnessresearch.org.ukwhere you can access a wide range of information. Alternatively you can e-mail Deafness Research UK at info@deafnessresearch.org.uk
” One in seven people in the UK – almost nine million people – suffer hearing loss.
” Deafness Research UK was founded in 1985 by Lord (Jack) and Lady Ashley of Stoke.
” In January 2008, Action for Tinnitus Research (ATR) was linked with
Deafness Research UK under a uniting direction order under Section 96 (6) of the Charities Act 1993.
Can human lifespan be extended by 45%?
Madrid: The human lifespan could be extended by up to 45 per cent if tests on mice can be replicated in people.
As well as a longer life the dicovery could also mean one where people suffer less serious diseases.
Scientists have made a genetic breakthrough which they claim could extend human life and and left them free from tumours.
The researchers, at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), carried out an experiment in which they inserted three genes, known for their longevity benefits into the stem cells of mice.
The extra copies of the genes – telomerase, P53 and p16, improves the body’s function and immunity to disease, including cell mutation which occurs more frequently in ageing adults.
The technique is a new breakthrough because the scientists managed to extra copies of both p53 and p16 into the mice, which has never been achieved before. It is also the first time that scientists have been able to extend the life of mice in this way while protecting them against cancer.
The modified mice were allowed to breed to strengthen their new DNA pattern, which created a group of supermice with longer lifespans and in-built cancer protection.
It is thought the researchers managed to create mice which lived to around four-and-a-half years. Normally, they live for an average of three years – the equivlent of a human living to 125.
Chief researcher Maria Blasco, one of Spains leading scientists, said that the elixir of eternal youth is now a Utopian dream.
“The discovery opens the door to the possibility that humans could live 125 years and without cancer.
UK Government reverses decision on eyesight drug
London: Sufferers of wet age-related macular degeneration in England- an eye disease which leads to blindness are to get a sight-saving drug.
The drug, Lucentis, is already available in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The UK-government’s drug rationing body National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) had originally said patients should wait until they went blind in one eye. But pressure from sufferers and medical professions has led to a reversal of the decision.
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) comes in two forms – wet and dry – with the dry form being much more common. However, the wet type is more aggressive and is responsible for about 90% of blindness caused by the condition. Almost 20,000 people a year are diagnosed with wet AMD in England.