Spleen News and Research

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Novel drug boosts platelets in ITP

Attacking a platelet-depleting autoimmune disease in a whole new way, an experimental drug is helping patients with immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) once again produce healthy amounts of platelets -- with no major side effects.

14 Nov 2006

UIC receives $20 million NCI grant to research blood disorders

A $19.6 million National Cancer Institute grant has been awarded to the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine to advance basic and clinical research for incurable blood disorders.

6 Sep 2006

Teen wins right to refuse chemo

A teenager in the U.S. who has Hodgkins' Disease, has won a court battle which aimed to order the boy to undergo a second course of intensive chemotherapy.

20 Aug 2006

First treatment for Hunter disease

An article reporting results from a pivotal clinical trial that helped gain U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for the first treatment for Hunter disease has been published online by the journal Genetics in Medicine.

16 Aug 2006

FDA approves Elaprase (idursulfase) for Hunter syndrome

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Elaprase (idursulfase), the first product for the treatment of Hunter syndrome (Mucopolysaccharidosis II, or MPS II).

25 Jul 2006

Link between psychological stress and ovarian tumor growth

When mice with ovarian cancer are stressed, their tumors grow and spread more quickly, but that effect can be blocked using a medication commonly prescribed for heart disease.

24 Jul 2006

Anomalous renal effects of tin protoporphyrin in a murine model of sickle cell disease

Researchers have unexpectedly shown that sickle cell-associated kidney injury may be reduced by inhibiting the enzyme activity of a protein that commonly confers protection in other diseased states.

19 Jul 2006

New genetic clues to dementia with Lewy bodies

Researchers have found that genetic alterations originally identified in people suffering from a rare disease may also be an important risk factor for the second most common form of dementia among the elderly.

17 Jul 2006

Chinese twin loses battle to survive following separation surgery

One of the twins separated from her conjoined sister has lost her battle to survive following complex and extensive surgery which released her from her sister.

10 Jul 2006

Listeriosis and pregnancy

For years, doctors have puzzled over why pregnant women are 20 times more likely than others to be infected by the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, now think they have the answer, and it isn't pretty.

3 Jul 2006

Costly IVIg could be replaced with synthetic blood product

Patients suffering from a life-threatening bleeding disorder are closer to having access to a more effective treatment.

1 Jun 2006

Finding opens new pathways for treating or preventing autoimmune diseases

A rare genetic defect that can trigger a host of diseases from type 1 diabetes to alopecia has helped explain the imbalance of immune regulator and killer cells in autoimmune disease.

31 May 2006

Important insights into how cells regulate certain growth-proteins

Researchers here have discovered a new mechanism used by cells - and manipulated by retroviruses - to control the making of certain essential proteins, including some involved in cancer.

8 May 2006

Enzyme discovery could reduce Kaposi sarcoma tumour growth and lead to drugs suitable for treating other viral cancers

A report in the Journal of Biological Chemistry shows that inhibition of heme oxygenase-1, an enzyme involved in iron metabolism, reduces Kaposi sarcoma tumor growth. This discovery could result in the production of new drugs to treat this and other viral cancers.

28 Apr 2006

Potential vaccine for visceral leishmaniasis developed

Development of a fundamentally new "candidate," or potential, vaccine for visceral leishmaniasis (LEASH-ma-NIGH-a-sis), a parasitic disease that kills about 60,000 people annually, is reported in the current issue of ACS Chemical Biology. Spread by the bite of infected female sand flies, visceral leishmaniasis infects about 500,000 people annually, with the majority of cases occurring in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sudan and Brazil.

26 Apr 2006

Scientists identify a new gene that causes the spread of cancer

Professor Philip Rudland, Dr Guozheng Wang and Dr Roger Barraclough from Liverpool University's Cancer and Polio Research Fund Laboratories have discovered an additional member of the S100 family of protein genes - S100P - that causes the spread of cancerous cells from an original tumour to other parts of the body.

11 Apr 2006

MPD Foundation funds research for incurable blood disorders

The Myeloproliferative Disorders Foundation has awarded $750,000 to establish the MPD Research Alliance, a collaboration of the University of Illinois at Chicago, Harvard Medical School and Mayo Clinic to accelerate drug development for incurable, progressive bone marrow disorders.

11 Apr 2006

Scientists identify a new gene that causes the spread of cancer

Professor Philip Rudland, Dr Guozheng Wang and Dr Roger Barraclough from the University’s Cancer and Polio Research Fund Laboratories have discovered an additional member of the S100 family of protein genes - S100P - that causes the spread of cancerous cells from an original tumour to other parts of the body.

30 Mar 2006

Procedure cures some diabetic mice, but not in the way previously reported

Researchers attempting to reproduce a controversial 2003 mouse experiment suggestive of a cure for type 1 diabetes have found evidence that the experimental procedure does eliminate diabetic symptoms in a small fraction of the mice exposed to it.

28 Mar 2006

Study provides a boost for efforts to reverse type-1 diabetes

Researchers have been able to confirm most but not all of the results of a high-profile study that brought new hope to diabetes patients. This study provides a boost for efforts to reverse type-1 diabetes in recently diagnosed patients but not for efforts to grow new islets from spleens.

27 Mar 2006