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Scientists Use Spectroscopy to Study Black Holes, Stars, and Now Cervixes

Scientists Use Spectroscopy to Study Black Holes, Stars, and Now Cervixes

Scientists use spectroscopy to examine the make-up of celestial objects. Now, they’re taking the technology in a decidedly different direction and using it to detect cervical cancer.

Over the past decade, Guided Therapeutics has identified cellular markers specific to cervical cancer cells, which their new device identifies by shining a spectrum of light on the tissue. Like spectroscopy for planets and stars, the company’s LuViva Advanced Cervical Scan shines light on the object of interest, then analyzes how that light is reflected. The technique is non-invasive and doesn’t require tissue samples or lab tests, which is reason to celebrate for anyone who’s had a Pap-smear or cervical biopsy.

“Every molecule has a spectral fingerprint. If you hit it with a specific wavelength of light any tissue will reveal its nature and tell you something about itself,” Mark Faupel, CEO of Guided Therapeutics, told me during a phone interview. “We’ve adapted this technology used by NASA to identify whether there’s life on other planets to detect cancer cells in tissue in vivo (i.e. in a live person).”

In studies looking at 1,600 cervixes, the company’s scientists found that the device detected 90 percent of cervical cancers an average of two years earlier than Pap smears, the technique currently used by doctors for early diagnosis. Pap smears are a good way to detect cervical cancer early but they also lead to a lot of false positives—only 20 percent of patients who have abnormal Paps actually require treatment. That’s an 80 percent false positive rate. The test also completely misses two-thirds of pre-cancerous cells.

False positive or not, an abnormal Pap smear typically leads to a colposcopy, which is basically a quick but sometimes painful scrape of the cervix’s surface cells to obtain a biopsy.

Cervical cancer, which is usually caused by human papilloma virus, is a major killer of women, especially in developing countries where women have less access to Pap smears. In the United States where Pap smears are routine, most women catch pre-cancerous cells early enough that it’s 100 percent treatable by removing the abnormal cells with cryosurgery or laser therapy. But in places where Pap tests are not routine and cervical cancer often goes undetected until it has spread, LuViva could save lives. The device will be relatively inexpensive at about $20,000, so Faupel hopes smaller clinics will be able to afford one.

“We wanted to make it accessible to use on a reservation for Native Americans or rural clinics in developing countries,” he says. “This can be used for the underserved population, not just afforded by large industrial hospital complexes.”

The National Cancer Institute has granted Guided Therapeutics $6 million to develop the technology, and the company hopes to receive final FDA approval to market the device sometime this month.

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Scientists Use Spectroscopy to Study Black Holes, Stars, and Now Cervixes

Scientists use spectroscopy to examine the make-up of celestial objects. Now, they’re taking the technology in a decidedly different direction and using it to detect cervical cancer.

Over the past decade, Guided Therapeutics has identified cellular markers specific to cervical cancer cells, which their new device identifies by shining a spectrum of light on the tissue. Like spectroscopy for planets and stars, the company’s LuViva Advanced Cervical Scan shines light on the object of interest, then analyzes how that light is reflected. The technique is non-invasive and doesn’t require tissue samples or lab tests, which is reason to celebrate for anyone who’s had a Pap-smear or cervical biopsy.

“Every molecule has a spectral fingerprint. If you hit it with a specific wavelength of light any tissue will reveal its nature and tell you something about itself,” Mark Faupel, CEO of Guided Therapeutics, told me during a phone interview. “We’ve adapted this technology used by NASA to identify whether there’s life on other planets to detect cancer cells in tissue in vivo (i.e. in a live person).”

In studies looking at 1,600 cervixes, the company’s scientists found that the device detected 90 percent of cervical cancers an average of two years earlier than Pap smears, the technique currently used by doctors for early diagnosis. Pap smears are a good way to detect cervical cancer early but they also lead to a lot of false positives—only 20 percent of patients who have abnormal Paps actually require treatment. That’s an 80 percent false positive rate. The test also completely misses two-thirds of pre-cancerous cells.

False positive or not, an abnormal Pap smear typically leads to a colposcopy, which is basically a quick but sometimes painful scrape of the cervix’s surface cells to obtain a biopsy.

Cervical cancer, which is usually caused by human papilloma virus, is a major killer of women, especially in developing countries where women have less access to Pap smears. In the United States where Pap smears are routine, most women catch pre-cancerous cells early enough that it’s 100 percent treatable by removing the abnormal cells with cryosurgery or laser therapy. But in places where Pap tests are not routine and cervical cancer often goes undetected until it has spread, LuViva could save lives. The device will be relatively inexpensive at about $20,000, so Faupel hopes smaller clinics will be able to afford one.

“We wanted to make it accessible to use on a reservation for Native Americans or rural clinics in developing countries,” he says. “This can be used for the underserved population, not just afforded by large industrial hospital complexes.”

The National Cancer Institute has granted Guided Therapeutics $6 million to develop the technology, and the company hopes to receive final FDA approval to market the device sometime this month.

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The Pill That Could Cure Depression by Growing Your Brain

http://gizmodo.com/5874433/the-pill-that-could-cure-depression-by-growing-your-brain

Kristen Philipkoski:  January 9, 2012

If you are depressed, or schizophrenic or have Alzheimer’s, scientists say you probably have a shrunken hippocampus. The good news: a drug that just entered human trials promises to re-grow that part of the brain.

It’s an entirely new approach to treating clinical depression, which is the first of several diseases scientists at biotech company Neuralstem are hoping to address with their experimental oral drug. Most antidepressants work on brain chemistry, tweaking levels of neurotransmitters including serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. This is the first drug that aims to re-grow patients’ atrophied brains.

Dr. Karl Johe, Neuralstem’s CEO, believes that depression is a three-headed beast that affects neurotransmitter levels, neurons, and hippocampus size. And he says their new drug could address all three. He also hopes the drug will reverse the disease to the point that patients could permanently go off the drug.

“If we can show by MRI that we’ve increased hippocampus volume and at the same time reversed depression symptoms for six months after patients have stopped taking the drug, then we’ll have a cure.”
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That a too-small hippocampus causes depression and other diseases is still technically a theory in humans (though it’s been demonstrated in rats and chimps). So if the drug grows hippocampus volume and thereby treats depression, we’ll not only have a new treatment, but the study results would be proof that a shriveled hippocampus is at least in part the culprit.

The scientists showed first that the drug worked in the lab: They started with dishes of neural stem cells and added several compounds they thought might instigate growth. Seven showed promise, but they could only afford to develop one, so they chose NSI-189. They then tested it in mice; after taking the drug, the rodents had larger hippocampi.

Thirty-five healthy humans have now taken the drug with no ill effects, so the FDA gave the company the OK to start testing in depressed patients. They’ll give the pill to 18 volunteers (six will get a placebo) in three groups, each receiving a progressively larger dose, each over 28 days. They expect this phase, which is mainly to make sure the drugs is safe, to take about six months. If all goes well they hope to proceed to phase two clinical trials later this year, which will test to determine whether the drug is both safe and effective. (After that, a final phase three trial to confirm safety and efficacy will remain before the company can market the drug.)

I couldn’t help thinking about those healthy test subjects who took the drug. Will they get super brain powers? The healthy mice that received the drug did grow extra large hippocampi, the seahorse-shaped part of the brain involved with both short and longterm memory and spatial navigation. Johe isn’t ruling out the possibility of souped-up brains:

“It’s an exciting possibility and we’ll definitely be looking out for it.”

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Stem Cells: Plural Paths to Harnessing Pluripotency

Stem Cells: Plural Paths to Harnessing Pluripotency

By Anette Breindl
Science Editor

Monday, January 9, 2012

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The most obvious way to use stem cells is to differentiate them in a petri dish and transplant the resulting cells into tissues or organs that are damaged or diseased.

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* Solace in numbers

http://www.thestarnews.com/chula-vista/solace-in-numbers/

The Star-News

Solace in numbers

Sat, Jan 07 2012 12:00 PM Posted By: Allison K. Sampité

In October 2006, Guadalupe Moreno was taken to the emergency room for severe bone and kidney pain and a fever.  During the second day of her one-week stay at Scripps Hospital in Chula Vista, doctors told Moreno something that would change the rest of her life.

Moreno, now 64, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, an incurable blood cancer where abnormal cells collect in the bone marrow and form tumors.

It’s the second most common blood cancer after lymphoma, affecting an estimated 750,000 people worldwide.

In July 2007, Moreno went to the University of California, San Diego, where she received a stem cell transplant.

“The transplant worked for 20 months — my cancer was in remission then it began slowly coming back and I started chemo again,” she said.

Moreno, like many people who are diagnosed with multiple myeloma, have never heard of the disease and think of it as melanoma, the leading cause of death from skin disease.

Years ago, multiple myeloma mostly affected men in their 60s and older, but today, diagnosis includes women and those younger than 30.

There are approximately 19,900 new cases of myeloma in the United States each year, according to the International Myeloma Foundation, which works to improve treatment options to improve the quality of life for patients.

Although multiple myeloma is treatable with medication, radiation and chemotherapy, the condition can cause bone pain, frequent infections, dizziness and fatigue.

Moreno takes steroids and two chemotherapy treatments in cycles, which helps minimize her pain, but causes side effects such as nausea.

While symptoms of multiple myeloma can be strong, they are not easy to detect at an early stage.

For some people like Elliot Recht, who was diagnosed during an annual physical 14 years ago, there are no symptoms at all.

Recht is one of two leaders for the San Diego Multiple Myeloma Support Group, but started off as a member when he was first diagnosed, taking over after group founder Fred Gloor passed away.

“I am very fortunate,” Recht said. “I’ve been pretty asymptomatic the whole time.”
Still, patients must manage their symptoms.

Because multiple myeloma affects plasma cells responsible for producing antibodies, it often affects the immune system, making patients more susceptible to infections, colds and viruses. It can also cause build-up of the M protein, which thickens the blood.
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Moreno explained the importance of washing her hands and dishes well and often to rid them of bacteria and how she can’t eat fruit or vegetables that grow underground because of pesticides.

When Recht was diagnosed, the life expectancy of patients was only three years, so he decided to stop working full time as a photographer.

“Why work so hard when you have such a short time to live?” he said.

Dr. Brian Durie, chairman of the foundation’s board, said that in the last decade, six new agents have been created to fight myeloma.

“Novel therapies are much better tolerated and work for a whole lot longer than chemotherapy does,” Durie said. “On average, life expectancy has doubled in the last decade from three to six years … allowing patients to return to a longer, fuller life.”

Chula Vista resident Lanorris Sewell was diagnosed at Scripps Hospital in Chula Vista in April after his back went out. Blood tests, a bone marrow biopsy and MRI confirmed he had multiple myeloma.

Sewell, 49, retired from the Navy in 2003 after 20 years working with chemicals to strip rust off airplanes. Prior to being diagnosed Sewell hadn’t heard of multiple myeloma.

“One thing I have learned about the cancer thing is that you have to stay positive if you want to beat it, otherwise you’re defeated,” he said.

Although the reason why people develop multiple myeloma is unknown, there are man-made risk contributors that include environmental pollution, stress and pesticides.

In Recht’s case, he grew up in Pittsburgh where he said he believes that air pollution, caused by the burning of coal and production of steel and iron, might have contributed to his condition, in addition to medal casting, oil paints, turpentine and clay.

“It’s a fine line between awareness and susceptibility,” Durie said. “Only a small percentage of those exposed have a genetic predisposition to it. People who do get myeloma aren’t able to break down these chemicals because they are slow metabolizers.”

Sewell and Moreno live on disability, unable to work, but attend support group meetings, which offer information on finances, give emotional support, and provide a better understanding of myeloma.

“It helps them realize that they are not alone in this battle and struggle,” Recht said.

“This is a type of cancer where education is the best possible thing.”

Moreno also attends meetings at Sharp Medical Center’s Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in Chula Vista.

“It’s good to learn and talk with other people that are like you and exchange your experiences,” she said. “I think when you have cancer, you have to fight to get well—you have to think positive.”

For information on support groups visit www.multiplemyelomasandiego.org.

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* KPBS Radio Clip on Myeloma

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Washington area business diary for week of Jan. 2

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Short takes on the week’s announcements and deals.

Pharmaceuticals

Rockville-based Neuralstem has received approval from the Food and Drug Administration to advance to Phase Ib in its ongoing clinical trial to test its neuroregenerative compound NSI-189 for the treatment of major depressive disorder.