[Press release] Researchers have cracked a code that governs infections by a major group of viruses including the common cold and polio

From the 5 February 2015 University of Leeds press release

 

Researchers have cracked a code that governs infections by a major group of viruses including the common cold and polio.

Until now, scientists had not noticed the code, which had been hidden in plain sight in the sequence of the ribonucleic acid (RNA) that makes up this type of viral genome.

But a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) Early Edition by a group from the University of Leeds and University of York unlocks its meaning and demonstrates that jamming the code can disrupt virus assembly. Stopping a virus assembling can stop it functioning and therefore prevent disease.

Professor Peter Stockley, Professor of Biological Chemistry in the University of Leeds’Faculty of Biological Sciences, who led the study, said: “If you think of this as molecular warfare, these are the encrypted signals that allow a virus to deploy itself effectively.

“Now, for this whole class of viruses, we have found the ‘Enigma machine’—the coding system that was hiding these signals from us. We have shown that not only can we read these messages but we can jam them and stop the virus’ deployment.”

Single-stranded RNA viruses are the simplest type of virus and were probably one of the earliest to evolve. However, they are still among the most potent and damaging of infectious pathogens.

Rhinovirus (which causes the common cold) accounts for more infections every year than all other infectious agents put together (about 1 billion cases), while emergent infections such as chikungunya and tick-borne encephalitis are from the same ancient family.

Other single-stranded RNA viruses include the hepatitis C virus, HIV and the winter vomiting bug norovirus.

This breakthrough was the result of three stages of research:

• In 2012, researchers at the University of Leeds published the first observations at a single-molecule level of how the core of a single-stranded RNA virus packs itself into its outer shell—a remarkable process because the core must first be correctly folded to fit into the protective viral protein coat. The viruses solve this fiendish problem in milliseconds. The next challenge for researchers was to find out how the viruses did this.

• University of York mathematicians Dr Eric Dykeman and Professor Reidun Twarock, working with the Leeds group, then devised mathematical algorithms to crack the code governing the process and built computer-based models of the coding system.

• In this latest study, the two groups have unlocked the code. The group used single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy to watch the codes being used by the satellite tobacco necrosis virus, a single stranded RNA plant virus.

Read the entire article here

 

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[News article] How cancer turns good cells to the dark side

 

From the 28 January 2015 item at Science 360

A new computational study by a team of researchers shows how cancer cells take advantage of the system by which cells communicate with their neighbors as they pass messages to “be like me” or “be not like me.” The team decodes how cancer uses a cell-cell interaction mechanism known as notch signaling to promote metastasis. This mechanism plays a crucial role in embryonic development and wound healing and is activated when a delta or jagged ligand of one cell interacts with the notch receptor on an adjacent one.

Visit Website | Image credit: Marcelo Boareto/Rice University

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The Case for Personalized Medicine: Interview with Edward Abrahams of PMC

This article in the 25 November Science Roll blog has interview Q and A’s with Edward Abrahams, Ph.D. of the Personalized Medicine Coalition. Topics include RNA sequencing, gene sequencing economics, and gene sequencing statistics.

The third edition of The Case for Personalized Medicine (PDF) was released a week ago

Some quotes….

The power in tailored therapeutics is for us to say more clearly to payers, providers, and patients—‘this drug is not for everyone, but it is for you.’ That is exceedingly powerful.”

John C. Lechleiter, Ph.D.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Eli Lilly and Company

 

 

As the field advances, we expect to see more efficient clinical  trials based on a more thorough understanding of the genetic  basis of disease. We also anticipate that some previously  failed medications will be recognized as safe and effective  and will be approved for subgroups of patients with specific genetic markers.”

Margaret Hamburg, M.D.

Commissioner, U.S. Food and Drug Administration

Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D.

Director, National Institutes of Health

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• Personalized medicine’s opportunities and challenges for clinicians, business (medcitynews.com)
• CEPMED Hosts Pioneers in Personalized Medicine in Montreal at the International Economic Forum (prweb.com)
• Leading Health Executives to Speak at Dorland Health’s Care Coordination Summit, October 5th in Washington, DC (prweb.com)
• Personalized Medicine (hospitalphysicians.com)
• New and varied imaging techniques facilitate personalized medicine (jflahiff.wordpress.com)