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Category Archives: Transhuman News

Inhibition of Poxvirus Gene Expression and Genome Replication by Bisbenzimide Derivatives – Journal of Virology

Posted: August 25, 2017 at 3:39 am

Virus infection of humans and livestock can be devastating for individuals and populations, sometimes resulting in large economic and societal impact. Prevention of virus disease by vaccination or antiviral agents is difficult to achieve. A notable exception was the eradication of human smallpox by vaccination over 30 years ago. Today, humans and animals remain susceptible to poxvirus infections, including zoonotic poxvirus transmission. Here we identified a small molecule, bisbenzimide (bisbenzimidazole), and its derivatives as potent agents against prototypic poxvirus infection in cell culture. We show that bisbenzimide derivatives, which preferentially bind the minor groove of double-stranded DNA, inhibit vaccinia virus infection by blocking viral DNA replication and abrogating postreplicative intermediate and late gene transcription. The bisbenzimide derivatives are potent against vaccinia virus and other poxviruses but ineffective against a range of other DNA and RNA viruses. The bisbenzimide derivatives are the first inhibitors of their class, which appear to directly target the viral genome without affecting cell viability.

IMPORTANCE Smallpox was one of the most devastating diseases in human history until it was eradicated by a worldwide vaccination campaign. Due to discontinuation of routine vaccination more than 30 years ago, the majority of today's human population remains susceptible to infection with poxviruses. Here we present a family of bisbenzimide (bisbenzimidazole) derivatives, known as Hoechst nuclear stains, with high potency against poxvirus infection. Results from a variety of assays used to dissect the poxvirus life cycle demonstrate that bisbenzimides inhibit viral gene expression and genome replication. These findings can lead to the development of novel antiviral drugs that target viral genomes and block viral replication.

A.Y. and M.H. contributed equally to this article.

Citation Yakimovich A, Huttunen M, Zehnder B, Coulter LJ, Gould V, Schneider C, Kopf M, McInnes CJ, Greber UF, Mercer J. 2017. Inhibition of poxvirus gene expression and genome replication by bisbenzimide derivatives. J Virol 91:e00838-17. https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.00838-17.

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Whole genome sequencing now being used to reduce food poisoning outbreaks in NSW – The Sydney Morning Herald

Posted: at 3:39 am

Food-borne illnesses caused by bugs such as salmonella could be cut by a third in NSW within five years, with food and health authorities adding a "revolutionary" tool to their arsenal.

NSW Health and NSW Food Authority have started using whole genome sequencing technology to more quickly identify a food-borne outbreak and connect it with its source, which could reduce illnesses and even deaths.

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Norovirus causes gastroenteritis in around two million Australians every year. Here's how to avoid getting it, or passing it on.

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After years of denials, the former PM reveals he missed a vote in Parliament in 2009 because he passed out after drinking too much.

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The Queensland government plans to implement all 58 recommendations of an audit following the Dreamworld theme park ride accident last year.

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The One Nation senator concedes he didnt renounce his British citizenship until after nominating for parliament.

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An anti-vax doctor speaks out after being exposed as one of a group of Melbourne GPs under investigation after a video was made public claiming doctors have helped hundreds of families avoid vaccines.

Norovirus causes gastroenteritis in around two million Australians every year. Here's how to avoid getting it, or passing it on.

"[It's] a significant breakthrough that could help revolutionise how food-borne illnesses are identified, understood, tracked and managed," said Dr Craig Shadbolt, the Food Authority's acting chief executive.

"This will be invaluable in terms of achieving the NSW Government's Food Safety Strategy goal of reducing food-borne illnesses caused by salmonella, campylobacter and listeria by 30 per cent by 2021."

A growing number of disease control agencies around the world are using whole genome sequencing, which reveals the complete DNA make-up of an organism, to contain and control outbreaks.

In Australia, rates of food-borne salmonella poisoning have climbed from 38 per 100,000 people in 2004 to 76 per 100,000 in 2016, with a record-breaking 18,170 cases last year, according to the National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System.

Dr Shadbolt said whole genome sequencing allowed their investigators to see the genetic sequence of a bacteria, for example, in infected patients and match it to bacteria found during an investigation.

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He said any delay in being able to definitively identify the cause of an outbreak increased the chances of more people becoming ill.

"Prior to the adoption of whole genome sequencing, which is the most significant advancement in this field in a generation, we were unable to confirm related cases as quickly as we can now," he said.

"Where in the past cases may have appeared random and unrelated we now have the ability to see the genetic sequence of bacteria found in infected patients and match them, allowing us to more quickly connect an outbreak back to its source."

The technology was first used in 2015 after 37 people became infected with a rare form of salmonellosis Salmonella Agona in Western Sydney.

Using traditional methods, the investigators concluded a tuna sushi product at a particular sushi shop was to blame and the shop was ordered to stop selling the product.

However, whole genome sequencing of several samples revealed the first cases occurred earlier than thought and the source may have been raw chicken meat, which was supplied to two sushi shops in the one shopping centre.

Since then, the tool has been further refined and used in the salmonella outbreak linked to rockmelons and a multi-jurisdictional outbreak of listeriosis last year.

NSW Health's communicable diseases director Dr Vicky Sheppeard said the technology was part of a two-year trial, and they would compare the cost and timeliness of new and existing methods.

"It did take a little time to ramp up but over the past couple of months the timelines has been getting quite similar to our existing methods and the increased sensitivity has allowed us to find outbreaks that we weren't finding before," she said.

Dr Sheppeard said one of the challenges was the large amounts of data processing and storage required.

"Our 2016 annual report is just about to go up and we have seen a downturn in salmonella in NSW, so we are seeing promising early signs the actions that have been implemented are showing results," she said.

Minister for Primary Industries Niall Blair said the results so far were "exciting".

"The use of this technology essentially means we are now looking at organisms with a microscope now instead of a magnifying glass," he said.

"The adoption of this technology will help reduce future outbreaks because we can see more, act faster and control them better."

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Whole genome sequencing now being used to reduce food poisoning outbreaks in NSW - The Sydney Morning Herald

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Rare Whole Genome Duplication Gave Rise To Arizona Bark Scorpion – KJZZ

Posted: at 3:39 am


KJZZ
Rare Whole Genome Duplication Gave Rise To Arizona Bark Scorpion
KJZZ
Over millions of years, the Arizona bark scorpion has evolved into a true desert survivor.Now, new research traces its origins to an abrupt and massive genetic ...

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Genome cloaking can protect patient privacy, Stanford researchers say – Healthcare IT News

Posted: at 3:39 am

Researchers from Stanford University have a developed a method dubbed genome cloaking, which keeps a patients private genetic information protected when doctors analyze complete human genomes.

The method uses cryptography to hide almost 99 percent of genetic information, while allowing researchers to access specific gene mutations, according to the study. Now researchers can scour complete genomes -- without seeing any genetic information irrelevant to the inquiry.

The cloaking technique could alleviate privacy and potential discrimination concerns when it comes to genomic sequencing.

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We now have the tools in hand to make certain that genomic discrimination doesnt happen, Gill Bejerano associate professor of developmental biology, of pediatrics and of computer science at Stanford said in a statement.

There are ways to simultaneously share and protect this information, he added. Now we can perform powerful genetic analyses while also completely protecting our participants privacy.

The genome cloaking approach lets patients encrypt their genetic data using an algorithm on their computer or smart device. The researchers said the information is uploaded into the cloud, where researchers use a multi-party computation to analyze the data and reveal only the necessary gene variants relevant to the investigation.

This means that no one has access to the complete set of genetic data other than the patient, Bejerano explained.

The researchers hope that this method -- if routinely implemented -- could help patients overcome access concerns that may be preventing them from sharing their genomic data. Many patients are concerned about how their genomic sequence could be used against them -- like in obtaining insurance.

Often people who have diseases, or those who know that a particular genetic disease runs in their family, are the most reluctant to share their genomic information because they know it could potentially be used against them in some way, Bejerano said.

They are missing out on helping themselves and others by allowing researchers and clinicians to learn from their DNA sequences.

Twitter:@JessieFDavis Email the writer: jessica.davis@himssmedia.com

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Genome cloaking can protect patient privacy, Stanford researchers say - Healthcare IT News

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US obsession with electronics has huge human price – In Motion

Posted: at 3:38 am

By Austin Lombard Special to In Motion

My cellphone. Its so much more than just a device.

I use it to call people. I use it to navigate in the car. I use it to look up recipes in the kitchen. I use it as my shopping list in the grocery store. I use it to read the news.

Smartphones like mine and electronics like the computer Im using to write this are so ubiquitous in modern lives that few question where they come from or where they go. Electronics are so essential to civilization that we take them for granted.

But the amount of resources that go into making these devices is staggering. Manufacturing a single computer and monitor requires at least 530 pounds of fossil fuels, 50 pounds of chemicals and 3,000 pounds of water. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also lists copper, silver, gold and palladium as just a few of the valuable metals contained in our electronics.

Even so, the cost of sourcing and manufacturing electronics cannot strictly be measured in mineral resources. All along the supply chain and manufacturing, human labor is required to make them possible. Over the last decade, the ethical implications of sourcing and manufacturing electronics has come into sharp scrutiny, particularly because of its contrast with the exorbitant wealth the industry brings to the engineers living in technology-driven economies in cities like Cupertino, Calif. and Bellevue, Wash.

Electronics dirty secret

In 2010, manufacturing giant Foxconn experienced a rash of suicides at its Shenzhen campuses in China, prompting the company to install nets around the manufacturing plant to prevent employees from taking their own lives. The New York Times reported that one 19-year-old victim there worked over three times the legal limit of overtime in the month before his death. In 2015, Reuters news agency reported that South Korean electronics company Samsung agreed to create an $86 million fund to compensate workers who contracted cancer working with hazardous materials at its manufacturing facilities.

Sourcing materials can come at a heavy human cost. Awareness of conflict or blood diamonds hit the U.S. mainstreams attention when Kanye West released his song Diamonds from Sierra Leone in 2005. The music video contrasted images of wealthy Europeans and himself wearing diamonds, with images of child slaves mining those diamonds under the watch of armed rebel guards.

What didnt gain as much attention, however, were other valuable metals with less shine: minerals like copper and cobalt. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes 2011 report on Organized Crime and Instability in Central Africa cited those two minerals as a serious source of funding for organized crime in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Most of us probably own less diamonds than Kanye, but we all have a cell phone.

News reports have prompted electronics industry leaders such as Intel and Apple to establish initiatives to audit their supply chains and manufacturing sites for human rights violations. While a step in the right direction, these measures are not a complete solution. Even Intels 2017 Conflict Minerals White Paper a corporate communication detailing its efforts to eliminate conflict minerals from its supply chain admits that Conflict-free sourcing is not fully resolved, even after a decade of diligence. To this day, manufacturing sites draw controversy. Yet, other electronics companies have not bothered to establish official missions to eliminate human rights abuses from supply chains and manufacturing processes.

E-wastelands overseas

Our problems with electronics, unfortunately, do not end at manufacturing. The most difficult problem of all lies in the disposal of obsolete or broken electronics, or e-waste. E-waste from printers, monitors, computers and phones contains high levels of toxins, such as lead, mercury and cadmium. Because these toxins can seep out of e-waste and contaminate water sources, it is illegal to send them to landfill in the United States. Because of this, all government agencies urge consumers to recycle used electronics. But thats the problem

The Basel Action Network and Massachusetts Institute of Technology worked in partnership to conduct a study: GPS devices were attached to discarded electronics and given to certified recyclers. In the Basel Action Networks press release, it was reported that about 40 percent of the deliveries were exported, mostly to China. Recycling operations in developing countries are typically carried out by people living in abject poverty, using practices that disregard the safety of the laborers and the environment because they are unaware of the dangers the materials pose.

Yuan Chun Li and Banci Lians book, E-waste: Management, Types, and Challenges, describes approximately 1.6 million tons of e-waste sent to the junkyard town of Guiyu annually. The air there is thick with lead fumes from de-soldering operations, plastics and flame retardant chemicals are burned in the open with no breathing protection, and runoff from gold reclamation makes water so acidic that merely touching it will burn your skin. Children are stillborn or born with defects at a high rate. Farming villages are transformed into toxic wastelands.

Sustainability key to success

So if recycling is a poor option, what can we do? Some of you might be familiar with the three Rs of sustainability: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. These three Rs are listed in order of importance. We need to look at reducing the amount of electronic waste we generate. We can start to do this by taking care of our electronics and by repairing and upgrading devices. When a part breaks or becomes obsolete, we should replace only that part, rather than throwing the entire device away and buying a new one. IFixIt.com is a wiki-styled website with user-contributed repair guides, as well as staff teardowns and reviews that rate devices on the ease with which they can be repaired. New enterprises like Fairphone put human rights, repairability and device longevity first. The first stirrings of change are in the air, if you know where to look.

The ugly burden of our digital age is a complicated problem. Fully solving it requires electronics corporations to change the way they do business. Environmental regulations must be created and enforced to prevent unscrupulous dumping of toxic waste on the impoverished people of our world. Ultimately, laymans attitudes on electronics need to shift to sustainability, using a device until it cannot be repaired, rather than upgrading every time a new device comes out on the market.

For most of us these requirements may seem out of our hands. But by choosing products built for repairability and longevity, ordinary people can influence the market to produce sustainable products. As business strategist and sustainability expert Brian Moore states in his book, IT Sustainability for Business Advantage, one of the biggest factors in promoting sustainability within business is simply that it matters to stakeholders and consumers.

Only when consumers, shareholders, and voting citizens like us begin to refuse to ignore the blood and lead staining our hands, will business and government follow suit.

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Living to 125 Too Much of a Good Thing? – Pike County News Watchman

Posted: at 3:38 am

A 125-year life expectancy for human beings? I have zero desire to stick around that long.

Ah, yes, you speak of a debate among scientists over human longevity. I read about it at Business Insider. Some scientists argue that the maximum age humans may live is 115 years, whereas others argue that 125 years is possible.

A hundred and twenty-five years of watching Republicans and Democrats going at it? The heck with that.

Living is rife with challenges, to be sure. But living a long life has its upsides. Wouldnt you want to visit your parents and other family members for a lot more years than most of us are able? Wouldnt you like to see them all at a Sunday dinner several more times than most human beings are able?

Maybe with your family. My family has taken years off of my life!

I see, but wouldnt it be awesome if some of our finest human beings could stick around longer? Don Rickles, one of the greatest entertainers ever, died this year at 91. How great would it be to keep him around for two more decades?

True, but if Rickles were to stick around longer, that means annoying celebrities would stick around, too, and keep yapping at us every time a Republican becomes president.

There are other upsides to a longer life. What if we could keep our greatest minds around longer? Where would the world be if Einstein had another 25 years to unlock the mysteries of the universe?

But what if he figured out ways to extend human life even further, which would require me and the wife to have to keep coming up with new things to bicker about? Who has that kind of energy?

The downsides are a fair point. As people live longer, they could overburden government programs, such as Social Security. Where would we get all the money to support them?

How about we especially extend the lives of the rich so we can take them to the cleaners?

And living is expensive. If you live to 125, how will you pay for your housing and food and everyday expenses?

Thank goodness McDonalds is always hiring, but I for one have no desire to flip burgers at the age of 125.

The costs of medical care are too high for millions now. I imagine that at 125 years of age, ones medical bills would be difficult to manage.

Look, as a middle-aged guy, who is already showing signs of fatigue, here is what I know about living. Life is largely made up of colds, bills, speeding tickets and people who let you down. These experiences are connected together by a series of mundane tasks.

Did anyone tell you how cheerful you can be? Go on.

Well, these drudgeries are occasionally interrupted by a wonderful meal, a really good laugh with friends or a romantic evening with a lovely woman. Then the mundane stuff starts all over again. Who wants 125 years of that?

A lot of people do. The human lifespan has improved significantly in the past few generations. Millions are living healthy lives beyond the age of 80 today, and, when they were younger, few of them expected to live that long. Why not live relatively good lives until 125?

Because then Id really worry about my slacker son.

Why?

Hes 35 years old and still living at home. If we drastically extend lifespans, my wife will have to tell him: Son, youre 100 years old! When are you going to move out of the basement and get a job?

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Living to 125 Too Much of a Good Thing? - Pike County News Watchman

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Graphic pictures reveal the horror of eczema sufferer ‘skinned alive … – The Sun

Posted: at 3:38 am

ANartist suffered withdrawal symptoms that left her looking like a burns victim and in too much pain to wear clothes after becoming addicted to steroid cream for eczema.

Juli-Anne Coward has spent decades battling topical steroid cream withdrawal (TSW), also known as red skin syndrome, which has caused agonising flare-ups, sore, cracked and peeling skin every time she tried to wean herself off the creams.

PA Real Life

PA Real Life

At its worst Juli-Anne, from Leominster in Herefordshire, said her entire body was covered in raw patches and oozing boils.

But now she has weaned herself off the creams for good.

She said: The longer I am without them, the better I become.

Im definitely seeing progress. I managed a four-mile walk the other day, which is something I havent done in years.

When I first came off them, my body went through hell but I finally feel like Ive turned a corner.

Juli-Anne, 50, was first diagnosed with eczema when she was just three months old and was prescribed a topical steroid cream to calm her itchy skin.

PA Real Life

Throughout her childhood she was plagued by illness and when she was nine had an allergic reaction to penicillin which caused a build-up of fluid in her lungs.

Medics prescribed a six-month course of cortisoneinjections a type of steroid hormone to help her regain her strength but as soon as they stopped her skin went completely haywire.

My eczema went absolutely crazy, and I developed the worst acne youve ever seen, she recalled.

The spots were almost like boils far beyond typical teenage blemishes. Theyd crack and bleed.

I had one on my leg which was so painful, I couldnt even put my foot down.

My confidence was absolutely gone. I hated PE at school, hated showing off my legs. I missed out on a lot.

PA Real Life

PA Real Life

By the time she reached her 20s, Juli-Anne was using a low dose steroid cream every day.

It cleared her skin and, slowly, her self-esteem began to improve.

But if she ran out, or forgot to apply it, her skin would flare up again.

She said: I lived in fear of running out of cream. I could never go anywhere impromptu just in case.

It almost felt like an addiction. If I didnt apply it, my skin would start to burn.

The only way I can describe it to people is that it feels like my clothes are made of nettles and full of wasps.

In her 30s Juli-Anne had a particularly bad reaction after doctors suggested she try a cream commonly used to treat scabies.

Her skin began to shed, peel and bleed, to the point where it was too painful to even wear clothes, leaving her housebound.

PA Real Life

PA Real Life

PA Real Life

Over the next few years Juli-Anne saw various doctors but none seemed to be able to offer a permanent solution to her problem.

In 2016 she decided to research her problem online and came across an online support group called ITSAN the international topical steroid addiction network.

Reading through posts, she became convinced that she, too, was suffering from the condition.

She recalled: It was really emotional. I sobbed and sobbed, because I couldnt believe this was happening to me.

I was terrified at the prospect of what was to come, too, but I knew I had to come off the creams to stop this once and for all.

Red Skin Syndrome, also known as Topical Steroid Addiction or Topical Steroid Withdrawal, is a condition that can arise from the use of topical steroids to treat a skin problem, such as eczema.

RSScan also arise from topical steroid use in individuals with no prior skin condition; such as with cosmetic use for skin bleaching or to treat acne, or in the case of caregivers who neglect to wash their hands after applying topical steroids on someone else.

RSS is characterised by red, itchy, burning skin that can appear after ceasing topical steroid treatments, or even between treatments.

Symptoms:

These can fall into two categories - those that appear while using creams and those that appear when not.

Treatment:

In order to treat the condition, the use of steroid creams must be stopped.

The condition resolves over time, but no medications or methods of treatment have been proven to speed up the healing process.

Source: Itsan - the red skin syndrome support group

After slowly lowering her dose, Juli-Anne stopped using steroid creams for good in September 2016.

At first her skin was in agony but over time she slowly began to improve.

Juli-Anne still wears her clothes inside out so the seams dont irritate her and wraps her skin in bandages every day to protect it.

But she sheds far less than she used to and her skin does not weep as much.

PA Real Life

Juli-Anne, who has been with her partner Carolyn, 54, for 20 years, also uses gentle, natural products on her skin instead of soaps that can be harsh on skin conditions like eczema.

Around two weeks ago she was also told by doctors that her health woes have caused osteoporosis, so shes taking calcium and vitamin D to help protect her bones.

She said: I want to say to others that I understand coming off steroid creams is scary, but support is out there.

Arm yourself with as much knowledge as you can, listen to your body and do whats right for you and your skin.

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us attips@the-sun.co.ukor call 0207 782 4368

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Cyndi Lauper Speaks Out About Her Ongoing Battle With This Skin Condition – NewBeauty Magazine (blog)

Posted: at 3:38 am

WhenKim Kardashian Westtold the world about her ongoing problems withpsoriasis, an immune-mediated disease that causes raised, red, scaly patches to appear on the skin, it helped raise awareness for the condition. Now, another A-lister is speaking out with the same intention.

Pop icon Cyndi Lauper spoke out onGood Morning Americatoday about her battle with psoriasis and her partnership with Novartis (parent company ofCosentyx, an anti-psoriasis drug), which she hopes will help her reach those who are also suffering from the disease.

You May Also Like:Woman Posts Powerful Photos to Show What Psoriasis Feels Like

"I'm one of the 7.5 million people with it, and I just cant stress enough to not sit in the dark and not sit alone. When you're sick, you feel isolated and powerless, but information is power, so go toSeeMeToKnow.comand you'll hear my story and other people's stories. What everyone continually says is don't give upseek the treatment that's right for you. It's not just arash, it's an inflammatory thing."

Psoriasis, which according to the American Academy of Dermatology typically affects the outside of the elbows, knees or scalp, can begin at any age. "I was covered from head to toe with it (it started on myhead) and I felt badly," says Lauper. "But I didn't give up. I had every kind ofcrazy treatment. But what works for one person isn't going to work for another."

Keep a record of your symptoms and visit a board-certified dermatologist who can properly diagnose and treat you to minimize any pain or discomfort you may be experiencing.

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Encore makes pipeline play, licensing psoriasis drug from Dr. Reddy’s – FierceBiotech

Posted: at 3:37 am

Encore Dermatology, formed two years ago as a vehicle for three ex-Valeant products, has picked upa late-stage pipeline drug via a deal with India's Dr. Reddy's Laboratories.

The Malvern, Pennsylvania, company says it has licensed a steroid candidate developed by Dr. Reddy's Promius Pharma subsidiary that has passed phase 3 testing in adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis and could claim U.S. approval within weeks.

Encore is paying up to $32.5 million for development, manufacturing and commercialization rights to the drug, a topical corticosteroid called DFD-06 that is administered twice daily as a cream and is also in phase 2 testing for psoriasis in children and adolescents.

If approved, the drug will slot into its portfolio alongside dermatologic creams Hylatopic and Tetrixacquired from Valeant along with acne drug BenzEFoam in 2015as well as low-potency corticosteroid cream Tridesilon (desonide) which was licensed from Perrigo and launched earlier this year for skin conditions such as atopic dermatitis.

Dr. Reddy's has been funneling 40% of its R&D spend into biosimilars and proprietary medicinesprimarily for the U.S. marketas it tries to move beyond its heartlands in generic small-molecule drugs that have been hampered of late by regulatory compliance problems at manufacturing facilities.

So far, that drive has focused on improved formulations of established drug molecules and has resulted in two drug launches in the U.S.Zembrace Symtouch, an injectable form of sumatriptan for migraine and Sernivo, a spray formulation of the steroid drug betamethasone. The company has targeted sales of $500 million for its proprietary business within the next five years.

We believe Encore and its management team are well positioned to realize the full potential of this asset DFD-06," said Anil Namboodiripad, Ph.D., president of Promius Pharma.

"We look forward to obtaining NDA approval this fall, enabling Encore's management team to quickly deliver this product to the providers and their patients," he added.

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New psoriasis patient profile – ModernMedicine

Posted: at 3:37 am

Advances in metabolomics are providing insights into psoriasis beyond what can be gleaned from genetic or immunologic studies.

In one recent development in this emerging field, investigators defined a unique serum profile of psoriasis based on specific metabolites. Building on those results, they developed some advanced statistical models that suggest metabolomics might one day be promising for the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of patients with this disease.

Results of the study, which were published recently in the Archives of Dermatological Research,1 show that individuals with psoriasis exhibit significantly different serum concentrations of specific amino acids, urea, acylcarnitines, phosphatidylcholines, phytol, and other metabolites compared with control subjects.

While dermatologists are already doing an excellent job, understanding the metabolomics and biochemical background of psoriasis will definitely improve the treatment of their patients, says investigator Aigar Ottas, M.Sc., chair of medical biochemistry with the Institute of Biomedicine and Translational Medicine, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia.

To date, most scientific investigations of psoriasis have been focused on the genetic background or immunologic aspects of the disease. What Mr. Ottas and other researchers like him hope to do is foster a broader understanding of the disease through metabolomics, an emerging field that focuses on the identification and measurement of metabolites such as amino acids, carbohydrates and carbohydrate derivatives, and lipids.

Although the understanding of the genetic background of a disease is very important, it does not allow to monitor the current state of a disease nor its progression, Mr. Ottas tells Dermatology Times. This is something that metabolomics could really contribute in.

Metabolites make up unique psoriasis profile

To help define a metabolomic profile for psoriasis, Mr. Ottas collected fasting blood samples from a total of 55 psoriasis patients and 51 age- and sex-matched controls.

In one portion of the study, they used a targeted approach to analyze concentrations of known metabolites. A total of 19 metabolites were identified that differed significantly between psoriasis patients and controls. For example, serum from psoriasis patients had lower concentrations of acylcarnitines, such as nonaylcarnitine (0.4 +/- 0.01 M vs 0.5 +/- 0.01 M; P = 0.002), and had higher concentrations of amino acids such as glutamate (92.85 +/- 66.43 M vs 49.06 +/- 22.76 M; P = 0.002), phenylalanine (82.91 +/- 18.96 M vs 72.46 +/- 13.51 M; P = 0.026), and ornithine (99.79 +/- 29.44 M vs 82.28 +/- 20.85 M; P = 0.011).

In a second portion of the study, investigators used an untargeted approach to discover other metabolites that might be implicated in psoriasis. They found a total of 22 metabolites with concentrations that varied significantly between serum of psoriasis patients and controls; of these, 12 metabolites could be identified; these included urea, taurine, and phytol, among others.

Many of the metabolites identified in the study are either part of the urea cycle or very closely related. Other metabolites had an exogenous (ie, food) origin.

Since the metabolism of psoriasis patients seems to be altered it might be worth investigating if and how much diet affects the onset and progression of the disease, Mr. Ottas says.

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New psoriasis patient profile - ModernMedicine

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