Cognizant Transmutation » anti-ageing

Curbing inflammatory cells could lead to treatments for diseases including atherosclerosis and cancer

scoopit — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 00:53:41 +0000

Via Scoop.it – Creating the Future
This technique, known as RNA interference, offers a targeted way to stop inflammation and could be useful in treating not only atherosclerosis, but also other forms of heart disease as well as cancer.
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The Walk Again Project

scoopit — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 04:07:34 +0000

Via Scoop.it – Creating the Future

BMI research raises the hope that in the not-too-distant future, patients suffering from a variety of neurological disorders that lead to devastating levels of paralysis may be able to recover their mobility by harnessing their own brain impulses to directly control sophisticated neuroprostheses.
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Researchers engineer new way to inhibit allergic reactions without side effects // News // Notre Dame News // University of Notre Dame

scoopit — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 04:05:13 +0000

Via Scoop.it – Creating the Future

Researchers from the University of Notre Dame have announced a breakthrough approach to allergy treatment that inhibits food allergies, drug allergies and asthmatic reactions without…
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Experimental drug may fight HIV and aging

Robert J Berger — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 06:54:12 +0000

From NewScientist Health November 2008 by Linda Geddes

A drug extracted from a plant used in Chinese medicine has helped immune cells fight HIV and raises the possibility of slowing the ageing process in other parts of our bodies.

The method hinges upon telomeres – caps of repetitive DNA found at the ends of chromosomes. These get shorter as cells age and are thought to affect the cell’s lifespan.

The caps can be rebuilt with an enzyme called telomerase, and some people have suggested it might be possible to extend human life by boosting telomerase production – though this has never been tested.

Now Rita Effros at the University of California in Los Angeles has used a drug that boosts telomerase to enhance the immune response to viruses.

Effros and her colleagues had previously inserted part of the telomerase gene into so-called killer T-cells – immune cells that fight infections including HIV – and found that the cells had stronger anti-viral activity than normal. However, such gene therapy is not a practical way of treating the millions of people infected with HIV.

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