Tag Archives: white blood cell

Marmite can fight superbugs

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You either love it or you hate it, according to the slogan.

And if you are a Marmite fan, the good news is that one of its main ingredients may fight superbugs.

A study found that at very high doses, vitamin B3, also known as niacin, drastically increases the body’s ability to fight the MRSA bacterium, which can cause life-threatening infections if it enters the bloodstream via wounds.

US researchers believe the ingredient – which is also found in beer, bread and other foods containing yeast – could be used to develop new drugs.

Researchers carried out a number of experiments on both rats and human blood, the results of which were published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Overall they found that high doses of vitamin B3 increased the number of neutrophils, a type of white blood cell that kills bacteria.

Adrian Gombart, of Oregon State University, said: ‘This is potentially very significant, although we still need to do human studies. It’s a way to tap into the power of the innate immune system and stimulate it to provide a more powerful and natural response.’

Marmite

Marmite

But the scientists urged caution, as the research used extremely high doses of the vitamin – far more than is in Marmite or vitamin supplements.


Co-author Dr George Liu, also from Oregon State University, said: ‘This vitamin is surprisingly effective in fighting off and protecting against one of today’s most concerning public health threats.’

Dr Gombart stressed that so far there was no evidence to suggest normal diets or conventional-strength B3 supplements could help prevent or treat bacterial infections.

Ten years ago he discovered a human genetic mutation that makes people more vulnerable to bacterial infections.

Further work showed that niacin has the ability to “turn on” anti-microbial genes that help the immune system fight off bacteria.

Blood test may predict onset of breast cancer

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A SIMPLE blood test could help predict breast cancer decades before the disease strikes, according to experts.

Scientists have made a ground- breaking discovery which could revolutionise treatment for one of the deadliest cancers.

They have found the “first strong evidence” that molecular changes which can switch genes on and off set the stage for breast cancer many years before it is diagnosed.

Thousands of lives could be saved by spotting those at-risk before the disease even begins to take hold.

The research, funded by the Breast cancer campaign, was carried out by Dr James Flanagan, of imperial college London.

He said it raised the possibility of a blood test to assess risk at a very early stage.

Combined with other information, such as a family history of breast cancer, it could help identify women who might benefit from pre-emptive action.

Scientists analysed blood samples from 1,380 women of various ages, 640 of whom went on to develop breast cancer.

A strong association was found between molecular modification of a white blood cell gene called ATM and breast cancer risk.

Researchers looked for evidence of a chemical effect called methylation which acts as a “gene switch”. Women showing the highest methylation levels affecting the ATM gene were twice as likely to develop breast cancer as those with the lowest levels.

On average, the blood tests were carried out three years before diagnosis. in some cases they pre-dated the discovery of breast cancer by up to 11 years.

The results were especially clear in blood samples from women under the age of 60.

breast-cancer-cell

Breast cancer cell

Methylation is an “epigenetic” mechanism which allows genes to be affected by exposure to environmental factors such as hormones, radiation, alcohol, smoking or pollution. increasingly, epigenetic effects are seen as important drivers of cancer.

Baroness Delyth Morgan, Breast cancer campaign’s chief executive, said: “Dr Flanagan’s research into epigenetics is so exciting because it suggests that there is every possibility the risk of developing breast cancer could be decided many decades in advance. By piecing together how this happens, we can look at ways to prevent the disease and detect it earlier to give people the best possible chance of survival.”


Dr Flanagan, said: “We know that genetic variation contributes to a person’s risk of disease.

“With this new study we can now also say that epigenetic variation, or differences in how genes are modified, also has a role.

“We hope that this research is just the beginning of our under- standing about the epigenetic component of breast cancer risk and in the coming years we hope to find many more examples of genes that contribute to a person’s risk.

“The challenge will be how to incorporate all of this new infor- mation into the computer models that are currently used for individual risk prediction.”

The findings are published in the journal cancer research.

Why breast cancer risk is linked to changes in a white blood cell gene remains unknown. The ATM gene has also been associated with other cancers including lymphoma and leukaemia.

Dr Flanagan, a Breast cancer campaign scientific fellow, added: “So far we have found alterations in one small region of a gene that appear to associate with risk of disease, and so the next step with this epigenetic research is a genome-wide approach to try to find all the associated genes.”

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK and around 48,000 cases are diagnosed each year – 130 a day. it kills almost 12,000 people annually.

Laura Bell, of cancer research UK, said: “This study gives us a fascinating glimpse of the future.”