Sirtris Is Purchased For $750,000,000
Glaxco is paying big in an effort to find cures for diseases of aging. They are buying Sirtris Pharmaceuticals
Two things are going on here: 1) this is important, cutting-edge science; Sirtris is the leading research firm seeking to cure diseases of aging by targeting the enzymes that control the aging process, and 2) big pharmaceutical companies are desperate for new drugs and novel technologies; expect more European pharma companies to sniff around and buy U.S. biotechs with their inflated euros. But it is the potentially revolutionary science that’s important here. How can we live longer and healthier? Obviously we can try to cure selective diseases, and maybe find ways of replacing worn-out body parts. But it has been noted for a while that one of the only treatments that has been demonstrated to extend life appears to be caloric restriction. Read: starvation diet. We’re talking 30 percent less than a normal human consumes. This apparently works in rats and yeast, but definitive proof that it radically extends human life is still lacking. Might there be a way to get the effects of longer, healthier life without the pain of starving yourself? Possibly, and that is where Sirtris comes in. Sirtris is the leading company develop a drug pipeline based on chemical compounds known as sirtuins. These sirtuins are evidently turned on by a caloric-restricted diet. Small molecules called resveratrol (a chemical substance found in wine) apparently activate these sirtuins and have extended the lifespan of yeast, worms and fruit flies, as well as mice eating a high-calorie diet. In other words, resveratrol increases the activity of the gene associated with sirtuins in the same way that caloric restriction does. Does this work in humans? We don’t know, yet. Seven sirtuins have been identified that may impact metabolic disorders, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Sirtris has filed more than 100 patent applications around these sirtuins. The company’s lead drug is called SRT501; it is an enhanced formulation of resveratrol and is currently being tested as a treatment for type II diabetes and MELAS, a rare form of dementia. There are indications that they reduce weight gain, improve glucose levels, and insulin sensitivity. Sirtris is also developing new chemical entities (NCEs) that are much more potent than SRT501 and should enter clinical testing soon. The drug maker GlaxoSmithKline has bought a US company that uses a molecule found in red wine to try to slow the ageing process. GSK announced last night that it is paying $720m (
Scientists Learning More Why Aging Cells Fail to Repair Themselves
Why Aging Cells Lose Ability to Repair Themselves Study finds defect that could lead to new treatments for disease
FRIDAY, Sept. 5 (HealthWire) — A defect in the body’s self-defense mechanism against age-related genetic mutations has been identified by researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
The finding may help explain why the aging human body can’t defend itself against DNA damage in the mitochondria, the power plants that fuel the growth and activity of cells.
Finding ways to help aging cells repair their own damaged DNA could possibly lead to ways to prevent or treat cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and other health problems caused by genetic defects.
As cells age, they experience continuous genetic mutations, some of which are caused by the harmful byproducts of the oxygen we inhale. But the body’s repair mechanism is constantly at work fixing this DNA damage. However, this repair activity becomes less efficient as cells age.
In this study, the researchers analyzed why this DNA repair activity becomes less effective in the mitochondria as cells age. They found a biochemical “”roadblock”" that prevents much of the repair enzyme activity from reaching the site of the DNA damage in the mitochondria of aging cells.
In old cells, about half of the repair enzyme activity can’t reach the mitochondria DNA to repair it.
The study was published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The $20 Billion Dollar Drug That Has Never Extended a Single Life
Are we Preventing Heart Disease? NOT ONE STAIN DRUG HAS EVER BEEN SHOWN TO DECREASE MORTALITY By: Shane Ellison M.Sc. All rights Copyright
Beer Compounds, Not Alcohol, May FIght Cancer
Beer Compounds, Not Alcohol, May Fight Cancer Janbuary 20, 2005 Non-alcoholic beer may fight off cancer, suggests new laboratory research on mice.
Mice that drank non-alcoholic beer while exposed to cancer-causing chemicals had 85 per cent less DNA damage to their liver, lung and kidneys than those given water, the study found.
The researchers at Okayama University in Japan said there may be unknown compounds in beer that stop the cancer-causing heterocyclic amines from binding to DNA and causing damage.
In their report, released on the Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry online on 31 December, the authors note that their findings cannot be extrapolated to benefits in normal beer with alcohol.
But if the contents of non-alcoholic beer thought to be protecting the mice are identified they could be added to functional foods and drink.
Researchers at Japan
Type II Diabetes leads to Early Death
Heart, Stroke Risk Starts Early in Type I Diabetics
Study finds odds much higher than had been thought By Ed Edelson HealthScoutNews Reporter
THURSDAY, Jan. 16 (HealthScoutNews) — The risk that young people with Type I diabetes — the kind in which the body stops making insulin — will die of stroke or other cardiovascular disease is much higher than had been thought, a British study finds. In the 20-to-39 age group, the risk of cardiovascular death for persons with Type I diabetes was more than fivefold higher in men and sevenfold higher in women than in the general population, says a report in the February issue of Stroke. The finding is “”not entirely surprising,”" says Susan P. Laing, an epidemiologist at the Institute of Cancer Research in England, who led the study. But while previous studies have documented the increased risk among people with Type II diabetes, in which the body produces some insulin, this is the first study to produce hard numbers about the risk of cardiovascular death in young people with Type I diabetes, she says. “”Physicians need to be much more aware that young diabetics will be having more cardiovascular risk than the general population,”" Laing says. The subject already is of concern to the American Diabetes Association, says Dr. Francine R. Kaufman, an endocrinologist at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles who is president of the association. “”Just last week at a postgraduate course I said that it is important to start to look at cardiovascular risk factors at adolescence or even earlier,”" Kaufman says. The association has put together an expert panel to consider recommendations about lipids such as cholesterol in Type I diabetes patients 12 and older, she says. “”Physicians need to be sure that the levels are normal,”" Kaufman says. “”If not, they should consider intervention, such as lipid-lowering agents.”" Another risk factor of special concern in young people is high blood pressure, she says, although there also is the need to monitor and intervene in the case of other risk factors, such as smoking. “”The risk begins earlier than has been thought, and we need to do good intervention in this cohort,”" Kaufman says. The British study, called the Diabetes UK Cohort, included 23,751 patients diagnosed with Type I diabetes under the age of 30. The researchers followed the patients for an average of 17 years, recording deaths from stroke, heart attacks, and other cardiovascular diseases and comparing the rate of their occurrence with that of the general population. In all, cardiovascular disease accounted for 4 percent of all deaths under the age of 40 and 8 percent over the age of 40 — much higher than among people without diabetes. “”These observations emphasize the vital need to identify and treat known cardiovascular disease factors in young people with diabetes,”" Laing says. More information Learn more about diabetes and heart disease from the American Heart Association or the American Diabetes Association. SOURCES: Susan P. Laing, Ph.D., epidemiologist, Institute of Cancer Research, Surrey, England; Francine R. Kaufman, M.D., endocrinologist, Children’s Hospital, Los Angeles; February 2003 Stroke Copyright
Statin Alternatives
Statin alternatives February 6, 1005 By: Ivanhoe Broadcast News
Cholesterol-lowering drugs like Lipitor and Zocor have become household names, but is there a more natural way to lower cholesterol? Many experts say yes, and it may be easier than you think. One natural way to lower cholesterol is the Portfolio diet. Registered Dietician Sheah Rarback from the University of Miami School of Medicine says the diet works because of its cumulative effect. “”They’ve taken foods that have been known individually to lower cholesterol levels and put them all together in an eating plan to see ho dramatic a decrease in cholesterol you an get, and the results were pretty amazing,”" Rarback said. A study in The Journal of the American Medical Association shows patients who followed the Portfolio diet had a 30 percent reduction in LDL (bad) cholesterol. That’s about the same reduction as those on statins had. The Portfolio diet includes almonds, beans, fruits, vegetables and whole grains. It replaces meat with soy and focuses on fiber. Citrus is another natural alternative to statin drugs. Research chemist John Manthey from the Agricultural Research Service in Winter Haven, Fla., and colleagues conducted a study and found compounds in orange and tangerine peels lowered cholesterol and triglyceride levels by about 40 percent in animals. Now those same compounds are in human trials, and the results look encouraging. “”So, it just offers another way that people will be able to control these blood lipid profile problems. I think citrus, overall, has a very strong cardio-protective effect,”" Rarback said. The supplement version of the compound Manthey is studying is currently available under the brand name Sytrinol. Manthey says a person would have to eat between 10 and 20 orange peels a day to get the same benefit that the compound offers. Exercising frequently can also lower cholesterol by up to 20 percent. However, you’ll have to burn 1,500 calories a week to reap that benefit. That’s about three to four hours of moderate activity. Some other ways to lower cholesterol include consuming Walnuts Garlic Omega-3 fatty acids Soy milk Red wine Chocolate
Antioxidants Substantually Reduce Prostate Cancer Risk
Prostate Cancer - Antioxidant Blood Levels Key To MnSOD Gene March 15, 2004
Greater levels of selenium, vitamin E and the tomato nutrient lycopene have been shown to reduce prostate cancer in one out of every four Caucasian males — those who inherit a specific genetic variation that’s particularly sensitive to oxidative stress.
Conversely, if carriers of this genetic variant have low levels of these vitamins and minerals, their risk of aggressive prostate increases substantially, as great as 10-fold, over their cohorts who maintain higher levels of these nutrients.
These results, published in the March 15 issue of the journal Cancer Research, were based on the analysis of 567 men diagnosed with prostate cancer between 1982 and 1995, and 764 cancer-free men from the Physicians Health Study (PHS).
“”This large prospective study provides further evidence that oxidative stress may be one of the important mechanisms for prostate cancer development and progression, and adequate intake of antioxidants, such as selenium, lycopene and vitamin E, may help prevent prostate cancer,”" said Haojie Li, M.D., Ph.D., a researcher at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Destructive molecules known as “”free radicals”" have been shown to team up with oxygen in the human body resulting in oxidative stress and what some scientists believe is an assortment of age-related ailments. As a result, many believe that consumption of antioxidants can slow that process.
“”Our study, as well as many other epidemiological studies, encourages dietary intake of nutrients such as lycopene from tomato products, or supplements for vitamin E and selenium to reduce risk of prostate cancer,”" said Li.
The initial goal of the PHS study was to assess the effect of aspirin and beta carotene on men’s health. Since blood samples collected in 1982 were available from many of the study’s participants, the research team decided to review variants for the gene that codes for manganese superoxide dismutatase (MnSOD), an important enzyme that works as an antioxidant in human cells to defend against disease. The MnSOD gene is passed from parents to offspring in one of three forms: VV, VA or AA.
“”Compared with men with the MnSOD VV or VA genotype, people with the AA genotype seem to be more sensitive to the antioxidant status,”" said Li. “”Men with the AA genotype are more susceptible to prostate cancer if their antioxidant levels are low.”"
The study’s results found that a quarter of the men in the study carried the MnSOD AA genotype, half carried the VA genotype, and the remaining quarter carried the VV genotype.
The results indicated that the VA and VV men were at equivalent risk for developing prostate cancer across all levels of antioxidants in their blood. Compared to MnSOD VV or VA carriers with low selenium - those men in the lowest quartile of the study group - MnSOD AA males had an 89 percent greater risk for developing aggressive prostate cancer if blood levels for selenium were low.
On the other hand, MnSOD AA carriers with high selenium - those men in the highest quartile - had a 65 percent lower risk than the MnSOD VV or VA males who maintained low levels of selenium.
“”The levels of selenium in the highest quartile of these men are not abnormally high,”" Li said. “”Our range is neither extremely high nor extremely low.”"
While similar trends were observed for lycopene and vitamin E when tested independently, the contrast in relative risk was most pronounced for the men who had high blood levels for all three antioxidants combined.
“”Among men with the MnSOD AA genotype, we observed a 10-fold difference in risk for aggressive prostate cancer, when comparing men with high versus low levels of antioxidants combined,”" said Li. “”In contrast, among men with the VV or VA genotype, the prostate cancer risk was only weakly altered by these antioxidant levels.”"
Similar interactions between dietary antioxidants and the variations in the MnSOD gene have previously been linked to risk for breast cancer.
Founded in 1907, the American Association for Cancer Research is a professional society of more than 24,000 laboratory, translational, and clinical scientists engaged in all areas of cancer research in the United States and in more than 60 other countries. AACR’s mission is to accelerate the prevention and cure of cancer through research, education, communication, and advocacy. Its principal activities include the publication of five major peer-reviewed scientific journals: Cancer Research; Clinical Cancer Research; Molecular Cancer Therapeutics; Molecular Cancer Research; and Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. AACR’s Annual Meeting attracts more than 15,000 participants who share new and significant discoveries in the cancer field. Specialty meetings, held throughout the year, focus on the latest developments in all areas of cancer research.
Contact: Russell Vanderboom, Ph.D. vanderboom@aacr.org 215-440-9300 American Association for Cancer Research http://www.aacr.org
Licorice Reduces Testosterone Levels in Males
Liquorice Extract Reduces Male Hormone Levels September 18, 2003
New findings suggest that chemicals in liquorice, used as a remedy for gastrointestinal disorders, could have an effect on testosterone levels.
New research, presented at the British Pharmaceutical Conference this week, follows previous studies that have suggested such an effect on men, although the results have proved controversial.
Reduced testosterone levels were reported in an Italian study in 1999, but US researchers were unable to replicate this finding in a study published in the Lancet two years later.
In the new research, a team from Iran, led by Dr Mahmoud Mosaddegh from the Traditional Medicine & Materia Medica Research Centre at Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, in Tehran, investigated the effect of liquorice root extract in 20 healthy male volunteers. The group took 1.3 g of dried extract (containing around 400-500 mg glycyrrhizic acid) daily for 10 days. Blood samples were collected before the study and for 20 days to measure testosterone levels.
There was found to be a significant decrease in serum testosterone levels after 10 days
Vitamin E Cuts Prostate Cancer Risk by 50%
Vitamin E Reduces Prostate Cancer Risk By 50% March 3, 2005 High blood levels of either alpha-tocopherol or gamma-tocopherol, both forms of vitamin E, appeared to halve the risk of prostate cancer in a new analysis of the ATBC trial, which supports earlier results showing that the vitamin protects against the cancer.
Original findings from the ATBC study, which included nearly 30,000 Finnish men, showed that daily supplements of alpha-tocopherol (50mg) reduced the risk of prostate cancer by 32 per cent.
In a new analysis, Professor Virtamo, based at the National Public Health Institute in Helsinki, Finland, and colleagues from the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center looked at the impact of circulating vitamin E levels on 100 individuals with prostate cancer and 200 cancer-free controls participating in the trial.
Men with the highest levels of alpha-tocopherol in their blood at baseline were 51 per cent less likely to develop prostate cancer than those with the lowest levels, they reported in yesteday
Lipitor: Memory Thief
Lipitor: Memory Thief Transient Global Amnesia (TGA) Statin Drugs and the Misguided War On Cholesterol
This is an incredible book. A must read for anyone who is even remotely interested in how our sickness care, billed as health care, system works. Dr. Graveline, like many, obviously a very conscientious doctor, was suddenly faced with a number of dilemmas when he experienced transient global amnesia (memory loss) induced by Lipitor (one of the statin cholesterol lowering drugs). Interestingly the manufacturer even proclaims that there is no connection with its use to prevent heart disease or heart attacks yet the use of this useless drug continuers through slick marketing This short eminently readable work discusses, among other issues, what Transient Global Amnesia (TGA) is, how the statin drugs work, the myth of the Cholesterol/Modified Low Fat Diet etc. of special interest is the role of cholesterol particularly in the brain. It is shown how statins can transverse the blood brain barrier and interfere with the normal functioning of the brain. This is most important in those who have a dramatic reduction when using statins …”"abrupt, major decreases of serum cholesterol from statin drug therapy should be taken more as a warning than as an indication of success, for cognitive side effects seemed more likely to occur in these cases.”"… Mention is made of a …”"recent PROSPER trial published in Lancet, that statin therapy increased the incidence of cancer deaths , completely offsetting the SLIGHT decrease in deaths from cardiovascular disease and further complicating interpretation of reported benefits from statin therapy.”" Not to mention other significant side effects of liver/kidney damage, muscle pain/injury, Coenzyme 10 (CQ10) depletion essential for heart health and continued deficiency of heart essential Vitamin Bs and other nutrients. Their is a cogent discussion between correlation of good diet and disease. This alone is worth the price of the book. No one, but no one, has ever had a drug deficiency yet our medical system continues to discourage the use of nutrients in lieu of generally toxic drugs! They never even look at the underlying causes which these drugs sadly mask - much to the detriment of the patient. Given the benefits of cholesterol lowering borders more on speculation then in fact (mostly from manipulated statistics) it is surprising that there is a need to reduce cholesterol at all. Yet both Drs. Graveline and Cohen (in the forward) still seem to feel the need to do so indicates how ingrained the cholesterol lowering mantra has taken hold in the medical community. Should your doctor suggest statins or for that matter any other cholesterol lowering drug just say “”here take this (book) and call me in the morning….”" Chris Gupta