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In This Issue:
 Research suggests glucose testing via teardrops is possible
Obesity is linked to increased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma
FDA revokes approval of Avastin for treatment of breast cancer
Quest Diagnostics CE marks Simplexa test for cytomegalovirus for European Sale
RFID a hot topic at AABB annual meeting
Inhibiting Siah2 protein may reduce effects of low oxygen during heart attacks
A better way to count molecules
Hot Clips: Influenza
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Research suggests glucose testing via teardrops is possible
The day may come when people with diabetes no longer have to endure multiple daily finger-pricks with lancets to monitor their blood sugar levels. Research on laboratory animals has shown that glucose levels can be reliably measured via teardrops. Scientists at the University of Michigan have developed a chemical sensor that successfully measured blood glucose in the teardrops of a dozen rabbits. Although commercial use of the electrochemical glucometer is years away, and although lancet pricks would still be necessary periodically in order for users to calibrate the sensor device, this could be a revolutionary development for people with diabetes; studies show they are often reluctant to keep up their regimen of self-monitoring because of the pain of the pinpricks.
An estimated 26 million Americans have diabetes, and multiple studies suggest that the number may increase in years to come, so researchers have been devoting much attention to developing less invasive techniques for self monitoring. Using the new technology, patients would take a very small volume of tear from their eyes with a tiny capillary tube and then move it to the handheld sensor to measure the glucose level. The study originally appeared in Analytical Chemistry magazine, published by the American Chemical Society (ACS). Visit ACS for more information.
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Obesity is linked to increased risk of non-Hodgkin lymphoma
A report delivered at last month’s conference of the American Association for Cancer Research’s Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research (AACR-FCPR) showed that obesity when young may be linked to a greater risk of developing non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) later in life. Men and women whose Body Mass Index (BMI) figures defined them as obese as young adults showed a significantly higher risk in two long-term studies. Consumption of dietary fat was not associated with an increased risk of NHL, but an increased intake of vegetables seemed to have an effect of protecting people from the cancer. In addition, the effects of current obesity were studied; it was linked with increased NHL risk in men, but not in women.
The link was identified through the Health Professionals’ Follow-Up Study, which included more than 47,000 participants; and the Nurses’ Health Study, which included more than 91,000. The study subjects, none of whom had a history of cancer, kept records of diet and lifestyle behaviors over periods of more than 20 years. NHL has been a disease that has not been linked to modifiable risk factors before, so the research findings provide valuable new information about the health risks of obesity. For more information and an audio report by the study author, visit Medpage Today.
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FDA revokes approval of Avastin for treatment of breast cancer
“I did not come to this decision lightly,” said Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg on November 18. She was referring to the FDA’s decision to revoke its 2008 approval of Avastin, manufactured by Genentech, for marketing as a treatment for metastasized breast cancer. The FDA concluded that the drug’s effect on tumor growth was minor, while its side effects, including severe hypertension, bleeding, and heart attack, outweighed its benefits.
Doctors may still prescribe Avastin, but insurers might not cover it. Medicare administrators announced that the government insurance plan for seniors will continue to pay for the drug, though it will “monitor the issue and evaluate coverage options.” Annually, Avastin infusion can cost up to $100,000.
The FDA urged Genentech to continue to conduct research into more targeted use of Avastin—for example, prescribing it for people with breast cancer whose tumors present certain genetic characteristics. If such research is fruitful, Dr. Hamburg said, the FDA would reconsider. In the meantime, the manufacturer and its parent company Roche may lose as much as $1 billion a year in sales of Avastin. For more details, read the news story filed by the Associated Press.
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Quest Diagnostics CE marks Simplexa test for cytomegalovirus for European sale
Quest Diagnostics Incorporated announced November 15 that its Focus Diagnostics business has CE marked its new Simplexa Cytomegalovirus (CMV) molecular test kit on the 3M Integrated Cycler for distribution to approximately 35 countries in Europe. The test is designed to enable hospital labs to perform advanced molecular testing for cytomegalovirus (CMV), a potentially fatal virus infection in patients with compromised immunity, particularly those undergoing organ transplantation. Europe represents the largest organ transplantation market in the world, with more than 31,000 organ transplant procedures performed in 2010, according to an analysis by Global Industry Analysis, Inc.
As with other members of the herpes virus family, CMV is typically latent after primary infection. It can reactivate when the immune system is significantly weakened, such as following organ transplantation, and cause fever, organ rejection, and even death.
The Simplexa CMV test employs real-time polymerase chain reaction to quantitatively detect CMV in whole blood specimens and plasma. With the CE mark of the Simplexa CMV test, Focus Diagnostics has one of the most comprehensive molecular transplant-testing menus in the European marketplace. In early 2011, Simplexa EBV and Simplexa BK quantitative assays were granted CE-IVD status. Focus Diagnostics also offers molecular primer pairs for the development of laboratory tests, including JC virus, varicella-zoster virus (VZV), adenovirus and human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6). For a full press release, visit Quest Diagnostics.
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RFID a hot topic at AABB annual meeting
Among many fascinating sessions at last month’s annual meeting of AABB was one that focused on the implementation of radiofrequency identification, or RFID, solutions in blood centers and hospitals. The moderator and speakers discussed the journey of a group of blood center and hospital facilities and their academic and technology partners—the Transfusion Medicine RFID Consortium—as they defined, developed, and began testing RFID technology and an RFID-based application.
The speakers established that to realize the benefits of RFID, the industry must establish definitions and adopt consistent standards for its use throughout the blood supply chain. RFID must also be integrated with existing and planned barcoding and labeling standards as well as blood and transfusion systems already in use. They also discussed questions of RFID safety, survivability, and performance, and revealed that high-frequency (HF) RFID tags had no measurable impact on blood products and that the FDA has provided the go-ahead to the consortium for activities using HF RFID with blood products. They also showed portions of RFID-based applications that will be piloted early in 2012 at the Blood Center of Wisconsin. One speaker, Ram Venkatesh, CEO of S3Edge, excited session attendees by looking forward to “an exciting development on the horizon: Smartphones with RFID built in.” For more details on this far-reaching session, visit the AABB summary page.
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Inhibiting Siah2 protein may reduce effects of low oxygen during heart attacks
A paper published in the journal Molecular Cell establishes that the protein Siah2 regulates the fragmentation of cell mitochondria when the oxygen supply to cells is reduced—as in heart attacks—and demonstrates that inhibiting this protein (in a mouse model that simulates heart attack) can reduce heart cell death due to oxygen deprivation. Thus, tissue damage can be minimized. Siah2 tags other proteins with the ubiquitin molecule, leading to their destruction; it is directly implicated in determining which cells remain active and which die during a change in the cellular environment, such as reduced oxygen (hypoxia). By decreasing Siah2 in mice, researchers caused the fission of mitochondria to be decreased, and with it the death of tissue. Says Dr. Ze’ev Ronai of the Sanford-Burnham Medical Institute, “By manipulating mitochondrial dynamics, we can help cells adapt to ischemic conditions in a way that might translate into a new treatment option for patients who’ve experienced a heart attack.”
To learn more about the interaction between Siah2 and two key regulating proteins, whose combination hastens mitochondrial fragmentation, and for more details on this potentially groundbreaking approach to cardiac care, visit Molecular Cell online at Science Direct.
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A better way to count molecules
Researchers at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have developed a new method for counting molecules. Quantifying the amounts of different kinds of RNA and DNA molecules is a fundamental task in molecular biology, as these molecules store and transfer the genetic information in cells. Thus, improved measurement techniques are crucial for understanding both normal and cancer cells.
It is very difficult to detect small individual molecules in a complex mixture. Therefore, the signal is usually first amplified by making many copies of each molecule. Unfortunately, the copying complicates tracking the exact number of original molecules. It is virtually impossible to tell afterwards exactly how many times each original molecule was copied, as all copies originating from the same type of molecules are indistinguishable from each other.
In an article published by the scientific journal Nature Methods researchers present a method in which the molecules are first artificially made different so that the copies made from different original molecules can later be distinguished. Then the molecules can be efficiently counted using the new high-throughput sequencers that can read millions of short DNA stretches in parallel. This enables counting the absolute number of molecules in a cell sample, whereas many current methods only measure relative differences between samples. For more information, visit the Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News Highlights page at Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News.
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