CANCER
S.F. General study seeks 300,000
San Francisco General Hospital is seeking volunteers to participate in a national study tracking the effects of lifestyle, behavioral, environmental and genetic factors on cancer rates and prognoses.
The study is being organized by the American Cancer Society, and researchers hope to enroll 300,000 adults from a wide variety of ethnic and racial backgrounds around the United States.
Participants must be between the ages of 30 and 65 and never diagnosed with cancer. After signing up, participants will be asked to fill out a lengthy survey online, then undergo a brief physical exam that includes a waist measurement and blood draw. Participants will be expected to complete follow-up surveys every two to three years for the next two to three decades.
Two enrollment drives are taking place in San Francisco – on Oct. 12 at San Francisco General Hospital and on Oct. 20 in Golden Gate Park. For more details about the enrollment drives or the study itself, go to www.cps3sanfrancisco.org.
- Erin Allday
DIABETES
Discovery may aid Type 1 treatment
Stanford researchers have identified a molecular pathway that is critical to the growth and survival of beta cells, the pancreatic cells that are responsible for producing insulin.
Their discovery, which was described in the July issue of the journal Developmental Cell, could give scientists new avenues for treating Type 1 diabetes, which is caused by the failure of beta cells to produce insulin.
Scientists have been trying to grow beta cells in the lab to replace those lost or broken in Type 1 diabetics. The discovery, known as a molecular signaling pathway, offers another clue toward creating replacement beta cells.
The Stanford researchers found that the molecular pathway plays an important role in the maturation of beta cells shortly after birth in mice and humans. In mice, when the pathway was inactivated, the animals produced less insulin, had fewer beta cells and died within three months of severe diabetes.
- Erin Allday
CANCER
Clathrin could be key to cell division
UCSF researchers have discovered that a protein called clathrin plays a critical role in cell division and could help scientists better understand how cancer develops.
Clathrin, a protein found in every human cell, serves to transport materials within the cells. Researchers discovered that they could make cells divide erratically and unevenly – one of the hallmark traits of cancer cells – by deleting a compound of clathrin.
The discovery, featured on the cover of the August edition of the Journal of Cell Biology, may reveal clues about how cells develop abnormalities that appear to be associated with cancer when they divide.
- Victoria Colliver
STEM CELL RESEARCH
State awards $100 million
California’s stem cell funding agency has awarded $100 million to researchers working on basic biology as well as those focusing on specific diseases such as heart disease, muscular dystrophy and retinitis pigmentosa.
The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine last week awarded $63 million to four institutions and companies including StemCells Inc. The Newark company received $20 million to fund preclinical development of its proprietary stem cell product for Alzheimer’s disease. The adult stem cells, injected into the brain of animals, appear to help protect existing nerve cells.
The agency awarded $38 million to 28 other projects as part of its basic biology awards program. The program focuses on research to gain better understanding of the different kinds of stem cells and how to work with them. Recipients included researchers from Stanford University, UCSF, the J. David Gladstone Institutes and Novato’s Buck Institute for Age Research.
- Victoria Colliver
MALARIA
Sri Lanka lauded for reducing cases
Researchers from the UCSF Global Health Group and Sri Lanka’s Anti-Malaria Campaign highlighted Sri Lanka’s ability nearly to wipe out malaria despite the country’s 26-year civil war, which ended in 2009.
Malaria control programs typically weaken in countries experiencing conflict, leading to increased risk of outbreaks and epidemics. But Sri Lanka succeeded in reducing malaria cases by 99.9 percent since 1999 and is on track to completely eliminate the disease by 2014.
In a paper published Aug. 29 in the online journal PLoS One, researchers determined that the ability of the country’s anti-malaria efforts to be flexible helped it to continue reducing cases of the disease during wartime. Sri Lanka deployed mobile clinics to hard-to-reach places and used innovative methods to control mosquitoes such as distributing insecticide-treated nets when spraying was impossible.
- Victoria Colliver
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