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A.
New Insights Into Cancer Development & Treatment
Narrator: This is Science Today. New evidence
in cancer development has uncovered a molecular
dialogue between cells that can trigger the onset
of cancer. A team of researchers at the University
of California, San Francisco, including urologic
oncologist Gary Grossfeld, discovered abnormal epithelial
cells from human prostates that were part-way towards
becoming cancerous, were finally pushed towards
cancer by neighboring cells called carcinoma-associated
fibroblasts.
Grossfeld: We found that when the initiated
cells were grown with normal fibroblasts that they
did not form tumors. But when they were grown with
carcinoma-associated fibroblasts, large tumors formed.
Narrator: Current treatment targets epithelial
cells, which line the surfaces of many organs besides
the prostate, and are the cells from which most
cancers - including breast and colon - arise. But
these findings suggest therapy may instead be directed
towards these carcinoma-associated fibroblasts.
Grossfeld: Our eventual goal is actually
to discover how these cells talk to each other.
If we can figure out how they talk to each other
and what's abnormal, if we can interrupt that, I
think that then we can treat patients and I think
it's very, very exciting.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa
Branin.
B.
Uncovering The Possible Cause Of Colitis
Narrator: This is Science Today. New treatment
may be on the way for colitis, a form of chronic inflammatory
bowel disease that afflicts thousands each year. A
group of international researchers led by Dr. Nigel
Bunnett of the University of California, San Francisco,
discovered colitis was up to five times worse when
a certain enzyme called NEP was not around to break
down a signaling chemical called substance P, which
is involved in painful inflammation.
Bunnett: So when NEP is gone, substance P can
continue to signal in an abnormal way and that causes
an exaggerated inflammatory response which is worse
and which is more prolonged than under normal circumstances.
Narrator: In the lab, colitis was prevented
when this cycle was broken.
Bunnett: Theoretically, you could treat the
colitis by giving people the NEP enzyme or by giving
them substance P blockers which are bio-available
and easy to synthesize and administer.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
C.
How The TB Microbe Outsmarts The Immune System
Narrator: This is Science Today. Researchers
at the University of California, San Francisco, have
shed light on a longstanding mystery about how the
tuberculosis microbe can outsmart a healthy immune
system and cause disease. Dr. Joel Ernst is an infectious
disease specialist.
Ernst: Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is
the bacteria that cause TB, has devised means of infecting
a tremendous number of people without killing them
quickly.
Narrator: That's because this crafty bacterium,
which actually lodges inside killer immune cells called
macrophages, disrupts the final stage of the macrophage's
biochemical battle by blocking signals from interferon
gamma - a protein needed to stimulate macrophages
into action.
Ernst: I think the importance of what we've
done so far is to simply reinforce and to show that
a vaccine strategy directed at Mycobacterium tuberculosis
is not likely to be successful if the only effect
of the vaccine is to induce other cells in the immune
system to produce interferon gamma when they recognize
Mycobacterial tuberculosis.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
D.
The Risk Factors Of Bone Death
Narrator: This is Science Today. The exact
cause of bone death, or osteonecrosis, is still relatively
unknown. But Dr. Jay Lieberman, an assistant professor
of orthopedic surgery at UCLA, says of the twenty
thousand new cases of hip osteonecrosis each year,
certain risk factors - such as trauma, the use of
steroids or alcohol abuse - seem to be associated.
Lieberman: There are other diseases that are
associated with it also - lupus, rheumatoid arthritis,
Crohn's Disease. Some people think there's a high
risk if you have diabetes mellitus.
Narrator: Lieberman says not knowing the exact
cause and natural history of the disease is one of
the major problems in treating osteonecrosis.
Lieberman: And what I mean by natural history
is, we don't know how many people are walking around
with osteonecrosis of the hip who never become symptomatic.
Even when we talk about patients who take steroids
or patients who have problems with alcohol abuse or
these other diseases - the vast majority of these
patients never develop osteonecrosis. So in general,
we most often pick it up because a patient starts
complaining of hip pain.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
E.
Distracting Yourself From Depression
Narrator:
This is Science Today. One of the hardest aspects
about getting over a depression is breaking the cycle
of negative rumination. Psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky
of the University of California, Riverside says rather
than dwell on a depressed mood, try distraction.
Lyubomirsky: At least temporarily, so that
you can address some of the problems, because often
there are problems in your life associated with a
depression. Rumination, really it feeds a vicious
cycle between depressed mood and rumination. You think
about it, you start thinking about the implications,
it gets you more depressed, then your mood is even
more bias and it spirals out of control and then a
full-scale depression results.
Narrator: In her studies on depression, Lyubomirsky
says keeping a strong social support network is also
very important when it comes to therapy.
Lyubomirsky: Just having some close friends
and family members works a great deal. So try to spend
time with other people, try to distract yourself when
you find yourself dwelling on the negative.
Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.
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