Man Health Magazine

Stem cell innovators find a way to cut out cancer

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Researchers who figured out how to make valued embryonic stem cells out of ordinary skin cells said on Friday they had found a way to cut one cancer-causing ingredient out of the mix.

But it came at a price -- the method may be safer, but it is also less efficient.

Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University in Japan said the findings, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, demonstrate that the stem cell breakthrough may have been exciting, but is nowhere near ready to be used in humans.

Earlier this month, teams led by Yamanaka and James Thomson of the University of Wisconsin in Madison each reported separately that they had used four genes to transform ordinary skin cells called fibroblasts into induced pluripotent stem cells -- iPS cells for short.

Their reports showed a way to get perfectly matched cells from patients that have at least some of the powers of embryonic stem cells, but without having to use cloning technology or embryos.

The hope is to find a way for new medical treatments that can make use of the body's own regenerative powers.

Yamanaka's team, working with a team at the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease in San Francisco, used different genes than Thomson's team did.

One of the four genes in Yamanaka's restorative cocktail is called c-Myc1. They grew live mice from their new cells, but later found that the mice were prone to develop tumors.

So they left out c-Myc1. It worked, although not nearly as well. The new method was about half as efficient, they reported.

"Mice derived from Myc-negative iPS cells did not develop tumors during the study period," they wrote. "Future study is required to determine whether these mice develop tumors later in life," they added.

"Furthermore, we generated human iPS cells from adult dermal fibroblasts without MYC."

Both teams of researchers say they are still trying to fine-tune the precise genetic cocktail needed to turn back the clock on skin cells and make them act as if they came from a days-old human embryo -- one with just eight or so cells, each one of which has the power to give rise to all the tissues and cells found in the human body.

Yamanaka's team said it is possible that the other three genes they used -- called Oct3/4, Sox2 and Klf4 -- may somehow activate Myc that naturally is found in the DNA of the skin cells.

Politicians have welcomed the reports of reprogramming normal cells and said it shows there is no need to continue work on controversial stem cells taken from human embryos.

But most scientists in the field say it is important to continue to work with all kinds of stem cells, as scientists still do not understand quite how they work -- or how to use them in treating people.

(Editing by Will Dunham and Eric Walsh)

Bush announces Africa trip, presses for AIDS funds

By Matt Spetalnick

MOUNT AIRY, Maryland (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Friday announced a trip to Africa early next year for a first-hand look at U.S.-sponsored HIV/AIDS programs and pressed Congress to approve a doubling of funds to combat the disease globally.

Bush used an appearance at a church in Mount Airy, Maryland, the day before World AIDS Day to reaffirm his administration's multibillion-dollar commitment to fighting what he called the "scourge of HIV/AIDS."

"We rededicate ourselves to a great purpose. We will turn the tide against HIV/AIDS, once and for all," Bush said after meeting members of nongovernmental organizations and faith-based groups working in the hardest-hit countries.

AIDS activists have praised Bush's global anti-AIDS effort for getting life-extending drugs to people who otherwise would go without them, but have criticized its prevention measures for focusing too heavily on encouraging sexual abstinence.

Police arrested about 40 people staging a sit-in protest on the sidewalk in front of the White House against requirements in the U.S. program that at least a third of the funds be directed to promoting sexual abstinence until marriage.

Offering an upbeat assessment of his administration's anti-AIDS effort, Bush said he and first lady Laura Bush would visit sub-Saharan Africa early next year to see "the results of America's generosity."

He gave no dates or itinerary for the trip, his second to the region since taking office in 2001. He made a five-nation tour in 2003 during which he visited AIDS patients in Uganda.

Bush sees his initiatives against AIDS and malaria as foreign policy successes, and a trip to Africa in his final year in office could underscore that and give a boost to a legacy expected to be dominated by the unpopular war in Iraq.

Flanked by participants from Friday's meeting outside Washington, Bush urged Congress to authorize legislation doubling the U.S. financial commitment to combat AIDS globally to $30 billion over five years, starting next year.

The program is focused on 15 countries -- 12 in Africa, plus Vietnam, Haiti and Guyana.

In 2003 Bush launched a five-year, $15 billion initiative called the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, to provide drugs to treat people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS and support prevention efforts.

"I call on Congress to show America's leadership and compassion by reauthorizing the emergency plan," he said.

More than 33 million people are infected with the AIDS virus, according to the latest U.N. estimate.

Bush said the U.S. plan had helped increase the number of people in sub-Saharan Africa receiving antiretroviral drugs to 1.4 million from 50,000 five years ago.

(Editing by Vicki Allen)

Many gene tests a waste of money: experts

By Ben Hirschler

LONDON (Reuters) - Genetic tests to assess disease risk are proliferating but many are a waste of money and tell people little more than they would know from studying family history, medical experts said on Friday.

A host of companies now offer tests, typically costing hundreds of dollars, to calculate genetic risks for common conditions like cancer, diabetes and heart disease that involve multiple genes.

But Christine Patch, a genetic counselor at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and a member of Britain's Human Genetics Commission, said most had little clinical relevance.

"My message is you are wasting your money," she told a news briefing.

People also faced either unnecessary anxiety, if a test showed a raised risk, or false reassurance, if they were given an all-clear, she added.

Paul Pharoah, from the Cancer Research UK department of oncology at Cambridge University, said real strides were being made in science but researchers still did not know enough about enough genes for tests to be really useful.

Scientists have linked a growing number of genes to common diseases but these genes typically interact in a complicated fashion and their ultimate effect is influenced by environmental factors in ways that are poorly understood.

GENOME-WIDE SEARCH

The field of genetic testing has traditionally involved looking at a few specific genes.

But that is changing with the launch of new genome-wide searches that promise a brave new world of targeted healthcare, in which each individual can see his or her genetic code.

Two companies, Iceland's Decode Genetics Inc and 23andMe, a U.S. firm funded by Google Inc, launched rival services earlier this month offering people a glimpse of their entire genome for just under $1,000.

A third unlisted U.S. company, Navigenics, is set to join the fray shortly.

Stuart Hogarth of the Institute for Science and Society at University of Nottingham said the entry of these new players, with substantial financial backing, highlighted the growing commercialization of the gene testing business.

The risk, however, was that business development plans were running ahead of science, while regulators were left floundering with an inadequate system of oversight.

"We still do not have a regulatory framework that can control this burgeoning field," Hogarth said.

"In the absence of such a regulatory system, we are in severe danger of losing public confidence in what is a very promising and very exciting field of science."

The field of genetic testing has been revolutionized not only by scientific breakthroughs but also by the development of smart chips from the likes of Affymetrix Inc and Illumina Inc, which can test DNA at various sites along a person's genome.

(Reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Rory Channing)

Elderly to benefit from newer heart stents

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Stents coated with the drug sirolimus are safe and effective for treating elderly heart patients with blocked coronary arteries, according to a new report.

For elderly patients undergoing angioplasty with insertion of stents to prop open their coronary arteries, the risks are 2- to 4-fold higher than for younger patients, the authors explain in the American Heart Journal.

The so-call sirolimus-eluting stents, which go by the brand name Cypher, have been shown to reduce the chance of arteries becoming blocked again, and therefore the need for another operation. However, so far, there has been limited experience using the stents in patients older than 75 years.

Dr. Marcus Wiemer from University Bochum, in Bad Oeynhausen, Germany and colleagues compared outcomes in 954 patients older than 75 years with 5801 younger patients enrolled in the German Cypher Registry.

The team found that the mortality rate in the hospital was higher in the older patients (1.0 percent) than in the younger patients (0.3 percent), but there was no significant difference in heart attacks or the need for repeat procedures.

After 6 months, the overall mortality was 3-fold higher in the elderly group, but both groups showed significant improvement in symptoms, the report indicates.

The investigators say even between octogenarians and patients younger than 80 years old, there were no differences in hospital deaths or major adverse coronary events after 6 months.

These results provide "strong evidence that sirolimus-eluting stent implantation in the elderly and in very old patients is feasible and ... should be recommended," the authors conclude.

"A common concern of doctors and patients that the elderly will have more problems or side effects during or after interventions" was not seen in this study, Wiemer told Reuters Health.

He explained that even these newer stents don't improve the prognosis for people with coronary artery disease, "but we can improve the symptoms significantly."

Angina caused by coronary disease is not only painful, "it causes fear of death," he continued. To deny elderly patients treatment that eases these symptoms is "unethical."

SOURCE: American Heart Journal, October 2007.

China lists substandard Wal-Mart, Carrefour goods

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has published a blacklist of substandard toy jugs and children's shoes sold at Wal-Mart stores and drawing pens from French retailer Carrefour in a quality sweep on children's goods sold at Beijing supermarkets.

China has been buffeted by food, drug and other product safety scares in past months. More than 20 million toys made there have been recalled worldwide over the past four months.

In response, Beijing has promised to crack down on faulty manufacturers and suppliers, but also said much responsibility lies with foreign regulators and buyers. It has also made a point of naming foreign companies it claims also have problem products.

A Wal-Mart Stores Inc spokesman, Jonathan Dong, said the blacklist -- which appeared on an official Web site on Thursday -- was more than two months old and the products, made in China, had long been cleared from the shelves.

Inspectors had also blacklisted children's toys at Wal-Mart stores in Beijing for problems regarding parts that could come off and cause harm if swallowed, the Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce said on its Web site (www.hd315.gov.cn).

The 54-item blacklist also included substandard children's glasses, toothbrushes, building blocks and bikes with shoddy brakes and handlebars, at a number of Chinese retailers.

"If consumers have bought the substandard goods, with proof of purchase they can request the vendor to recall the goods," the notice said.

Six children's products stocked at Wal-Mart branches in Beijing had failed to meet standards, the notice said.

Wal-Mart's "Bo bo" brand of "water jugs" had failed plastic integrity standards, according to the notice.

"Over a long period of use, toxins could accumulate in the body and cause harm," the notice said.

Wal-Mart spokesman Dong confirmed the blacklist and said the retailer had been notified of the quality results. He said he was not sure why the notice had appeared on the Web site on Thursday.

"I guess they just wanted to be transparent about it," he said.

Dong said any versions of the products now on sale had been deemed safe, but customers with doubts could nonetheless return them.

Last week, Wal-Mart was one of 20 companies sued by the California attorney general and Los Angeles city attorney for manufacturing or selling toys with unlawfully high levels of lead.

Chinese-made Carrefour drawing pens were found with excessive levels of lead and chromium. A Carrefour spokesman contacted by phone was unable to provide immediate comment and requested an e-mail of questions.

The Chinese producer of the bead toys that caused recalls in the United States and Australia has apologized for using a toxic "date-rape" drug and damaging the reputation of the made-in-China label, state media said on Thursday.

Vice Premier Wu Yi arrived in Guangdong on Wednesday for "secret" spot checks on food safety, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post reported.

She heads one of 12 inspection teams that were checking hundreds of outlets on Thursday, officials were quoted as saying.