Promising protein discovered for new drugs against tuberculosis

     

What is Tuberculosis? Short answer, a bacterial disease that effects the lungs. Now we hear of cases all the time about TB outbreaks or even just mild TB cases but we have not been able to find a way to prevent these cases/outbreaks… until now, hopefully? Leiden biologist Annemarie Meijer and her colleagues discovered a protein which triggers the process that the immune cells use to keep tuberculosis under control by breaking them down. This protein is DRAM1 and is hopefully the potential target towards new drugs. It was recently discovered that immune cells can destroy bacteria by what is essentially eating them. Which they do when there is a risk of a bacterial outbreak. In the study they infected zebra fish embryos with TB and DRAM1 and noticed that the DRAM1stimulates the process by which macrophages ‘eat’ the bacteria. Proving that DRAM1 will hopefully be used to prevent TB cases/outbreaks.  

 

Zebra fish.

Credit: Image courtesy of Leiden, Universiteit

Cite:

Leiden, Universiteit. "Promising protein discovered for new drugs against tuberculosis." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 11 June 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/06/140611131745.htm>.



How Ebola blocks immune system

Ebola Virus

Well just like the whole world is on watch for the Ebola outbreak so shall I! recently I read an article in which they discuss the process of how the Ebola virus blocks our immune system making it deadly, researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine identified one way the Ebola viruses dodges the bodies antiviral defenses, which they believe that having such an understanding could lead to new therapies. Basically in the article with the research that has been done they were able to tell that the Ebola protein VP24, binds to a host protein in our body signaling molecules in and out of the cell’s nucleus . The study concluded that the viral protein takes away the host protein’s ability to carry an important immune signal into the nucleus. The signal helps activate the immune system’s antiviral defenses, and blocking it. That is believed to be the big contribution factor why the virus is so deadly. Now if you were like me and didn’t understand what all that scientific mumbo-jumbo was talking about I can help you, the Ebola virus enters our body attaching to one of our cells and making the immune system believe it belongs there, it’s all about infiltration and disseat.

Cite:

DOE/Argonne National Laboratory. "How Ebola blocks immune system." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 29 August 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140829135459.htm>.

Microbes help to battle infections

An artist’s representation of gut microbes promoting hematopoiesis.

Credit: Arya Khosravi and Wesley McBride/Caltech

When we think about microbes or even hear about them everyone jumps to the bad ones immediately and we all of the sudden relate each microbe to something bad rather than good, in fact anytime I hear about microbes I do that very exact thing… Upon my browsing and snooping around I was able to find a nice little article about some of the good microbes contribute to our bodies. In this article you read about Caltech professor of biology and biological engineering Sarkis Mazmanian, where his team are most interested in most bacteria and especially the ones already inside our bodies that actually keep us healthy. In a test done in March 12 the professor studied germ-free mice and healthy to study the gut bacteria and the effect it has on the mice immune system. To see how the mice would react to an infectious disease to them. In the healthy mouse they were able to bounce back after being infected, but when the germ-free mouse was infected due to the lack of immune cells the infection seems to be nearly fatal to the mouse until the mouse was introduced to normal gut microbes. Now after reading this study I have come to realize that if we don’t have our microbes in our stomachs or lack of microbes we have a lower immune cell count then that of a healthy human which is quite unfortunate.

Cite:

California Institute of Technology. "Microbes help to battle infection: Gut microbes help develop immune cells, study finds." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 12 March 2014. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140312132632.htm>.