Tag: disease
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Can the body remove HIV by itself?
Two patients have astonishingly cured themselves of HIV without any therapy. Kevin Boyle discusses these novel findings and their potential implications in the development of a vaccine against the HIV virus. A recent report in the Annals of Internal Medicine has shown that a female patient previously infected with HIV was able to remove the…
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Nanoparticle based vaccines: a potentially new addition to the “vaccine menu”?
A versatile and highly effective flu vaccine required in tiny amounts might be just around the corner: too good to be true? Kevin Boyle looks at recent advances. For around 70 years, flu vaccines have mostly been made the same way – using chicken eggs. The virus is injected into the eggs and incubated for…
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HLA Genotype and its effect on the severity of COVID-19 Infections
Isabelle Ferenczi introduces the importance of Human Leukocyte Antigens and their potential role in determining a given patient’s response to COVID-19 infection. A brief introduction to HLA Human Leukocyte (white blood cell) Antigens (HLA), are proteins that have a vital role in presenting foreign peptide (short amino acid chain) antigens in the bloodstream. Antigens are…
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Multiple sclerosis and stem cell transplants: benefits versus risks
Multiple sclerosis, or MS, is a complex neurological and autoimmune disease whereby a patient’s immune cells, for unknown reasons, begin to attack the protective layer surrounding the nerves in the brain and spinal cord. This protective sheath is known as myelin. When myelin degenerates as a result of this autoimmune-mediated damage, the nerves are exposed…
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Stem cells in Parkinson’s disease: progress and challenges
Parkinson’s Disease is a neurodegenerative motor disorder, caused by the progressive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the brain. Current treatments only alleviate the symptoms of the disease rather than target the root cause, so they are far from adequate. A cure would require repair of the brain itself. Given that the incidence of this age-related…
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Targeted cancer drugs can distinguish between healthy and diseased cells
Drug treatment for many diseases often balances the need for high enough drug levels to give a therapeutic benefit against the concurrent increase in the risk of side effects. For example, toxic therapies such as chemotherapy drugs need to be administered at high doses to target and destroy highly replicating cells. However, this results in…
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You are what you eat: is cannibalism a good idea?
During lockdown I, like many, have been watching more TV shows. My most recent watch was Hannibal. For those who don’t know, Hannibal is a horror-thriller TV series which follows Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a forensic scientist and secret cannibal. Recently, writers and directors have been reframing cannibalism for entertainment purposes, treating their subjects not as…
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A future without malaria?
The mosquito could easily be termed the ‘most dangerous animal in the world’ due to its capacity to act as a carrier for infectious diseases such as malaria, zika, chikungunya and dengue which have deadly effects on human life. Diseases such as these are responsible for the death of over a million people worldwide every…
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New hope for targeting ‘Sleeping Sickness’
Sleeping sickness, caused by single celled species Trypanosoma brucei, is a fatal vector-borne parasitic disease. The parasite is found in 36 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, with 60 million people at risk and 30 000 deaths every year. There have been many epidemics throughout the 20th century, with 40 000 reported cases in 1998 and an…
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How fungus kills
A group led by Professor Oliver Werz at the Friedrich Schiller University, Jena have identified the pathway responsible for the incredible pathogenicity of the Aspergillus fumigatus fungus. By blocking the production of chemical messengers, the fungus prevents the immune response of the mould. The NHS characterises aspergillosis as a lung condition caused by the inhalation…