Tag: Medicines

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Data-Mining Study Explores Health Outcomes from Common Heartburn Drugs

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Results of a data-mining study suggest a link between a common heartburn drug and heart attacks. Credit: Stock image.

Scouring through anonymized health records of millions of Americans, data-mining scientists found an association between a common heartburn drug and an elevated risk for heart attacks. Their preliminary results suggest that there may be a link between the two factors.

For 60 million Americans, heartburn is a painful and common occurrence caused by stomach acid rising through the esophagus. It’s treated by drugs such as proton-pump inhibitors (PPIs) that lower acid production in the stomach. Taken by about one in every 14 Americans, PPIs, which include Nexium and Prilosec, are the most popular class of heartburn drugs.

PPIs have long been thought to be completely safe for most users. But a preliminary laboratory study published in 2013 suggested that this may not be the case. The study, led by a team of researchers at Stanford University, showed that PPIs could affect biochemical reactions outside of their regular acid suppression action that would have harmful effects on the heart. Continue reading “Data-Mining Study Explores Health Outcomes from Common Heartburn Drugs”

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Designing Drugs That Kill Invasive Fungi Without Harming Humans

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Top to bottom: Cryptococcus, Candida, Aspergillus, Pneumocystis
Invasive fungal infections kill more than 1 million people worldwide every year. Almost all of these deaths are due to fungi in one of these four groups. Credit: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Invasive fungal infections—the kind that infect the bloodstream, lung and brain—are inordinately deadly. A big part of the problem is the lack of drugs that are both effective against the fungi and nontoxic to humans.

The situation might change in the future though, thanks to the work of a multidisciplinary research team led by chemist Martin Burke at the University of Illinois. For years, the team has focused on an antifungal agent called amphotericin B (AmB for short). Although impressively lethal to fungi, AmB is also notoriously toxic to human cells.

Most recently, the research team chemically modified the drug to create compounds that kill fungi, but don’t disrupt human cells. The scientists explain it all in the latest issue of Nature Chemical Biology.

Invasive fungal infections are so intractable because most antifungal drugs aren’t completely effective. Plus, fungi have a tendency to develop resistance to them. AmB is a notable exception. Isolated 50 years ago from Venezuelan dirt, AmB has evaded resistance and remains highly effective. Unfortunately, it causes side effects so debilitating that some doctors call it “ampho-terrible.” At high doses, it is fatal.

For decades, scientists believed that AmB molecules kill fungal cells by forming membrane-piercing pores, or ion channels, through which the cells’ innards leak out. Last year, Burke’s group overturned this well-established concept using evidence from nuclear magnetic resonance, chemistry and cell-based experiments. The researchers showed that AmB molecules assemble outside cells into lattice-like structures. These structures act as powerful sponges, sucking vital lipid molecules, called ergosterol, right out of the fungal cell membrane, destroying the cell. Continue reading “Designing Drugs That Kill Invasive Fungi Without Harming Humans”

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Field Focus: Making Chemistry Greener

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Bob Lees
NIGMS’ Bob Lees answers questions about green chemistry. Credit: National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

Chemists funded by NIGMS are working to develop “greener” processes for discovering, developing and manufacturing medicines and other molecules with therapeutic potential, as well as compounds used in biomedical research. One of our scientific experts, organic chemist Bob Lees, recently spoke to me about some of these efforts.

What is green chemistry?

Green chemistry is the design of chemical processes and products that are more environmentally friendly. Among the 12 guiding principles of green chemistry are producing less waste, including fewer toxic byproducts; using more sustainable (renewable) or biodegradable materials; and saving energy.

Continue reading “Field Focus: Making Chemistry Greener”
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New Streamlined Technique for Processing Biological Samples

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Illustration of Slug flow microextraction.
Researchers have discovered a faster, easier and more affordable technique for processing biological samples. Credit: Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, Purdue University.

It’s not unusual for the standard dose of a drug to work well for one person but be less effective for another. One reason for such differences is that individuals can break down drugs at different rates, leading to different concentrations of drugs and of their breakdown products (metabolites) in the bloodstream. A promising new process called slug-flow microextraction could make it faster, easier and more affordable to regularly monitor drug metabolites so that medication dosages could be tailored to each patient’s needs, an approach known as personalized medicine. This technique could also allow researchers to better monitor people’s responses to new drug treatments during clinical trials. Continue reading “New Streamlined Technique for Processing Biological Samples”

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Meet Alfred Atanda Jr.

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Alfred Atanda Jr.
Credit: Cynthia Brodoway, Nemours/Alfred I. duPont
Hospital for Children
Alfred Atanda Jr.
Fields: Pediatric orthopedic surgery, sports medicine
Works at: Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children
Blogs: as Philly.com’s Sports Doc at http://bit.ly/sportsdoc Exit icon
Family fact: Youngest of seven children
Musical skills: Piano and trumpet
Kitchen talent: Baking chocolate desserts for his pediatrician wife and their two young children

As a kid, Alfred Atanda loved science, sports and tinkering. He dreamed of being a construction worker or an engineer. Today, he works on one of the most complex construction projects of all: the human body.

As a pediatric orthopedic surgeon, Atanda focuses on sports medicine and injuries to children. He has a special passion for young baseball pitchers who have torn the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in the elbow of their throwing arm.

This sort of injury is most often caused by overuse. Many small tears accumulate over a long period, resulting in pain and slower, less accurate pitches. Decades ago, this sort of damage occurred almost exclusively in elite athletes. Now, Atanda sees it in children as young as 12 years old. He aims not only to study and treat these injuries, but also to find ways to prevent them.

His Findings

Atanda was first introduced to research on UCL injuries while working alongside team physicians for the Phillies, the professional baseball team in Philadelphia. The physicians wanted to determine whether ultrasound imaging could detect early warning signs—slight anatomical changes in the ligament—before the damage became severe enough to warrant an operation known as Tommy John surgery.

The research focused on Phillies pitchers who had no pain or other symptoms of injury. The multi-year project showed that the UCL in the throwing elbows of these players got progressively thicker and weaker compared to the same ligament in the players’ nonthrowing elbows. The scientists concluded that these physical changes are caused by prolonged exposure to professional-level pitching.

Alfred Atanda Jr. with Joe Piergrossi
Atanda examines the elbow of a young patient. Courtesy: Cynthia Brodoway, Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children

Atanda wondered whether ultrasound imaging could also detect early signs of UCL damage in young pitchers—those in Little League through high school. There has been a dramatic rise in the number of young pitchers who are experiencing the same injuries and undergoing the same surgery as the pros.

Atanda secured funding for this project from an Institutional Development Award (IDeA). The IDeA program builds research capacities in states like Delaware, where Atanda works, that historically have received low levels of funding from the National Institutes of Health.

Atanda’s project began about a year ago, and has examined 55 young athletes so far.

“We found similar results to what we found with the Phillies,” Atanda says, indicating that the UCL in the throwing elbows of young athletes was noticeably thicker than the UCL in the nonthrowing elbows. And the damage seems progressive, he says: “We saw that these ligaments got thicker as the pitchers got older and had more pitching experience.”

The immediate goal of this project, which he hopes to continue for another 3 years, is prophylaxis. “We’re trying to prevent any kind of overuse elbow injuries and the need for Tommy John surgeries later on,” Atanda says. He also hopes to establish quantitative correlations between pitching behavior and anatomical changes.

Atanda also has longer-term aspirations. “My goal is to change the culture in sports for young athletes in general,” he says. “I want to show there are downsides to pitching so much.”

In addition to championing pitch count limits recommended by the American Sports Medicine Institute, Atanda advises a focus away from excess competition and toward getting exercise, enjoying social inter­action, building self-confidence and having fun.

Atanda’s research is funded by the National Institutes of Health through grant P20GM103464

Content adapted from the NIGMS Findings magazine article Game Changer

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Outwitting Antibiotic Resistance

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Marine scene with fish and corals
The ocean is a rich source of microbes that could yield infection-fighting natural molecules. Credit: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Exit icon.

Antibiotics save countless lives and are among the most commonly prescribed drugs. But the bacteria and other microbes they’re designed to eradicate can evolve ways to evade the drugs. This antibiotic resistance, which is on the rise due to an array of factors, can make certain infections difficult—and sometimes impossible—to treat.

Read the Inside Life Science article to learn how scientists are working to combat antibiotic resistance, from efforts to discover potential new antibiotics to studies seeking more effective ways of using existing ones.

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New Research Sheds Light on Drug-Induced Salivary Issues

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Open human mouth
Scientists have discovered a possible mechanism behind the bad taste and dry mouth caused by some drugs. Credit: Stock image.

The effects some medicines have on our salivary glands can at times extend beyond the fleeting flavor we experience upon ingesting them. Sometimes drugs cause a prolonged bad taste or dryness in the mouth, both of which can discourage people from taking medicines they need. Now, a research team led by Joanne Wang of the University of Washington has discovered a possible mechanism behind this phenomenon. Working primarily with mice and using a commonly prescribed antidiabetic drug known to impair taste, the scientists identified a protein in salivary gland cells that takes up the drug from the bloodstream and secretes it in saliva. Wang and her colleagues were also able to pinpoint a specific gene that, when removed, hindered this process. They hope their new insights will aid efforts to develop medicines that do not cause salivary issues.

This work also was funded by NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

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Aspirin’s Dual Action

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Aspirin
Aspirin can help reverse inflammation as well as prevent it from occurring. Credit: Stock image.

Ever wonder how aspirin knocks out aches? Scientists have known that medicine prevents an enzyme called cyclooxygenase from producing compounds linked to pain and inflammation, but they recently made another discovery about how aspirin works.

Edward Dennis and colleagues at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine researched aspirin’s effect on macrophages–white blood cells that play a role in the body’s immune response to injury. They found that in addition to killing cyclooxygenase, aspirin causes the enzyme to make a product called 15-HETE. During infection and inflammation, 15-HETE can get converted by another enzyme into lipoxin, a compound that terminates and reverses inflammation.

Researchers will likely use lipoxin and similar compounds to develop new anti-inflammatory drugs.

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Dennis Lab (no longer available)

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A Drug-Making Enzyme in Motion

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Mutated enzyme, LovD9. Credit: Silvia Osuna and Gonzalo Jiménez-Osés, University of California, Los Angeles.
The movement of this mutated enzyme, LovD9, facilitates rapid production of the cholesterol reducing-drug simvastatin. Credit: Silvia Osuna and Gonzalo Jiménez-Osés, University of California, Los Angeles.

LovD9, a mutated version of an enzyme extracted from mold growing in soil, produces the cholesterol-reducing drug simvastatin 1,000 times faster than its natural predecessor. But scientists didn’t understand why because the enzyme’s mutations are far from the active site, where the drug is actually made. Now they do.

Yi Tang of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), in partnership with the pharmaceutical company Codexis, generated LovD9 by repeatedly inducing random mutations, each time selecting the mutated versions of the enzyme with the most promise for industrial simvastatin production.

Then, the team collaborated with UCLA colleagues Kendall Houk and Todd Yeates to unlock the secret of the enzyme’s speed. Using ANTON, a special-purpose supercomputer at the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, they simulated how different parts of the enzyme rotate and twist when synthesizing the drug. The scientists discovered that as LovD9 moves, it forms shapes that facilitate simvastatin production more often than the natural enzyme does.

With their better understanding of how mutations far from an active site may affect an enzyme’s motion, the researchers hope to one day directly engineer enzymes with precise mutations that enhance drug production.

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Houk Exit icon, Tang Exit icon and Yeates Exit icon Labs

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Multitarget Drugs to Challenge Microbial Resistance

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A group of purple, rod-shaped bacterial cells rendered by computer at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by Melissa Brower.
Computer-generated image of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria. Credit: Melissa Brower, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Drugs that target a single essential protein in a microbial invader can be effective treatments. But the genomes of pathogens—including bacteria, fungi and parasites—mutate rapidly, and resistance can develop if a mutation changes a target protein’s structure. Molecules that interfere with multiple microbial proteins at once have the potential to overcome the growing problem of antimicrobial drug resistance.

Researchers led by Eric Oldfield of the University of Illinois recently explored whether an experimental drug called SQ109, developed to treat tuberculosis (TB), could be tweaked to attack multiple enzymes, as well as to kill different types of microbes. The scientists succeeded in creating several multitarget analogs of SQ109 that were more effective than the original drug at killing their target pathogens in laboratory experiments. These analogs included one compound that was five times more potent against the bacterium that causes TB while also being less toxic to a human cell line tested.

This work was also funded by the National Cancer Institute; the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the NIH Office of the Director.

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