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Race of CAR-T towards bedside
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Unless you were offline for the last month, you probably heard about the first ever CAR-T therapy receiving FDA approval. While this is the first the receive FDA approval, there are plenty of other amazing immunotherapies in development, and instead of focusing the top item on how the latest version of Trumpcare is going to take away healthcare for 30 million plus people – and yes, no matter your opinion you should call your representatives and let them know – let’s run through some of these potential therapeutics and some questions about them. First up, a three-way collaborative open label study between the Parker Institute, Cancer Research Institute and Bristol-Myers Squibb to treat pancreatic cancer with standard chemo and two immunotherapy agents. The two immunotherapy agents are BMS’ anti-PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor nivolumab, and the other is Apexigen’s APX005M, a novel antibody that targets immune system rockstar C40. In other news, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals announced positive results from phase 3 of the trial for patisiran, an RNAi drug designed to treat familial amyloid polyneuropathy, a rare nerve disorder. With all of these amazing new treatments on the horizon, many cancer patients are asking if these will work for them. The answer: maybe.
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A pair of recent studies from MIT and UMass noted that mothers requiring hospitalization for severe infections had a higher risk of having a child with autism. The first study, in animals, noted that bacterial populations in the mother’s GI tract can influence whether the mothers’ infection leads to autistic-like behaviors, and the second discovered the specific changes in the brain of the offspring that produce these behaviors. A comprehensive 25-year study out of Denmark found a threefold risk for autism if the mother had a severe viral infection during her first trimester, and a 1.42 fold increase in the second trimester, which matches the first study’s findings. Based on those studies, the team found that pregnant mice who had severe infections began producing IL-17 within a day, versus three to five days for normal mice. By killing the one gut bacteria identified to trigger IL-17 so quickly, babies born after this were born healthy. Of course, this is yet to be validated in human studies, but the early results from blocking specific bacterial strains in the mothers’ gut are promising.
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The HPV vaccine has been remarkably effective in preventing HPV, with more than 40 percent of American teens getting vaccinated. There are other health concerns from the vaccine, including reduced semen quality and lower pregnancy rates. But, a new study out of Boston University found very limited association between the vaccine and future fertility, and in some cases, may improve chances of conception.
In CRISPR news, we read about gene editing for plants last week, but now a team from Francis Crick Institute scientists have used CRISPR techniques successfully to switch off a particular gene and eventually halt a human embryo's development. The applications for this include learning more about pregnancy complications, improving IVF, and avoiding miscarriages. How long until “designer babies” with CRISPR come online?
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We all flake off for a minute and browse the web looking for something – sports scores, what’s trending on Twitter, and more. But do you know what happens in an internet minute? You should see this, but highlights include $751,000 spent online, 70,000 hours of Netflix, 16 million texts, 342,000 app downloads, and 452,000 tweets. Wow!
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