First whole-genome sequencing clinical trials for triple-negative breast cancer presented

Triple negative breast tumors, which make up nearly 20 percent of breast cancers, do not respond to treatment with targeted therapies such as Herceptin® (trastuzumab).

To investigate new options for these patients, the first clinical trial of whole-genome sequencing for women with triple negative breast cancer was initiated in March 2010, and the first results will be presented during the 2011 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium, Dec. 6-10, 2011.

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Vaccine targeting latent TB enters clinical testing

Statens Serum Institut and Aeras today announce the initiation of the first Phase I clinical trial of a new candidate TB vaccine designed to protect people latently infected with TB from developing active TB disease. The trial is being conducted by the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI) at its field site in Worcester, in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Dr. Hassan Mahomed is the principal investigator.

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Newly established neuroscience clinical trials center could bring treatments to patients faster

– In a development that could pave the way for treatment for rare neurological diseases and clues to more common ones, physician-scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and Montefiore Medical Center, the University Hospital for Einstein, have secured a grant to establish a clinical site for the Network for Excellence in Neuroscience Clinical Trials (NeuroNEXT). One of only 25 such federally-funded centers in the country, the Einstein-Montefiore site was created in partnership with Einstein affiliates Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan and the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System. The NeuroNEXT network and its centers were established with grants from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health.

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Mayo Clinic research improves diagnosis and potential treatment of neuromyelitis optica

Mayo Clinic researchers have identified critical steps leading to myelin destruction in neuromyelitis optica (NMO), a debilitating neurological disease that is commonly misdiagnosed as multiple sclerosis (MS). The findings could lead to better care for the thousands of patients around the world with NMO. The paper was published in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA.

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Northwestern to explore personalized medicine for scleroderma

Northwestern Medicine researchers have received two five-year grants totaling $953,000 from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases to study scleroderma, an autoimmune disease for which there currently is no cure. The grants will enable researchers at Northwestern to identify biomarkers for the disease, and are the first step in developing a national resource for investigators studying scleroderma.

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Simple blood test diagnoses Parkinson’s disease long before symptoms appear

Bethesda, MD—A new research report appearing in the December issue of the FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) shows how scientists from the United Kingdom have developed a simple blood test to detect Parkinson’s disease even at the earliest stages. The test is possible because scientists found a substance in the blood, called “phosphorylated alpha-synuclein,” which is common in people with Parkinson’s disease, and then developed a way to identify its presence in our blood.

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Bush embryonic stem cell lines different from newly derived cell lines

Established human embryonic cell lines, including those approved for federal research funding under former President George W. Bush, are different than newly derived human embryonic stem cell lines, according to a study by UCLA stem cell researchers.

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Cleveland researchers find possible breakthrough to relieve pain following spinal cord injury

A collaborative research group – led by researchers at Cleveland Clinic – published findings that indicate a one-time injection immediately after spinal cord injury can limit pain for an extended period of time.

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Clinical trial for muscular dystrophy demonstrates safety of customized gene therapy

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have shown that it is safe to cut and paste together different viruses in an effort to create the ultimate vehicle for gene therapy. In a phase I clinical trial, the investigators found no side effects from using a “chimeric” virus to deliver replacement genes for an essential muscle protein in patients with muscular dystrophy.

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End to the year war against AIDS in sight

Thirty years, 30 million deaths and 60 million infections after HIV appeared, medical researchers now have the tools to halt the deadly epidemic.

“We have the weapons to win the war against AIDS,” says Richard Marlink, M.D., Executive Director of the AIDS Initiative at the Harvard School of Public Health. “It is time to take what we have learned to turn the epidemic around and end AIDS.”

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