- Email: [email protected]
Caffeine protects against Parkinson's disease?
500
News & Comment
cloning of a human being. After an emotional debate, an amendment proposing limited cloning of human cells for medical research and therapy was rejected by a 249:178 vote. Observers said the discussion about the use of embryonic versus adult stem cells was reminiscent of the anti-abortion debates in Congress. The bill banning cloning is supported by President Bush but is expected to face shakier prospects in the Democratcontrolled Senate. AB
this proposal was to go towards the NSF’s education and human resources programmes, the R&D budget would actually decline. Now, the Senate Appropriations Committee has drafted a bill that would increase the NSF’s budget by 5.8%, bringing it to a total of US$4.67 billion. In the Senate plan, the NSF’s R&D would receive a 4% increase, for a total of US$3.4 billion, of which US$507 million would be allocated to the biological sciences. AB
Malaria vaccine hope
Mosquito mapping
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the US National Institutes of Health has recently awarded US$9 million to Celera Genomics Group to determine the genetic sequence of a mosquito species responsible for transmitting malaria to humans. Celera, which published a version of the human genome earlier this year, is expected to unravel the genetic code of Anopheles gambiae by next spring and will make their findings freely available to researchers. Malaria infects 300–500 million people a year, of which an estimated 2–3 million die; at present, there is no effective cure for the disease. The genetic blueprint of one of the deadliest known malaria parasites, Plasmodium falciparum, is currently being deciphered, and will place scientists in a novel situation where the complete genetic information is known for an infectious organism, the host that it infects and the species that transmits the disease from person to person. DC
Small increase in National Science Foundation’s budget Last May the Bush administration proposed a minimal 1.6% increase in the National Science Foundation (NSF)’s 2002 budget, disappointing those scientists who had hoped for a repeat of last year’s 13% increase. Because most of the increase planned for in http://tips.trends.com
TRENDS in Pharmacological Sciences Vol.22 No.10 October 2001
A new vaccine against the deadly malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum primes the immune system to fight malaria. Researchers have developed a novel protein-like molecule based on the structure of merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP-1), which functions to anchor P. falciparum onto human red blood cells; once attached, the parasite invades the cell, multiplies and subsequently infects other cells. When the molecule was tested in monkeys, the antibodies that were produced recognized real MSP-1 proteins. The molecule is similar in structure to other vaccines that have been devised previously but exhibits a novel cyclic configuration, a property that might confer greater effectiveness than present malaria vaccines, which have thus far been disappointing. [Lioy, E. et al. (2001) Synthesis, biological and immunological properties of cyclic peptides from Plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface protein-1. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. 40, 2631–2635] DC
Lawsuit over Medicare drug discount card The Bush administration’s proposed drug discount card for Medicare beneficiaries has aroused the ire of two major American pharmacy groups. The National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the National Community Pharmacist Association recently filed a lawsuit in which they claim that the Administration does not have the authority to implement the discount programme without permission from Congress. President Bush’s plan will allow Medicare beneficiaries to sign up for a card that is expected to provide discounts of ~25% for prescription drugs purchased in pharmacies. The plan’s detractors say that the discounts will come out of the pharmacies’ profits and that the plan does nothing to make drug companies lower their prices. AB
Caffeine protects against Parkinson’s disease? A large prospective study, based on the Health Professionals’ Follow-Up and Nurses’ Health Study cohorts, reports an inverse association between coffee consumption and risk for Parkinson’s disease in men and women. Similar results were obtained when the caffeine consumption from other sources was investigated. Because earlier studies have shown that addition of high-dose caffeine to other drugs used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease does not provide additional benefits, the effect of caffeine seems to be preventive rather than curative. It is known that caffeine, an antagonist at the adenosine A2 receptor, protects against chemically induced neurotoxicity in an animal model of Parkinson’s disease, and that it might have a role in the modulation of dopamine-mediated transmission. [Ascherio, A. et al. (2001) Prospective study of caffeine consumption and risk of Parkinson’s disease in men and women. Ann. Neurol. 50, 56–63] AB
First HIV rat The first rat model of AIDS has recently been described and claims to be superior to the existing mouse models of the disease. These rats contain the full genome for the HIV-1 virus, minus two genes to make the virus non-infectious, and develops, by 5–9 months of age, clinical symptoms comparable to those observed in human AIDS suffers. Unlike its mouse counterparts, the rat model of AIDS appears to show more of the hallmark characteristics of the human form of the disease with respect to the pattern of expression of viral genes, changes in immune responses, clinical symptoms and underlying pathologies. Such advantages should enable a better understanding of how the HIV-1 virus causes the observed clinical manifestations of the disease and might provide a system in which therapeutic regimes can be tested. [Reid, W. et al. (2001)
0165-6147/01/$ – see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
News & Comment
cloning of a human being. After an emotional debate, an amendment proposing limited cloning of human cells for medical research and therapy was rejected by a 249:178 vote. Observers said the discussion about the use of embryonic versus adult stem cells was reminiscent of the anti-abortion debates in Congress. The bill banning cloning is supported by President Bush but is expected to face shakier prospects in the Democratcontrolled Senate. AB
this proposal was to go towards the NSF’s education and human resources programmes, the R&D budget would actually decline. Now, the Senate Appropriations Committee has drafted a bill that would increase the NSF’s budget by 5.8%, bringing it to a total of US$4.67 billion. In the Senate plan, the NSF’s R&D would receive a 4% increase, for a total of US$3.4 billion, of which US$507 million would be allocated to the biological sciences. AB
Malaria vaccine hope
Mosquito mapping
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the US National Institutes of Health has recently awarded US$9 million to Celera Genomics Group to determine the genetic sequence of a mosquito species responsible for transmitting malaria to humans. Celera, which published a version of the human genome earlier this year, is expected to unravel the genetic code of Anopheles gambiae by next spring and will make their findings freely available to researchers. Malaria infects 300–500 million people a year, of which an estimated 2–3 million die; at present, there is no effective cure for the disease. The genetic blueprint of one of the deadliest known malaria parasites, Plasmodium falciparum, is currently being deciphered, and will place scientists in a novel situation where the complete genetic information is known for an infectious organism, the host that it infects and the species that transmits the disease from person to person. DC
Small increase in National Science Foundation’s budget Last May the Bush administration proposed a minimal 1.6% increase in the National Science Foundation (NSF)’s 2002 budget, disappointing those scientists who had hoped for a repeat of last year’s 13% increase. Because most of the increase planned for in http://tips.trends.com
TRENDS in Pharmacological Sciences Vol.22 No.10 October 2001
A new vaccine against the deadly malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum primes the immune system to fight malaria. Researchers have developed a novel protein-like molecule based on the structure of merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP-1), which functions to anchor P. falciparum onto human red blood cells; once attached, the parasite invades the cell, multiplies and subsequently infects other cells. When the molecule was tested in monkeys, the antibodies that were produced recognized real MSP-1 proteins. The molecule is similar in structure to other vaccines that have been devised previously but exhibits a novel cyclic configuration, a property that might confer greater effectiveness than present malaria vaccines, which have thus far been disappointing. [Lioy, E. et al. (2001) Synthesis, biological and immunological properties of cyclic peptides from Plasmodium falciparum merozoite surface protein-1. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. Engl. 40, 2631–2635] DC
Lawsuit over Medicare drug discount card The Bush administration’s proposed drug discount card for Medicare beneficiaries has aroused the ire of two major American pharmacy groups. The National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the National Community Pharmacist Association recently filed a lawsuit in which they claim that the Administration does not have the authority to implement the discount programme without permission from Congress. President Bush’s plan will allow Medicare beneficiaries to sign up for a card that is expected to provide discounts of ~25% for prescription drugs purchased in pharmacies. The plan’s detractors say that the discounts will come out of the pharmacies’ profits and that the plan does nothing to make drug companies lower their prices. AB
Caffeine protects against Parkinson’s disease? A large prospective study, based on the Health Professionals’ Follow-Up and Nurses’ Health Study cohorts, reports an inverse association between coffee consumption and risk for Parkinson’s disease in men and women. Similar results were obtained when the caffeine consumption from other sources was investigated. Because earlier studies have shown that addition of high-dose caffeine to other drugs used in the treatment of Parkinson’s disease does not provide additional benefits, the effect of caffeine seems to be preventive rather than curative. It is known that caffeine, an antagonist at the adenosine A2 receptor, protects against chemically induced neurotoxicity in an animal model of Parkinson’s disease, and that it might have a role in the modulation of dopamine-mediated transmission. [Ascherio, A. et al. (2001) Prospective study of caffeine consumption and risk of Parkinson’s disease in men and women. Ann. Neurol. 50, 56–63] AB
First HIV rat The first rat model of AIDS has recently been described and claims to be superior to the existing mouse models of the disease. These rats contain the full genome for the HIV-1 virus, minus two genes to make the virus non-infectious, and develops, by 5–9 months of age, clinical symptoms comparable to those observed in human AIDS suffers. Unlike its mouse counterparts, the rat model of AIDS appears to show more of the hallmark characteristics of the human form of the disease with respect to the pattern of expression of viral genes, changes in immune responses, clinical symptoms and underlying pathologies. Such advantages should enable a better understanding of how the HIV-1 virus causes the observed clinical manifestations of the disease and might provide a system in which therapeutic regimes can be tested. [Reid, W. et al. (2001)
0165-6147/01/$ – see front matter © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.