FDA nod for lung cancer screening device with a low dose CT

Detection of small lung nodules are critical in identifying lung cancer at its earliest stages when it is the most treatable and curable. Low dose CT lung cancer screening will inevitably save lives through earlier diagnosis and treatment for patients.

Source: GE Healthcare, 2015

Lab-grown lungs successfully transplanted into mice

Transplanted HLO-scaffold constructs engrafted, grew and possessed airway-like structures.

Keyword: HLOs-Human Lung Organoids, PLG- poly(lactide-co-glycolide)  

Fig: (A) PLG scaffold are 5 mm in diameter with honeycomb-patterned architecture. (B) The majority of Di-O labeled 1d HLOs (green) remained at the surface of the scaffold with a few organoids descending toward the middle of the scaffold. Inset shows aerial view of the scaffold with 1d HLOs (green) scattered throughout. (C) 1d HLOs settled within the pores of the scaffold. Scale bar represents 100 µm. (D) PLG scaffolds were seeded with 1d HLOs and cultured for 5 to 7 days in vitro in media supplemented with FGF10. The HLO-laden scaffolds were then transplanted into the mouse epididymal fat pad and harvested at 8 weeks. (E) HLO-scaffold (dotted line) was placed in mouse epididymal fat pad. (F) Transplanted HLOs (tHLOs) ranged from 0.5 cm to 1.5 cm in length. (G) The average number airway-like structures that were NKX2.1+ ECAD+ out of all ECAD+ structures was 86.19% +/- 4.14% (N = 10, error bars represent SEM). (H) H&E of tHLOs showed airway-like structures (right two panels, low and high mag) and pockets of cartilage (left panel). Scale bar at low mag represents 200 µm and high mag 100 µm. (I) Airway-like structures outlined by ECAD (white) expressed the lung marker NKX2.1 (green). Scale bar represents 50 µm. (J–K) Both the epithelium (β-CAT, red) and mesenchyme expressed the human nuclear marker, HUNU (J, green) and the human mitochondrial marker huMITO (K, green). Scale bars represent 50 µm in J–K and 10 µm in high mag image in K.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.19732.003

Researchers at the University of Michigan have transplanted lab-grown mini lungs into immunosuppressed mice where the structures were able to survive, grow and mature. Respiratory diseases account for nearly 1 in 5 deaths worldwide, and lung cancer survival rates remain poor despite numerous therapeutic advances during the past 30 years. Now, the researchers attempted to transplant the miniature lungs into mice, an approach that has been widely adopted in the stem cell field. 

Researchers characterized the transplanted mini lungs as well-developed tissue that possessed a highly organized epithelial layer lining the lungs.

One drawback was that the alveolar cell types did not grow in the transplants. Still, several specialized lung cell types were present, including mucus-producing cells, multiciliated cells and stem cells found in the adult lung.

Ref:: Briana R Dye et al., (2016) A bioengineered niche promotes in vivo engraftment and maturation of pluripotent stem cell derived human lung organoids, eLIFE.

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DOI: 10.7554/eLife.19732 

Brazilian wasp venom kills cancer cells

The wasp Polybia paulista protects itself against predators by producing venom known to contain a powerful cancer-fighting ingredient. The venom's toxin called MP1 (Polybia-MP1)-selectively kills cancer cells without harming normal cells. MP1 interacts with lipids that are abnormally distributed on the surface of cancer cells, creating gaping holes that allow molecules crucial for cell function to leak out. This could be useful in developing new combination therapies, where multiple drugs are used simultaneously to treat a cancer by attacking different parts of the cancer cells at the same time. MP1 acts against microbial pathogens by disrupting the bacterial cell membrane. Serendipitously, the antimicrobial peptide shows promise for protecting humans from cancer; it can inhibit the growth of prostate and bladder cancer cells, as well as multi-drug resistant leukemic cells. However, until now, it was not clear how MP1 selectively destroys cancer cells without harming normal cells. In healthy cell membranes, phospholipids called phosphatidylserine (PS) and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) are located in the inner membrane leaflet facing the inside of the cell. But in cancer cells, PS and PE are embedded in the outer membrane leaflet facing the cell surroundings. The presence of PS increased the binding of MP1 to the membrane by a factor of 7 to 8. On the other hand, the presence of PE enhanced MP1's ability to quickly disrupt the membrane, increasing the size of holes by a factor of 20 to 30. In future studies, the researchers plan to alter MP1's amino acid sequence to examine how the peptide's structure relates to its function and further improve the peptide's selectivity and potency for clinical purposes. Understanding the mechanism of action of this peptide will help in translational studies to further assess the potential for this peptide to be used in medicine.

Ref: Natália Bueno Leite, 2015, Biophysical Journal

dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2015.07.033 

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