2008: April 26th Good News (March For Babies on Sunday, New Tactics Devised to Keep Monk Seals from Sharks, more...)

Good Morning All,

Well, it's late over here, and I'll be going to bed soon, but before I do, I'd like to highlight a couple articles for you. First, I'd like to point out the article about the man from Pennsylvania who survived a 500 foot fall into a strip mine! Man was that guy lucky! And what's more? He was still conscious when he was rescued! Secondly, I'd like to bring your attention to the article about the honey bees. Recently there's been a lot of press about how honey bees are diminishing and no one knows why. Well, in Scotland, they think they may have figured it out. Radio and Cellphone waves. So, they've devised a way to combat that, which allows humans to still uses their radios and cell phones, while protecting bees from them. Pretty COOL!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy today's good news! I'll be back with more posts for you tomorrow! :)


Today's Top 5:
1. Pennsylvania Man Survives 500-foot Fall into Strip Mine (Seattle Times)
2. Anti-shark Tests May Save Baby Seals (Honolulu Advertiser)
3. Birds Can Detect Foes from Their Odour (Daily Mirror UK)
4. Good Vibrations Could Save Vanishing Bees (The Scotsman)
5. Food Dyes May Help Prevent Cancer (Times of India)


Honorable Mentions:
1. Why Probiotics ARE a Boon in Pregnancy (Daily Mail UK)
2. Massachusetts Firefighters Rescue Disabled Woman from Blaze (Firehouse.com)
3. March for Babies on Sunday (Staten Island Live)
4. Scientists Find 17 Descendants of 'Iceman' Found in Glacier (CBC Canada)
5. Tumor Growth Blocked in Leukemia Animal Model: Two Suppressor Molecules Affect 70 Genes in Leukemia (Science Daily)



Today's Top 5:

1. Pennsylvania Man Survives 500-foot Fall into Strip Mine
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004374110_apminefall.html?syndication=rss
By MICHAEL RUBINKAM
Associated Press Writer

A man survived a 500-foot fall into a strip mine Friday, astounding rescuers who spent hours on a risky descent into the abyss to bring him back out.
Police said Nathan Bowman was trespassing on coal company property around 1 a.m. Friday when he slipped and fell into the Springdale Pit, an inactive mine about 700 feet deep, 3,000 feet long and 1,500 feet wide.
Bowman tumbled down a jagged slope and then free-fell several hundred feet, his descent broken by a rock ledge not far from the bottom of the pit, said Coaldale Police Chief Timothy Delaney, who helped direct the rescue effort.
"If you look at that drop, there was no way somebody could survive that," Delaney said.
Bowman, 23, of Tamaqua, was in serious condition Friday night at St. Luke's Hospital in Bethlehem. The extent and nature of his injuries was not clear, although rescuer John Fowler said it appeared he suffered a number of fractures.
Bowman and a friend were walking around the pit when he went over the side. The friend called 911, and Coaldale police and firefighters began a frantic search, according to Delaney.
State police got into the act several hours later, using a helicopter, floodlights and thermal imaging to try to pinpoint Bowman's location in the pit, about 90 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
"It got really, really dangerous," Delaney said. "My guys were fantastic; they were heroes, risking their lives in total darkness."
The search was called off at daybreak. Shortly thereafter, Delaney went to the offices of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Co., which owns the Springdale Pit, to notify officials of the situation.
"I said, 'Let's take a ride over there and show me where it occurred,'" said Fowler, 40, a project manager at the company.
Their luck was better this time.
"Within about three minutes, we found him," Fowler said. "I thought I could hear a muffled call for help. We yelled to him and asked him where he was, and he said he thought he was on a ledge."
Fowler, who moonlights as a state firefighter instructor, and a Coaldale police sergeant scouted a relatively safe route to Bowman and stayed with him until more help arrived.
Two firefighters rappelled down to the ledge, loaded Bowman onto a basket and tied themselves to it. Then all three were painstakingly hoisted up.
Bowman was lucid when he arrived at the top of the pit late Friday morning, wanting his harness loosened, asking that someone call his brother and expressing fear about riding in a medical helicopter, said Sarah Curran Smith, a vice president at Lehigh Coal.
Bowman's survival is "pretty unbelievable," she said. "I think the universe has bigger plans for Nathan. I hope he realizes that."
Bowman faces charges including defiant trespass, according to Delaney.



2. Anti-shark Tests May Save Baby Seals
Boat-engine sounds and magnets to be used to shield pups
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080426/NEWS01/804260323/1001
By Christie Wilson
Advertiser Neighbor Island Editor

Federal marine biologists yesterday received state approval to begin testing magnets, boat engine recordings and other nonlethal deterrents to protect Hawaiian monk seal pups from sharks in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.
That's because Galapagos sharks prowling the nearshore waters of the monument's French Frigate Shoals have foiled attempts to reduce their numbers under a controversial culling program.
"Our attempts to remove them in the manner in which we've done in the past is no longer working because the sharks have changed their behavior, and now we're forced to seek alternative ways to improve juvenile (seal) survival," said George "Bud" Antonelis of the National Marine Fisheries Service's Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center.
A no-kill plan also is preferred by those who don't want culling taking place in the newly designated Papahanau-mokuakea preserve, which encompasses the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
"We set up this big preserve to protect a predator-dominant ecosystem and then immediately came in with a plan to cull the top predators. It seemed contradictory," said Dan Polhemus, head of the state Division of Aquatic Resources, part of the Department of Land and Natural Resources.
He said the situation created "an interesting balancing act" in which conservation officials had to choose whether to let nature take its course and increase the risk of extinction for Hawaiian monk seals or step in and provide protection for the more fragile of the two species.
"Nobody was entirely comfortable with this ... and as it turned out, the sharks were far too clever," Polhemus said.
Between 2000 and 2005, 12 sharks were removed from a small group of Galapagos sharks that were stalking the still-nursing pups off Trig Island in French Frigate Shoals, a 22-mile-long complex of reefs and sandbars 560 miles northwest of Honolulu.
The cull substantially reduced pup deaths from predation, according to Antonelis. Only eight such fatalities occurred in each of the last two years at the shoals, he said.
By comparison, there were 31 known fatal shark attacks on monk seal pups in 1997, the worst year on record.
But in 2006 and 2007, no sharks were taken because they had become wary of human activity and kept their distance, Antonelis said.
"What we'd done unintentionally is taught the sharks to avoid us, with this heightened sensitivity to our presence. We're hoping to use that avoidance behavior as a mechanism by which we can deter them from the pupping areas."
Messing with mealtimeA panel of shark and seal experts convened in January to discuss nonlethal shark deterrents to be tested in field trials starting next month.
Since the sharks at French Frigate Shoals have shown aversion to humans, one idea is to moor an 18- to 20-foot boat in the waters off Trig Island to give the impression that humans are present.
Another idea is to use amplified noise to mimic the sound of an approaching boat.
Scientists also want to test whether magnetic and electric fields can repel sharks from specific hot spots.
A fifth proposed deterrent would attempt to ward off sharks using visual arrays made of PVC tubing, fishing floats or foam "noodles." The devices would be installed in a way that wouldn't present an entanglement hazard, and could be used alone or in combination with magnetic arrays.
"There has never been an experiment like this in the past. Our ultimate goal is to reduce the number of pups being preyed upon," Antonelis said.
The seal population, estimated at 1,100 to 1,200, is at its lowest in recorded history. Since 2000, the population has been declining at a rate of 4 percent annually, according to Antonelis.
The primary reason is the low rate of juvenile survival. "Because we have fewer young animals growing up to join the ranks of the reproductive population, as those older animals die out from natural causes, the overall population level declines and fewer and fewer pups are born," he said.
In 2007, only 151 pups were born throughout the entire Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
Many of the pups have been dying from starvation, thought to be due to competition for food with ulua and other top predators, Antonelis said.
Marine debris, which can entangle seals, and sharks are other causes of monk seal deaths.
Quirk of behaviorMarine biologists have been successful in relocating weaned pups to areas where sharks are not as great a threat, Antonelis said. Helping the youngest seals has been more challenging, and predation by Galapagos sharks at French Frigate Shoals is a new development.
"Through a series of unusual ecological events, it is suspected that the sharks learned to prey on pre-weaned pups. There is no other place in the Hawaiian archipelago where a small group of sharks have learned this behavior," he said.
Evidence indicates that only about 20 Galapagos sharks, which grow to 10 to 12 feet in length, were hunting monk seal pups at Trig Island, where the problem was first detected. As their numbers were culled, no new sharks joined the group, indicating the behavior was limited to that single population of sharks.
Why the sharks came to Trig Island in the first place is not clear. Antonelis said scientists think that when Whale-Skate Island, another low-lying islet within French Frigate Shoals, was lost to erosion, monk seal moms and their pups were driven to Trig, creating a greater concentration of animals — and more meal opportunities for sharks.
In addition, attempts by two aggressive male seals to mate with weaned pups at Trig suffocated or drowned a number of the younger animals. Antonelis said their carcasses in the water attracted Galapagos sharks that soon discovered more good eating.
"We relocated the males to Johnson Atoll but we weren't able to deal with the fact the sharks developed a behavior that focused on predation on pre-weaned pups," he said.
The Board of Land and Natural Resources yesterday granted a permit for the shark-deterrent experiments, which are planned for early May through September, during the pupping season.
Polhemus of the Division of Aquatic Resources said there could be useful implications from the research for similar conservation work in the main Hawaiian Islands, but that it is unlikely the state would consider the same shark-deterrent techniques to protect humans.
One reason is that the deterrents proposed for French Frigate Shoals have limited range and are meant for targeted use at specific sites, not the vast offshore expanses popular with people.
Another is that there are few shark attacks in Hawai'i on humans — an average of three to five annually.




3. Birds Can Detect Foes from Their Odour
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/topstories/2008/04/26/birds-can-detect-foes-from-their-odour-89520-20395117/
26/04/2008

Birds can detect foes from their odour, research shows.
The ability is sharpest among those that nest in holes in tree trunks. In tests, blue tits shunned nests laced with the scent of predatory ferrets. But they went in freely if it was replaced with quail odour, which they did not recognise.
Spanish researchers said: "Birds can detect predators' chemical signals and use these to weigh up the risk of attack." Experts had previously thought they could not smell.



4. Good Vibrations Could Save Vanishing Bees
http://news.scotsman.com/latestnews/Good-vibrations-could-save-vanishing.4023588.jp
Date: 26 April 2008
By Jenny Haworth Environment Correspondent

IT IS a mystery that has had scientists stumped. But now experts in Scotland believe they have discovered why bees have been abandoning their hives and vanishing.
Scientists at the Roslin-based firm Global Bioenergetics think disturbance to bees from mobile phones, radio signals, wi-fi and microwaves is disrupting them with devastating results.
They think increased airwaves could be interfering with the ability to do the bee dance, which they use to tell other bees where to find pollen.
Stress caused to the bees by the radiation could be damaging their immune systems, leaving them prone to increasing levels of herbicides, insecticides and fungicides sprayed on crops.
The scientists are trying out a new device, called a Bioemitter, that transmits electromagnetic waves to provide a stable environment and reduce stress for the bees in their hives, boosting their immune system.
Global Bioenergetics is about to start trials with bee farmer Brian Poole, from Scottish-Honey.
Fiona Murray, a political and environmental adviser for Global Bioenergetics, said: "The Bioemitter creates a field in the hive. It inputs a highly specified frequency. In comparison frequencies from things like mobile phones are random.
The specific frequency shields out the frequency of the mobile phones, microwaves and everything else from the hives, to create a more stable environment in the hive.
We can also put in frequencies that are beneficial, to boost the bees' own immune system.
They are still going to be exposed when they are flying about to the radiation and the sprays that are going on to the field, but the aim is to get their own system to be able to cope with it better."
Previous trials have shown the Bioemitter can also get rid of the devastating varroa mite, which sucks blood from bees and leaves them susceptible to infection.
It has similarly been shown to destroy red mites, which infest chickens.
We are creating a field that these parasites can't live in," said Ms Murray. "They can't cope with the vibration of the signal."
The same technique has been used to eliminate salmonella from one farmer's pig shed in Yorkshire, and the company thinks it has huge potential.
Now it is trying to secure funding to carry out trials on bees using the device.
Environmentalists say the decline in bee populations threatens ecosystems.
Some experts say at least a third of the food we eat is affected by the bee population. Thousands have disappeared in Scotland and there are reports of entire hives vanishing across Europe and the US. Ms Murray said: "Bees are so representative of the whole ecosystem. Einstein said we have only got five years to live without the bees. I believe this is evidence that everything we have done to our environment is coming to a head."




5. Food Dyes May Help Prevent Cancer
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/HealthSci/Food_dyes_may_help_prevent_cancer/articleshow/2985633.cms
26 Apr 2008, 1800 hrs IST,ANI

LONDON: They may be known for severe health hazards, but food dyes indeed have a positive side- protection against cancer, says a new study.
The study was conducted over trout, a species of freshwater fish, which were given carcinogens dibenzopyrene (DBP) or aflatoxin in their feed either with or without food dyes Red 40 or Blue 2, for one month.
The findings revealed that after nine months, trout fed with any of the dyes in combination with aflatoxin showed 50 per cent fewer liver tumours compared to one fed with aflatoxin only.
Moreover, fish given DBP, in combination with Red 40 showed 50 per cent lower incidence of stomach cancer and 40 per cent lower incidence of liver cancer.
"The public perception is that food dyes are bad, but some of them may have good points as well," New Scientist quoted Gayle Orner at Oregon State University, as saying.
She also said that further studies have to be conducted to understand the mechanism by which these food dyes apply their anti-cancer effect.
The study was presented at the American Association for Cancer Research in San Diego, California, last week.



Honorable Mention:
1. Why Probiotics ARE a Boon in Pregnancy
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=562203&in_page_id=1770
By DAVID DERBYSHIRE
Last updated at 11:10am on 26th April 2008

Healthy eating: A spoonful of 'friendly' bacteria
Pregnant women should take probiotic supplements if they want to reduce the risk of their babies suffering from childhood allergies, a study has found.
Infants exposed to "friendly bacteria" were less likely to suffer from eczema, researchers said.
Probiotics - normally sold to adults in pills, drinks or yoghurts - are living organisms designed to restore a healthy balance in the gut and prevent stomach upsets.
Some scientists believe they can also stimulate the growth of the immune system and play a role in preventing asthma, eczema and allergies.
The research contradicts previous studies which found no benefits from probiotics. The scientists involved emphasised that food supplements should not be given to young babies without a doctor's advice.
The study, led by Emma Marschan at the University of Helsinki, treated 1,223 pregnant women from the eighth month of pregnancy with doses either of probiotic bacteria or a placebo.
The women or their partners had a history of allergies, making their babies predisposed also to suffer from allergies, New Scientist Online reported.
Some women dropped out, but the researchers continued giving small, regulated daily doses of probiotics and placebos to 925 babies for six months after birth.
The children were examined at three and six months, and again at two years, by doctors who were unaware whether they had the probiotics or a placebo. The scientists also took blood samples from 98 randomly chosen babies.
Children given the "friendly bacteria" were 30 per cent less likely than the untreated babies to develop atopic eczema - an itchy skin condition which can be an early sign of other types of allergy.
They also found that levels of proteins associated with inflammation of bodily tissue were 50 per cent higher in the blood of babies given probiotics.
Inflammation is thought to trigger and strengthen the immune system and make allergies less likely. The findings are reported in the journal Clinical and Experimental Allergy.
Dr Errki Savilahti, one of the researchers, said: "It seems clear that we need to stimulate the infant's immune system as early and as vigorously as is safe, for inflammation seems to go hand-in-hand with allergy prevention."
There is growing evidence that the epidemic of allergies in the Western world is linked to homes being 'too clean', so children are not exposed to germs that could stimulate their immune system.


2. Massachusetts Firefighters Rescue Disabled Woman from Blaze
http://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/article.jsp?sectionId=46&id=59263
Posted: 04-25-2008Updated: 04-25-2008 11:43:55
AMMIKE UNDERWOOD
Courtesy of The Boston Herald/Doug Boudrow

SAUGUS, Mass. -- Brave firefighters -- two of them off-duty -- risked their lives to rescue a disabled woman from a ferocious blaze that gutted a triple-decker in Saugus yesterday, fire officials said.
"These guys are remarkable," said Saugus fire chief Jim Blanchard. "It is a cliche, but every day when these guys leave their homes in the morning they don't know if they are going to come home at night. They risk their lives to save lives."
The heroic response started when Saugus Fire Prevention Capt. Tom Nolan, hearing the call on his scanner, pulled up to the scene in his official car at about 12:30 p.m. yesterday. He ran into the smoke-filled Central Street house wearing a uniform shirt and tie but no protective gear after neighbors told him a woman with no legs lived on the second floor.
He found his way to the woman through thick smoke, dragged her to the back of the apartment, removed a window and shouted to an arriving fire company to get a ladder.
As firefighters hoisted a ladder to the second-floor window, off-duty firefighter Bill Cross, who happened to be passing the scene, jumped out of his car, scampered up the ladder in shorts and a t-shirt behind the on-duty jakes to help rescue the woman.
Nolan at this point was overcome by smoke and had to be helped out of the building. He was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital where he is being treated for smoke inhalation and carbon-monoxide poisoning. He was reported in stable condition late yesterday, said Blanchard.
Firefighter Steven Rey and Matt Fowler were also taken to Mass. General with minor injuries. Blanchard said they were later released.
The initial alarm was raised by yet another off-duty Saugus firefighter, Jeff Moses, who was cutting grass at a nearby home when he saw the smoke.
"He smelled the smoke, went to the house, rounded up the first-floor occupants and got them out," Blanchard said.
An elderly man and a woman and her toddler escaped from the building unharmed.
Blanchard said this week's dry weather made today a red-flag day for fires. Firefighters from surrounding towns rushed to help knock down the three-alarm blaze, including teams from Lynn, Revere, Malden, Wakefield and Melrose. Brushfires were reported in a number of towns, from Quincy to Norton to Revere.



3. March for Babies on Sunday
http://www.silive.com/news/advance/index.ssf?/base/news/1209126624195200.xml&coll=1
Friday, April 25, 2008
By DAVE GERHARDTADVANCE STAFF WRITER STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. --

The babies have a heavyweight in their corner, not to mention a singer with prodigious pipes.
Gerry Cooney, who fought Larry Holmes for the heavyweight title, and Kimberly Locke, star of "American Idol: Season 2," will headline a group of thousands of Staten Islanders on Sunday in the March of Dimes' March for Babies. The March for Babies, formerly known as WalkAmerica, kicks off at the Staten Island Mall, where Cooney, the March for Babies Celebrity Chair for Staten Island, will be joined by event co-chairs Mark Irving, director of public affairs for Consolidated Edison on Staten Island; Jon Salmon, president of Salmon Real Estate; Thomas Scarangello of Scaran Oil, and Shari Sterenbuch of WKTU, who will host the opening ceremony.
Island Mission Ambassadors Dawn and Charles Stephen, and surviving twins James and Lauren, will be introduced during the morning program, along with a "parade of preemies" from the March for Babies family teams.
The benefit walk will take participants five miles, beginning and ending at the Mall. Registration will begin at 8 a.m. and the walk will commence at 9 a.m.
A concert in appreciation for the efforts for and donations to March for Babies supporters will begin at 11 a.m., and will feature talented singer Alexandra Mazzucchelli of Great Kills and Locke, who was the third runnerup on "Idol" and is slated to appear on Wayne Brady's show "Don't Forget the Lyrics!"
The March for Babies is the premier fund-raising event for the March of Dimes. The event benefits all babies -- those born healthy as well as those born premature who need help to survive.
Currently in its 39th year, The March of Dimes is the leading non-profit organization for pregnancy and baby health, and raised more than $117 million last year. The March of Dimes works to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. For more information about the outstanding work the March of Dimes does, visit http://www.marchofdimes.com/.



4. Scientists Find 17 Descendants of 'Iceman' Found in Glacier
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/04/25/ice-man.html
Last Updated: Friday, April 25, 2008 9:38 PM ET

Scientists have found 17 living relatives of a centuries-old "iceman," whose remains were discovered in a melting glacier in northern British Columbia nine years ago.
Remains of a young aboriginal hunter were found frozen in a glacier in August 1999 in the Tatshenshini-Alsek Park, part of the traditional territory of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations. (CBC) The remains of a young aboriginal man were found frozen inside a glacier in the Champagne-Aishihik territory in August 1999. Scientists gave the man the nickname Kwaday Dan Ts'inchi, which means "long-ago person found" in the southern Tutchone language.
DNA testing has now connected the iceman to a number of people living in the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations in the North. The results were unveiled Friday at a science conference in Victoria, where all aspects of the discovery are being discussed.
Scientists believe Kwaday Dan Ts'inchi was a hunter, who lived roughly 300 years ago — but possibly longer. He appeared to be in good health when he, for some reason, died an accidental death on the glacier.
Among the findings, researchers have determined:
He was in his late teens or early 20s when he died. He wore a robe, likely made from about 95 gopher or squirrel skins, stitched together with sinew. He carried a walking stick, an iron-blade knife and a spearthrower. But who he was and where he was going remains a mystery, scientists said. A few of the hunter's artifacts are displayed at the Royal BC Museum, while his remains were cremated and his ashes scattered over the glacier where he died.
'It was very moving [and] overwhelming.' — Pearl Callaghan, descendant of Kwaday Dan Ts'inchi"He was certainly travelling. He had certainly been in different places, in different environments, just a few days before," said Richard Hebda, a curator at the museum.
"If you think of seafood, it doesn't stay long — yet he had seafood [and] crab in his digestive system," Hebda said.
Chief Diane Strand, of the Champagne and Ashihik First Nations, led a project to search for the young man's descendants.
She said 241 native people from B.C., Yukon and Alaska gave DNA samples for testing and the results produced 17 positive matches.
"All of those 17 people, and potentially their families, have the same common female ancestor as Kwaday himself," Strand said Friday.
Sheila Clark and sister Pearl Callaghan said it's very moving and overwhelming to learn about their connection to Kwaday Dan Ts'inchi. (CBC) Pearl Callaghan and her sister Sheila Clark, of Teslin, Yukon, were among those who gave a DNA sample. Callaghan said she was told about the results a few days ago.
"The blood sample proved it that through the mitocondrial DNA that the long-ago person and myself and my sister … We're related. It was very moving [and] overwhelming," Callaghan said Friday.
"I think this is going to be a very grounding experience," Clark said. "We all want to know our history and know that we are connected this way to somebody."
About 400 people registered for the conference, which runs until Sunday, said Lawrence Joe, heritage director with the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, based in Haines Junction.
"We want to be able to use the science to confirm our cultural knowledge, our beliefs and our family relationships," Joe told CBC News.
A traditional First Nations dance is performed during the Kwaday Dan Ts'inchi symposium at the University of Victoria, B.C. (CBC) First Nations plan memorialWhile much scientific curiosity surrounds Kwaday Dan Ts'inchi right now, some in the Champagne-Aishihik community have also raised cultural concerns about the man.
"There's caution we're getting from some people, who have different kinds of beliefs on how human remains should be treated with respect and how that's managed by the community," said Frances Oles, the First Nation's heritage resources officer.
After the weekend's symposium, Joe said, the First Nation wants to meet with other aboriginal groups to find an acceptable way of saying goodbye to the "long-ago person found."
"We hope to be meeting with the clans and with the communities and the tribes and First Nations to talk about having a memorial potlatch that will bring closure from a cultural perspective," Joe said.


5. Tumor Growth Blocked in Leukemia Animal Model: Two Suppressor Molecules Affect 70 Genes in Leukemia
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080424151111.htm
ScienceDaily (Apr. 25, 2008)

By restoring two small molecules that are often lost in chronic leukemia, researchers were able to block tumor growth in an animal model. The research, using human chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells, also showed that loss of the two molecules affects 70 genes, most of which are involved in critical functions such as cell growth, death, proliferation and metabolism.
The findings reveal how the two molecules, called miR-15a and miR-16-1, normally protect against cancer, and suggest a possible new treatment strategy for CLL.
The study, led by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, was published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
"These findings give us a signature of 70 deregulated genes that we believe finally explains at the molecular level how these two molecules contribute to CLL," says principal investigator Carlo M. Croce, director of Ohio State's human cancer genetics program.
"The identification of these genes could also have important significance for the development of new therapeutic approaches for chronic leukemias."
The two molecules are forms of microRNA, tiny molecules that cells use to help regulate the type and amount of proteins they make.
In 2005, Croce and his colleagues first showed that these two microRNAs target a gene called Bcl2, which normally helps cells survive by protecting them from accidental self-destruction. In CLL, however, the gene behaves abnormally and helps the leukemic cells survive long after they should have died.
Croce and his colleagues believe that loss of the two molecules alters the gene's behavior.
For the new study, the investigators first injected mice with leukemia cells in which they had restored the two microRNAs. This completely suppressed tumor growth in three of five animals. Mice injected with leukemic cells that lacked the two molecules, on the other hand, developed significant tumors.
"This clearly showed that these two microRNAs can suppress tumor development," says coauthor Muller Fabrri, a researcher in Croce's laboratory.
Because each microRNA regulates many genes, the investigators wanted to learn which ones, in addition to Bcl2, are affected in cells lacking the two molecules.
First, they measured differences in gene activity in laboratory-grown CLL cells that had either high or low levels of the two molecules.
Next, they measured the levels of all the proteins in the two groups of cells. This proteomic analysis revealed 27 proteins with highly altered amounts. These were identified and shown to be involved in cell growth, cell death and cancer development.
Last, the researchers used human CLL cells from 16 patients to verify the gene targets.
"Together, these extensive experiments revealed the signature of 70 genes controlled by the two microRNAs," Fabbri says. "They show that microRNAs can affect different biochemical pathways in different ways, and they explain at the molecular level what these two miRNAs do in this disease."
Adapted from materials provided by Ohio State University Medical Center, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.