Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Stopping the Bad
Excessive bleeding is a problem for every aspect of health - you die if you bleed too much, and bleeding can interfere with surgeries and treatments. This is part of why news from MIT researchers of a gel that can stop bleeding in seconds is so exciting. The group has developed a self-assembling nanoparticle substance that somehow stops bleeding in seconds, even in major arteries. Very cool.
Viruses can also be tricky to stop (when by "stop" I of course mean "cure" or "get rid of for good"). It seems that part of how the cleverer ones avoid removal by our immune systems is partially by exploiting down-regulation of the inflammatory response, and researchers may have found a way to address this trick. When they gave mice chronically infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) a drug that blocks suppression of inflammation by IL-10, they quickly cleared the virus. If it works in humans too, this has potential to be a massive breakthrough in fights against many viral diseases, including CMV, Hepatitis, and even HIV.
Viruses can also be tricky to stop (when by "stop" I of course mean "cure" or "get rid of for good"). It seems that part of how the cleverer ones avoid removal by our immune systems is partially by exploiting down-regulation of the inflammatory response, and researchers may have found a way to address this trick. When they gave mice chronically infected with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) a drug that blocks suppression of inflammation by IL-10, they quickly cleared the virus. If it works in humans too, this has potential to be a massive breakthrough in fights against many viral diseases, including CMV, Hepatitis, and even HIV.
