Three research breakthroughs we missed this year
Every week of the year, countless scientific papers are published in hundreds of journals. Some articles simply replicate the work of other researchers, which is an important part of the scientific process because it ensures accuracy. However, many articles are groundbreaking in their fields or even across disciplines.
In each issue, this section tries to highlight a few of the most recent and most exciting stories, especially those that come out of Hopkins, but there are always many more that we have to leave out. Here are three noteworthy breakthrough we have missed over the last few months.
Cancer
Many diseases can only be treated with one precisely targeted medication. Researchers at the Hopkins Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center have found a surprising new way to battle brain cancer by combining two very different drugs.
The research team, led by Charles Eberhart, a medical doctor and scientist in the Hopkins School of Medicine's Departments of Oncology, Ophthalmology and Pathology, published its findings in the January issue of the American Journal of Pathology.
Researchers from the cancer team encountered powerful results when they combined lovastatin, a therapeutic drug used to lower cholesterol levels, with cyclopamine, a drug that battles cancer by blocking cell proliferation pathways in various cancers.
While these drugs could only kill 15 to 20 percent of a brain tumor known as medulloblastoma when used alone, when combined they killed 63 percent of the cells that make up the tumor. Other therapies used to battle this tumor are highly toxic and produce only minimal results.
Lovastatin and cyclopamine each battles cancer in a different way. Cyclopamine inhibits pathways that allow cancer cells to divide and grow. A tumor is essentially a group of cells that have lost the ability to control their division.
Lovastatin produces proteins that encourage cancer cells to undergo apoptosis, or cell death. This function of lovastatin appears to be distinct from its anti-cholesterol abilities. The two drugs work synergistically to produce their effects: cells weakened by treatment with cyclopamine are more readily attacked by lovastatin.
In each issue, this section tries to highlight a few of the most recent and most exciting stories, especially those that come out of Hopkins, but there are always many more that we have to leave out. Here are three noteworthy breakthrough we have missed over the last few months.
Cancer
Many diseases can only be treated with one precisely targeted medication. Researchers at the Hopkins Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center have found a surprising new way to battle brain cancer by combining two very different drugs.
The research team, led by Charles Eberhart, a medical doctor and scientist in the Hopkins School of Medicine's Departments of Oncology, Ophthalmology and Pathology, published its findings in the January issue of the American Journal of Pathology.
Researchers from the cancer team encountered powerful results when they combined lovastatin, a therapeutic drug used to lower cholesterol levels, with cyclopamine, a drug that battles cancer by blocking cell proliferation pathways in various cancers.
While these drugs could only kill 15 to 20 percent of a brain tumor known as medulloblastoma when used alone, when combined they killed 63 percent of the cells that make up the tumor. Other therapies used to battle this tumor are highly toxic and produce only minimal results.
Lovastatin and cyclopamine each battles cancer in a different way. Cyclopamine inhibits pathways that allow cancer cells to divide and grow. A tumor is essentially a group of cells that have lost the ability to control their division.
Lovastatin produces proteins that encourage cancer cells to undergo apoptosis, or cell death. This function of lovastatin appears to be distinct from its anti-cholesterol abilities. The two drugs work synergistically to produce their effects: cells weakened by treatment with cyclopamine are more readily attacked by lovastatin.
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