071 | Alzheimer's might be a whole-body problem, key protein identified, real-time study of astronauts and more

Ahead on Biotechnology Focus radio are some of the stories from universities across the country and their innovative research this week. The University of British Columbia presents research that Alzheimer’s might be a whole-body problem. The University of Guelph identifies key protein in cancer metastasis. A University of Toronto scientist will be conducting a real-time study of astronauts while on mission. And, Western University’s National Centre for Audiology will be testing a device that may lay the foundation for hearing in the future. Welcome to another episode of Biotechnology Focus radio. I am your host, Michelle Currie, here to give you a run-down of the top stories of Canada’s biotech scene.  Our first story this week takes us to British Columbia, where recent studies are showing that Alzheimer’s might be linked to more than just deteriorating brain matter and plaque. It could be a whole-body phenomenon. The findings that were published in Molecular Psychiatry offer hope that future drug therapies might be able to stop or slow the disease without acting directly on the brain. Instead, the drugs might be able to target areas such as the liver and kidney to flush out the toxic proteins that cause dementia before ever reaching the brain. Weihong Song, a psychiatry professor from the university of British Columbia and Yan-Jiang Wang, a neurology professor at the Third Military Medical University in Chongqing, China, demonstrated the mobility of a protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease through a technique called parabiosis. The technique involves surgically attaching two specimens together so they share the same blood supply for several months. The scientists attached normal mice, which don’t naturally develop Alzheimer’s disease, with mice modified to carry a mutant human gene that produces elevated levels of the protein called amyloid beta. In people with Alzheimer’s disease, that protein ultimately forms clumps, or “plaque”. The findings described the mice who had been attached to an amyloid beta inflicted counterpart ended up “contracting” the disease, all in just a few months. Not only did the normal mice develop plaque, but also a “tangle”-like pathology, which are twisted protein strands that form inside brain cells that disrupt their function to eventually kill them from the inside-out. Other signs of Alzheimer’s-like damage included brain cell degeneration, inflammation, and microbleeds. Even the ability to transmit electrical signals involved in learning and memory were impaired after a brief time being joined. Amyloid beta is produced in other areas of the body besides the brain. It can be found in blood platelets, blood vessels, and muscles. Until these experiments, it was unclear if amyloid beta from outside the brain could contribute to Alzheimer’s disease. It appears from this study, that indeed it can. Perhaps in the near future, researchers and scientists will develop a drug that would tag the amyloid beta biochemically in such a way that the liver or kidney will be able to flush it out before generating damage. +++++++ The University of Guelph researchers have made a discovery during one of their ground-breaking studies. They have identified a protein known as cadherin-22 that binds cancer cells together and allows them to invade tissues. Hindering this protein showed signs of reduction in metastatic cancer patients for breast and brain cancer cells by up to 90 per cent. This study was published in the journal Oncogene and looks specifically at hypoxia in tumours. More solid cancer tumours that are depleted of oxygen, are difficult to treat and replicate at a faster rate. The researchers from the university discovered from the analysis of more than 100 patients with breast or brain cancer that there was a link between the quantity of cadherin-22 and the level of hypoxia in a tumour itself. The more hypoxic the tumour was, the higher the protein count of cadherin-22. Until now, little was known about how oxygen-deprived cancer cells bound together and interacted to spread. The U of G researchers found that it is precisely under conditions of low oxygen that cancer cells trigger the production of cadherin-22, putting in motion a kind of protein boost that helps bind cells together, enhancing cellular movement, invasion, and likely metastasis. The protein is found on the outside of cells and allows hypoxic cancer cells to migrate together. Scientists have known for decades that hypoxia plays a role in tumour growth and metastasis, as well as a poor patient outcome. Professor Jim Uniacke and his team identified that cadherin-22 plays an integral part in the advancement of cancer cells. The researchers used an incubator to monitor cancer cells in a low-oxygen environment comparable to a tumour, where the protein cadherin-22 had been removed via molecular tools. The cancer cells failed to spread. These findings offer vital insights into the aggression and migration of cancer cells. +++++++ A University of Toronto scientist will be performing real-time blood cell analyses on astronauts to reveal how time, space, and speed affect the immune system. Dr. Chen Wang hopes that this research will lead to an understanding of how stress and other environmental factors impact our ability to fight disease. Wang, a professor in the faculty of medicine’s department of laboratory medicine and pathobiology and a clinician-scientist at Mount Sinai Hospital, will be leading the project named Immuno Profile, to study the astronauts on the International Space Station over the course of five years. Canadian astronaut and physician, David Saint-Jacques, will be part of the next mission to the space station and will participate in several Canadian-made health experiments announced by the Canadian Space Agency. The astronauts will use a device that will take finger-prick blood samples during the flight mission, then the information will be sent back to Wang and his team for analysis. Wang expects to see immune cell and cytokine mediator changes, identify different types of immune cells and to see if the cells are functioning well or not. Wang also commented on the uniqueness of the space flight environment to study immune system stressors. Immune dysfunction relates to many diseases, including cancers, viral infections, MS, type I diabetes, and even the aging process. The weightlessness of space can also be used to learn more about the less-understood lymphatic system, which depends on the pressure to flow properly. They hope to develop a new model for how the immune system responds to circadian rhythm and various stresses. +++++++ Lastly for this week, Western University’s National Centre for Audiology (NCA) is testing a new device that may lay the foundation for the hearing of the future. Recently approved by Health Canada and already available in the states, Earlens hearing aid offers a remarkable chance for the hearing impaired to listen in to the everyday world. Its sound-to-light technology eliminates the whistling noise common in conventional hearing aids and delivers the broadest frequency on the market that results in a more life-like sound with crisp highs and rumbling lows. Western University is the first Canadian location authorized to test out the Earlens hearing aid and see if it measures up. Traditional hearing aids are worn behind the ear or in the ear and pick-up, amplify and process incoming sounds and direct them into the ear canal. Meanwhile, the Earlens rests directly on the eardrum and gently activates the natural hearing system. Western’s National Centre for Audiology is a state-of-the-art research centre. It has developed national protocols for pediatric heating assessments, developed methods for fitting hearing aids, has tested numerous devices for more than a dozen companies across the globe and is dedicated to tackling complex issues related to hearing loss. The NCA will be testing the Earlens device using a double-blind study to examine if its light pulse invention turns on the bulb to resonate a way to the future of hearing. ++++++++ Well that wraps up another episode of Biotechnology Radio. We hope you enjoyed it. If you have any feedback or story ideas, please reach out to us via [email protected]. From all of us here at Biotechnology Focus, have a wonderful week ahead. From my desk to yours – this is Michelle Currie.