Thrivous

By ThrivousHealth & Fitness

Thrivous episodes

May 24, 2021 The Language of Our Immune Cells
Researchers at UC Los Angeles have identified the “words” that immune cells use to call up immune defense genes. This is an important step toward understanding the “language” that immune cells use to communicate. “In the midst of billions of cells, a particular cell can rapidly make complex decisions and send signals that direct the efforts of many other cells to make our bodies work in amazing ways,” notes doctor Jon Lieff. His book on cellular communication, The Secret Language of Cells, has been highly praised. Cells talk among themselves all the time. In particular, white blood cells, red blood cells, cancer cells, and the natural killer cells of the immune system engage in cellular communications that determine health and disease. "Cells have evolved an immune response code, or language," says senior researcher Alexander Hoffmann in a press release issued by UC Los Angeles. "We have identified some words in that language, and we know these words are important because of what happens when they are misused. Now we need to understand the meaning of the words, and we are making rapid progress. It's as exciting as when archaeologists discovered the Rosetta stone and could begin to read Egyptian hieroglyphs." Many diseases are known to be related to miscommunication in cells. But, according to the researchers, this study is the first to recognize that immune cells employ a language, to identify words in that language, and to demonstrate what can happen after a mistake. A study is published in Immunity. It reports that the researchers analyzed how more than 12,000 cells communicate in response to 27 immune threat conditions. Using an algorithm originally developed for the telecommunications industry, the scientists found six words that tended to show up when white blood cells of the immune system called macrophages responded to threat. "The macrophage is capable of responding to different types of pathogens and mounting different kinds of defenses,” explains Hoffman. "For each immune threat, the right groups of genes must be mobilized.” Then the researchers used a machine learning algorithm to model the immune response of macrophages. And they concluded that all six words are required for reliable cellular communication. An important finding is that, in an autoimmune disease known as Sjögren's syndrome, two of the words of the cellular communication language are used incorrectly. This activates the wrong genes and triggers the disease. "Indeed, we found defects in the use of two of these words," says Hoffmann. "It's as if instead of saying, 'Respond to attacker down the street,' the cells are incorrectly saying, 'Respond to attacker in the house.'" This suggests that Sjögren's syndrome doesn't result from chronic inflammation, as long thought. But rather it may result from a word confusion that leads to inappropriate gene activation, causing the body to attack itself. The next step will be to find ways of correcting the confused word choices.
4 min
May 22, 2021 Turmeric Improves Muscle Recovery After Intense Exercise
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial was conducted to evaluate the effects of turmeric extract on inflammation and muscle damage after a half-marathon race of about 13 miles. Turmeric is a widely used spice that exhibits potent anti-inflammatory response. And it appears to decrease the muscle damage induced by strenuous exercise. As a consequence of strenuous exercise, people can experience impaired neuromuscular function, greater oxidative stress, inflammation, reduced range of motion, muscle soreness, and muscle damage. Strategies able to attenuate the exacerbated inflammatory response caused by strenuous exercise are becoming increasingly popular. Among them, nutritional supplements with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties have been widely consumed for this purpose. In previous studies, curcumin was shown to attenuate inflammation, to prevent muscle damage, and to reduce the pain associated with muscle soreness after intense exercise, which favors recovery of muscle performance. Curcumin is a substance extracted from turmeric with powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. The trial is described in a study published in European Journal of Applied Physiology. It involved twenty-eight healthy, normal-weight men. They were randomly assigned to one of two groups: turmeric extract (3 capsules per day, 500 mg each) placebo (3 capsules per day, 500 mg of microcrystalline cellulose) The participants received either turmeric extract or placebo for 4 weeks. And researchers measured markers of muscle damage, such as creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, myoglobin, and interleukins 6 and 10. Measurements were taken before, immediately after, and at 2, 24, and 48 hours after a half-marathon race. The half-marathon race increased markers of inflammation and muscle damage. A greater increase in interleukin-10 was observed in the participants who received turmeric extract immediately after the competition, compared to the participants who received placebo. Myoglobin concentration was lower 2 hours after the race in the participants who received turmeric extract, compared to the participants who received placebo. Interleukin-10 is an anti-inflammatory cytokine that acts by suppressing the activation and function of immune cells after an initial inflammatory response is established. Increased interleukin-10 concentration can accelerate the inflammatory recovery process. Myoglobin is one of the intramuscular proteins used to monitor muscle damage. The conclusion of the study is that turmeric extract supplementation leads to an increase in interleukin-10 and a decrease in myoglobin in recreational male runners after a half-marathon race. Both these results indicate a positive impact of turmeric extract supplementation on the participants. The researchers acknowledge that the limitations of this study include the inclusion of a specific population group (healthy, normal-weight men) and the performance of only one type of physical activity (half-marathon race), which is a very intense one. Further research is needed to investigate the effects of turmeric extract supplementation in other population groups (e.g., women, older adults, and individuals with obesity) performing different types of physical activity (e.g., resistance or aerobic exercise training and other sports). Thrivous provides a clinical dose of turmeric curcumin in each serving of Tenacity Arthroprotector. Tenacity also includes complementary nutrients to enhance joint and bone function. And, like all Thrivous supplements, Tenacity passes through multiple rounds of rigorous quality control. Tenacity is available to purchase via the Thrivous website.
5 min
May 20, 2021Thrivous Develops Omega Cardioprotector Formula 2
Orem UT – Thrivous, the human enhancement company, has released Omega Cardioprotector Formula 2. Omega is an advanced geroprotector supplement that Thrivous develops to enhance heart function and circulation for better aging.
Omega formula 2 combines geroprotector nutrients with the highest levels of evidence and the greatest magnitudes of effect, based on available science. Nutrients include the following:
Omega 3 Lysine Complex
French Maritime Pine Bark Extract
Garlic Bulb Extract
Centella Asiatica (Gotu Kola) Extract
Olive Leaf Extract
Omega 3 Lysine Complex
Each serving of Omega formula 2 provides a clinical dose of Omega 3 with a high ratio of EPA in a Lysine Complex. Emerging scientific evidence suggests that a high ratio of EPA may be superior to other forms of Omega 3 for supporting and enhancing heart function. And a human study demonstrates that the EPA in Omega 3 Lysine Complex is five times more bioavailable than the EPA in traditional fish oil soft gels.
Thrivous Omega formula 2 provides the AvailOm® brand of Omega 3 Lysine Complex. This is the material that scientists used in the human study that demonstrated superior bioavailability. In addition, the material has longer effective shelf life. And the material has no fishy smell or taste.
French Maritime Pine Bark Extract
Each serving of Omega formula 2 provides a clinical dose French Maritime Pine Bark Extract. French Maritime Pine Bark is among the most well-studied dietary supplements. It has particularly strong evidence for enhancing circulation.
Thrivous Omega formula 2 provides the Oligopin® brand of French Maritime Pine Bark Extract. Scientists used this material in a recent placebo-controlled human study that demonstrated support for cardiovascular health. A recent comparative study also demonstrated that the Oligopin extract has a better safety profile than alternative extracts of French Maritime Pine Bark.
Additional Nutrients for the Heart and Circulation
Each serving of Omega formula 2 provides clinical doses of Garlic Bulb Extract and Centella Asiatica (Gotu Kola) Extract. The Garlic Bulb Extract is standardized to 1% allicin to support healthy cholesterol. And the Centella Asiatica Extract is standardized to 80% triterpene to enhance circulation. Multiple controlled human studies have demonstrated the efficacy of these extracts.
In addition, each serving of Omega formula 2 provides a low dose of Olive Leaf Extract standardized to 20% oleuropein. Higher doses generally provide greater cardiovascular benefit. However, studies indicate that benefits already begin at low doses. And the formula permitted inclusion of a low dose in each serving without increasing capsule size or count.
Exceptional Science and Quality
"I'm proud of the new Omega formula," said Lincoln Cannon, CEO at Thrivous. "It provides high quality nutrients at the leading edge of nutritional science. And the price per dose is truly exceptional. It's not the cheapest. But it's by far the most cost-effective option on the market anywhere in the world, to the best of my knowledge."
Geroprotectors are longevity technology. They support healthy aging and promote life extension. In pursuit of its mission, Thrivous develops advanced geroprotector supplements with science-backed doses of the most effective nutrients, open-source formulas, and rigorous quality control. Omega is one of several geroprotectors that Thrivous develops.
Thrivous develops its formulas based on the best scientific evidence from multiple human studies – the gold standard of health science. In consultation with their advisor board of physicians and scientists, they perform extensive analysis of decades of clinical research from scientists around the world. Their algorithms rank hundreds of nutrients by parameters that include evidence, safety, and efficacy. They develop formulas around only the best nutrients and doses. And they publish summaries of clinical studies to help customers make the best decision.
Thrivous supplements pass through three rounds of rigorous quality control. Suppliers test each nutrient for identity, potency, and safety from harmful microbes and heavy metals. Third-party labs test each nutrient again to double-check quality and safety before manufacturing. Manufacturing follows strict GMP regulation from the FDA at audited and certified facilities in the United States, and tests the combined nutrients yet again to triple-check safety. Finally, they publish all of these test results and quality certifications to help customers make the best decision.
Product Resources
Omega Cardioprotector is open source. Thrivous makes all scientific and quality information available at the following locations:
Product Webpage
Summary of Clinical Studies
Certificate of Analysis and Quality
About Thrivous
Thrivous is the human enhancement company. Its mission is to help people access technology with the greatest potential to improve their brains and bodies. Thrivous develops nootropics to enhance cognition and geroprotectors to combat aging. Each nutrient and each dose is based on multiple human studies. And its rigorous quality control is completely open source. For more information, contact [email protected].
About AvailOm®
AvailOm® is an Omega 3 Lysine Complex that is five times more bioavailable than traditional liquid softgels. AvailOm® is a registered trademark of Evonik Degussa GmbH LLC. Use of this product may be protected by one or more U.S. patents and other international patents.
About Oligopin®
Oligopin® is the most purified extract of French Maritime Pine Bark on the market. Oligopin® is a registered trademark of Les Derives Resiniques et Terpeniques (DRT). Use of this product may be protected by one or more U.S. patents and other international patents.
7 min
May 11, 2021 Fast DNA Editing Tool to Boost Genetic Research
Scientists led by Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have developed a new gene editing tool that could significantly boost genetic research on mutations. The new tool offers advantages over CRISPR, including better editing rates and the possibility to be used in contexts where CRISPR is toxic or not feasible. CRISPR pioneers Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna were awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for initiating a wave of powerful gene editing technologies that seem poised to change the world. See our review of the book, A Crack in Creation: Gene Editing and the Unthinkable Power to Control Evolution (2017), co-authored by Doudna. The new gene editing tool is called “Retron Library Recombineering” (RLR). It can generate up to millions of mutations simultaneously. RLR can also “barcode” mutant bacterial cells so that an entire pool of bacteria can be screened at once, enabling massive amounts of data to be easily generated and analyzed. "Being able to analyze pooled, barcoded mutant libraries with RLR enables millions of experiments to be performed simultaneously, allowing us to observe the effects of mutations across the genome, as well as how those mutations might interact with each other," says research leader George Church in a press release issued by Wyss Institute. "This work helps establish a road map toward using RLR in other genetic systems, which opens up many exciting possibilities for future genetic research." "RLR enabled us to do something that's impossible to do with CRISPR: we randomly chopped up a bacterial genome, turned those genetic fragments into single-stranded DNA in situ, and used them to screen millions of sequences simultaneously," says researcher Max Schubert. "RLR is a simpler, more flexible gene editing tool that can be used for highly multiplexed experiments, which eliminates the toxicity often observed with CRISPR and improves researchers' ability to explore mutations at the genome level." Retrons are segments of bacterial DNA that, like CRISPR, can be used for precise and flexible gene editing in bacterial and even human cells. Recombineering is a gene editing technique that works by introducing an alternate piece of DNA into a cell while the cell is replicating its genome, creating genetic mutations without breaking DNA. "For a long time, CRISPR was just considered a weird thing that bacteria did, and figuring out how to harness it for genome engineering changed the world,” explains Schubert. “Retrons are another bacterial innovation that might also provide some important advances." Retrons can "barcode" the individuals within a pool of bacteria that have received each retron sequence, enabling dramatically faster, pooled screens of precisely-created mutant strains. A paper is published in PNAS. It shows that RLR could detect known antibiotic resistance mutations in bacteria, and that RLR is sensitive and precise enough to measure small differences in resistance that result from very similar mutations. Future research is expected to shed light on how multiple mutations interact with each other, and generate massive amounts of data that could enable the use of machine learning to predict further mutational effects. Direct applications of RLR to future medicine haven’t been suggested so far. But the same was true of CRISPR only a few years ago. It seems likely to me that RLR could find direct and very powerful applications to DNA editing.
4 min
May 04, 2021 Molecular Robotics for Health Monitoring and Drug Delivery
Many scientists are persuaded that, someday, DNA-based robots and other nanodevices will detect the presence of deadly pathogens and deliver medicine inside our bodies. Researchers at Ohio State University have used computer science to develop a software tool, called MagicDNA. It helps design much more complex DNA robots and nanodevices than were ever possible before, in a fraction of the time. DNA has already been used to make molecular machines for potential application to medicine, synthetic biology, biosensing, and biophysics. However, designing DNA devices has been complex and time consuming so far. "But now, nanodevices that may have taken us several days to design before now take us just a few minutes," says associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering Carlos Castro in a press release issued by Ohio State University. The new software tool is described in a research paper published in Nature Materials. It helps researchers assemble strands of DNA, like Lego bricks, into complex structures. Parts like rotors and hinges that can move and complete a variety of tasks, including drug delivery. MagicDNA also permits simulating how DNA robots would move and operate in the real world. "As you make these structures more complex, it is difficult to predict exactly what they are going to look like and how they are going to behave," says Castro. "It is critical to be able to simulate how our devices will actually operate.” The software supports “bottom up” and “top down” design methods for DNA robots. Combining the two methods allows for increasing complexity of the overall geometry of a robot while maintaining precise control over individual component properties. An advantage of MagicDNA over other DNA engineering tools is that it allows for 3D design, with fine control over the geometrical, mechanical, and dynamical properties of DNA structures. "With this software, it is not hard to make robots or other devices with upwards of 20 components that are much easier to control,” says Hai-Jun Su, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. “It is a huge step in our ability to design nanodevices that can perform the complex actions that we want them to do." To showcase the capabilities of MagicDNA, the researchers built robot arms with claws that can pick up smaller items. DNA robots could detect pathogens in the bloodstream. "But a more complex device may not only detect that something bad is happening, but can also react by releasing a drug or capturing the pathogen," says Castro. "We want to be able to design robots that respond in a particular way to a stimulus or move in a certain way." "There is getting to be more and more commercial interest in DNA nanotechnology," concludes Castro. "I think in the next five to 10 years we will start seeing commercial applications of DNA nanodevices and we are optimistic that this software can help drive that."
4 min
April 30, 2021 Omega 3 Lysine Complex Is 5 Times Better
One of the most popular food supplements on the market today is fish oil. It packs an impressive wallop of omega-3 fatty acids, which many physicians see as vitally important for health and well-being. The effectiveness of dietary supplements depends on your body's absorption. A recent study from the Netherlands is providing new insights into how to optimize this process. What has the study concluded? Traditional fish oil tablets or capsules don't hold a candle to the absorption of omega-3 lysine complex. In fact, this new formulation translates into five times higher absorption! Here's what else you need to know about omega-3 lysine complex. Studying Easy to Process Fish Oils How do you meet dietary needs for omega-3 fatty acids? The American Heart Association recommends eating between one and two portions of fish weekly. But consuming this much isn't in the cards for everyone. Factors that limit fatty acid intake include geography, economics, and dietary preferences. Some individuals may try to supplement solely with plant-derived free fatty acids. But does this prove as effective as fish oil? No. Three main types of omega-3 fatty acids exist. They include fatty acids found in fish: Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) Plants also contain the fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). Unlike EPA and DHA, ALA doesn't prove as active in the body. For this reason, it must get converted into EPA or DHA. Only then can ALA provide the same health benefits. But the human body's ability to convert ALA proves limited. We're talking only about five percent. That means you've got to load up on ALA-containing plants to even make a dent in your daily needs. Of course, food supplements are only as effective as your body's ability to process them. But even traditional omega-3 fatty acid supplements have inherent absorption issues. Most supplements come in oil-based ethyl-esters. The concentration and purification of DHA and EPA prove straightforward. But bioavailability could still use a boost to get the highest load possible. Bioavailability and Your Health What is bioavailability? The proportion of a supplement that enters your circulatory system. A recent study has provided new insight into how the bioavailability of omega-3 works. It offers guidelines about dosage forms. It also offers insights into which free fatty acid supplements best support the body. The study involved eight healthy women between the ages of 18 and 28 years old. Participants came from the area near Wageningen University. Researchers screened for conditions that could impact bioavailability. They included: Gastrointestinal conditions Other illnesses impacting absorption Medication use Beyond these criteria, the women were randomly selected to take the omega-3 powder. The study marks the first of its kind to consider how the oral absorption of DHA and the EPA in humans work. Researchers administered omega-3 fatty acids in the form of lysine salts. Then, they monitored absorption rates. The results proved surprising and significant. Omega-3 Lysine Complex Findings What happened when subjects received omega-3 lysine complex on an empty stomach? They absorbed these free fatty acids more readily and rapidly than traditional formulations. As it turns out, omega-3 lysine complex offered superior bioavailability. Three hours after consumption, subjects experienced the greatest spike in amino acid levels. But the benefits didn't stop there. Omega-3 lysine complex still impacted the body 12 hours after consumption. Study subjects enjoyed significantly higher levels of DHA and EPA in their blood. What do these findings suggest? The upper small intestines handle the body's fatty acid release and absorption mechanisms. Understanding timing and how it relates to the body's use of free fatty acids remains critical. How did scientists stumble across the lysine absorption concept? They've long known about the effectiveness of salt formation. It increases the disso ...
8 min
April 27, 2021 CRISPR Epigenetic Editing Silences Genes Without DNA Edits
Scientists at UC San Francisco and Whitehead Institute have modified CRISPR cut-and-paste gene editing technology to extend its reach beyond genome editing and into epigenomic editing. The epigenome is the set of proteins and small molecules that control gene expression and gene activation. In other words, it controls when and where target genes are switched on or off. In a research paper published in Cell, the scientists describe a new CRISPR-based tool called “CRISPRoff.” It permits switching off almost any gene in human cells without making a single edit to the genetic code. The scientists also show that once a gene is switched off, it remains inert in the cell’s descendants for hundreds of generations. And it can be switched back on with a complementary epigenetic modification tool called “CRISPRon,” also described in the paper. “The big story here is we now have a simple tool that can silence the vast majority of genes,” says research co-leader Jonathan Weissman in a press release issued by Whitehead Institute. “We can do this for multiple genes at the same time without any DNA damage, with great deal of homogeneity, and in a way that can be reversed. It's a great tool for controlling gene expression.” By switching genes on and off, the epigenome plays a central role in many diseases, from viral infection to cancer. Therefore, CRISPRoff technology may one day lead to powerful epigenetic therapies for these diseases. And because this approach doesn’t involve any DNA sequence edits, it’s likely to be safer than conventional CRISPR-mediated therapeutics. Conventional CRISPR has been known to cause unwanted and potentially harmful changes to the genome. “Though genetic and cellular therapies are the future of medicine, there are potential safety concerns around permanently changing the genome, which is why we’re trying to come up with other ways to use CRISPR to treat disease,” says research co-leader Luke Gilbert in a press release issued by UC San Francisco. CRISPRoff allows expressing a protein briefly “to write a program that's remembered and carried out indefinitely by the cell,” adds Gilbert. “It changes the game so now you're basically writing a change that is passed down through cell divisions - in some ways we can learn to create a version 2.0 of CRISPR-Cas9 that is safer and just as effective.” As an example of how this epigenetic regulation might be applied to therapeutics, the scientists show that CRISPRoff could be used to turn down (although not entirely off) the expression of the gene that codes for Tau protein. This protein is implicated in Alzheimer’s disease. How to deliver CRISPRoff therapeutics to Alzheimer’s patients, and more generally how to deliver it to specific tissues, is a challenge that future research will need to address. But, Weissman says, “we showed that you can deliver it transiently as a DNA or as an RNA, the same technology that's the basis of the Moderna and BioNTech coronavirus vaccine.”
4 min
April 20, 2021 Elon Musk’s Monkey Uses Neuralink to Play MindPong
I’m a great fan of Elon Musk. His Tesla electric cars are reducing our dependence on fossil fuels and racing toward a green Earth. Others talk the talk, but Elon walks the walk. Musk’s SpaceX rockets will open the road to the stars and make humanity interplanetary. Of course Elon makes a lot of money with all that. And of course deep down he must be a flawed human being like the rest of us. But what he has done and continues to do deserves admiration and respect. Elon Musk’s neurotechnology company, Neuralink, is developing implanted, wireless, fast brain-machine interface (BMI) technology. Neural interfaces could enable paralyzed people to operate computers and mobile devices directly with their thoughts, easily and fast (see Pulse 111, 167, 168 ). The latest update released by Neuralink has been widely covered by the media. It shows a monkey named Pager. A video shows Pager playing Pong in real time with his mind alone, moving “a cursor on a computer screen with neural activity using a 1,024 electrode fully-implanted neural recording and data transmission device.” The brain implant used by Pager is called N1 Link. It captures brain activity and translates the neural signals into intended movement. The output is used to direct the movement of a “MindPong paddle” on a computer screen. And that enables the monkey to play pong with his mind, while sipping a banana smoothie. "First Neuralink product will enable someone with paralysis to use a smartphone with their mind faster than someone using thumbs," Musk tweeted. The Neuralink technology used in this demo prepares the way for future applications to human patients with paralysis. The neurons of paralyzed patients remain directionally tuned to movement intention. Therefore, it will be possible to translate the intention to move a finger on a trackpad into the actual movement of a cursor. Paralyzed patients will be able to type and do all that can be done with a computer, just by thinking about how they want the cursor to move. “Our first goal is to give people with paralysis their digital freedom back: to communicate more easily via text, to follow their curiosity on the web, to express their creativity through photography and art, and, yes, to play video games,” reads the Neuralink update. “After that, we intend to use the Link to help improve the lives of those with neurological disorders and disabilities in other ways.” “For example, for people with paralysis the Link could also potentially be used to restore physical mobility. To achieve this, we'd use the Link to read signals in the brain and use them to stimulate nerves and muscles in the body, thereby allowing the person to once again control their own limbs.” Elon Musk's Neuralink update is soberly worded, and only mentions near-term applications to paralyzed patients. But it’s easy to see that, besides medical applications, the Neuralink device could enable science-fictional applications. Imagine what you'd do if you could control a computer with your mind or connect a Neuralink in your brain to Neuralinks in others' brains. “Perhaps more exciting is a brain-machine interface’s ability to connect brains to the cloud and all its resources,” notes technology expert David Tuffley. “In theory, a person’s own 'native' intelligence could then be augmented on demand by accessing cloud-based artificial intelligence (AI).” “Human intelligence could be greatly multiplied by this. Consider for a moment if two or more people wirelessly connected their implants,” added Tuffey. “This would facilitate a high-bandwidth exchange of images and ideas from one to the other.”
5 min
April 13, 2021 Using Bacteria to Fight Cancer with Immunotherapies
Cancer researchers led by Weizmann Institute of Science have discovered that the immune system "sees" bacteria residing within tumor cells. These bacteria can be harnessed to provoke an immune reaction against the tumor. "Our findings suggest that bacterial peptides presented on tumor cells can serve as potential targets for immunotherapy," says research leader Yardena Samuels. "They may be exploited to help immune T cells recognize the tumor with greater precision, so that these cells can mount a better attack against the cancer. This approach can in the future be used in combination with existing immunotherapy drugs." A variety of species of bacteria are known to colonize human tumors, and modulate immune function. This ultimately affects the survival of patients with cancer and their responses to treatment. A study is published in Nature. It reveals that peptides (fragments of proteins) derived from intracellular bacteria can be present in a tumor cell and provoke immune reactions. The study provides insight into a mechanism by which bacteria influence activation of the immune system and responses to therapy. The researchers analyzed tissue samples from nine patients with metastatic melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer. They obtained bacterial genomic profiles of these tumors and then identified tumor peptides that can be recognized by the immune system. The study revealed nearly 300 peptides from 41 different bacteria on the surface of the cancer cells. The researchers found that the peptides were present in protein complexes that are present on the membranes of all cells in our body. These protein complexes "present" foreign peptides to the immune system so that immune cells can "see" them. Some of the bacteria identified in the study were known gut microbes. This could shed light on how the gut microbiome - the bacteria, viruses, and fungi present in the gastrointestinal tract - affects immunotherapy. The fact that bacterial peptides on tumor cells are visible to the immune system can be exploited for enhancing immunotherapy. "Many of these peptides were shared by different metastases from the same patient or by tumors from different patients, which suggests that they have a therapeutic potential and a potent ability to produce immune activation," says researcher Adi Nagler. Future studies are planned to establish which bacterial strains help the immune cells to fight cancer. This could enable physicians to predict the success of immunotherapy and to tailor a personalized treatment accordingly. Cancer immunotherapies have dramatically improved recovery rates from certain cancers, including metastatic melanoma. But cancer immunotherapies still work in only about 40 percent of melanoma patients. These findings reveal an entirely new type of interaction between tumors and the immune system. And they could open the door to new, more effective forms of cancer immunotherapy.
4 min
April 10, 2021 The DNA Omega 3 Link
Researchers at University of Georgia have found that taking fish oil (which contains Omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids EPA and DHA) provides heart health benefits. But that may only be the case if you have the right genetic makeup. "We've known for a few decades that a higher level of omega-3 fatty acids in the blood is associated with a lower risk of heart disease," says research leader Kaixiong Ye. Based on such purported health benefits, fish oil supplements have become a billion-dollar industry. A study is published in PLOS Genetics. It shows that individuals with a certain genotype who took fish oil decreased their triglyceride. This is a type of fat in the blood that is an indicator of cardiovascular health. Individuals with a different genotype who took fish oil slightly increased their triglyceride. To show this, the researchers analyzed data from 70,000 individuals. 11,000 of them were taking fish oil supplements. The data were taken from UK Biobank, a database of genetic and health information from half a million participants. Then the researchers performed a detailed DNA analysis for each group, testing for 8 million genetic variants to compare. After running over 64 million tests, the researchers found a significant genetic variant. It identities those who are most likely to benefit from fish oil supplements. "What we found is that fish oil supplementation is not good for everyone; it depends on your genotype. If you have a specific genetic background, then fish oil supplementation will help lower your triglycerides,” explains Ye. “But if you do not have that right genotype, taking a fish oil supplement actually increases your triglycerides." Some previous studies have suggested that fish oil and Omega 3 fatty acids may provide no benefit in preventing heart disease. "One possible explanation is that those clinical trials didn't consider the genotypes of the participants," comments Ye. "Some participants may benefit, and some may not, so if you mix them together and do the analysis, you do not see the impact." Of course the question is, how do you know if you have the right DNA to benefit from fish oil supplements? According to Ye, the answer can be extracted from the raw data provided by genetic testing companies. The ID for the variant to look for is rs112803755 (A>G). Now that Ye has identified a specific gene that can modify an individual's response to fish oil supplements, his next step will be directly testing the effects of fish oil on cardiovascular health. "Personalizing and optimizing fish oil supplementation recommendations based on a person's unique genetic composition can improve our understanding of nutrition," concludes Ye, "and lead to significant improvements in human health and well-being." Thrivous Omega Cardioprotector provides Omega 3 Lysine Complex, which is five times more bioavailable than Omega 3 in standard fish oil gelcaps. Each serving of Omega also provides clinical doses of Garlic, Centella Asiatica (Gotu Kola), French Maritime Pine Bark, and Olive Leaf to enhance heart function and circulation for better aging. Each nutrient and each dose is backed by multiple human studies. And like all Thrivous supplements, Omega passes through multiple rounds of rigorous quality control.
4 min

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