This blog originated as a press release from the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering. Thanks to them for allowing us to repost it here.

Nanoengineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a new and potentially more effective way to deliver messenger RNA (mRNA) into cells. Their approach involves packing mRNA inside nanoparticles that mimic the flu virus –– a naturally efficient vehicle for delivering genetic material such as RNA into cells.

The new mRNA delivery nanoparticles are described in a paper published recently in the journal Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

The work addresses a major challenge in the field of drug delivery: getting large biological drug molecules safely into cells and protecting them from organelles called endosomes. These tiny acid-filled bubbles inside the cell serve as barriers that trap and digest large molecules that try to enter. In order for biological therapeutics to do their job once they are inside the cell, they need a way to escape the endosomes.

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This blog originated as a press release from the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases. Thanks to them for allowing us to repost it here.

Researchers at the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) and the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) have identified molecules in the blood that can indicate impending dementia. Their findings, which are presented in the scientific journal EMBO Molecular Medicine, are based on human studies and laboratory experiments. Various university hospitals across Germany were also involved in the investigations. The biomarker described by the team led by Prof. André Fischer is based on measuring levels of so-called microRNAs. The technique is not yet suitable for practical use; the scientists therefore aim to develop a simple blood test that can be applied in routine medical care to assess dementia risk. According to the study data, microRNAs could potentially also be targets for dementia therapy.

“When symptoms of dementia manifest, the brain has already been massively damaged. Presently, diagnosis happens far too late to even have a chance for effective treatment. If dementia is detected early, the odds of positively influencing the course of the disease increase,” says André Fischer, research group leader and spokesperson at the DZNE site in Göttingen and professor at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy at UMG. “We need tests that ideally respond before the onset of dementia and reliably estimate the risk of later disease. In other words, tests that give an early warning. We are confident that our current study results pave the way for such tests.”

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This blog originated as a press release from MIT News. Thanks to them for allowing us to repost it here.

A new RNA-based control switch could be used to trigger production of therapeutic proteins to treat cancer or other diseases.

Researchers at MIT and Harvard University have designed a way to selectively turn on gene therapies in target cells, including human cells. Their technology can detect specific messenger RNA sequences in cells, and that detection then triggers production of a specific protein from a transgene, or artificial gene.

Because transgenes can have negative and even dangerous effects when expressed in the wrong cells, the researchers wanted to find a way to reduce off-target effects from gene therapies. One way of distinguishing different types of cells is by reading the RNA sequences inside them, which differ from tissue to tissue.

By finding a way to produce transgene only after “reading” specific RNA sequences inside cells, the researchers developed a technology that could fine-tune gene therapies in applications ranging from regenerative medicine to cancer treatment. For example, researchers could potentially create new therapies to destroy tumors by designing their system to identify cancer cells and produce a toxic protein just inside those cells, killing them in the process.

“This brings new control circuitry to the emerging field of RNA therapeutics, opening up the next generation of RNA therapeutics that could be designed to only turn on in a cell-specific or tissue-specific way,” says James Collins, the Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering and Science in MIT’s Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES) and Department of Biological Engineering and the senior author of the study.

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This blog originated as a press release from the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg. Thanks to them for allowing us to repost it here.

Scientists create synthetic exosomes with natural functionalities and present their therapeutic application.

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg and colleagues at the DWI Leibniz Institute for Interactive Materials in Aachen have engineered synthetic exosomes that regulate cellular signaling during wound closure. The synthetic structures are built to resemble naturally occurring extracellular vesicles (EV) that play a fundamental role in communication between cells during various processes in our bodies. The scientists uncovered key mechanisms in the regulation of wound healing and the formation of new blood vessels. They designed and built programmable fully-synthetic EVs from scratch rather than isolating natural EVs from cells. Inspired by the roles of the natural counterparts, the scientists demonstrate for the first time that fully synthetic exosomes with therapeutic functions can be constructed.

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This blog originated as a press release from the Technical University of Denmark (DTU). Thanks to them for allowing us to repost it here.

DTU Health Tech researchers have developed a method for detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA that can be adapted to detect other diseases.

Current SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection methods recommended by the World Health Organization profoundly rely on the roles of biological enzymes. High cost, stringent transportation and storage conditions, as well as a global supply shortage of enzymes, limit large-scale testing. The result is that most countries have to prioritize testing on vulnerable cases, which creates delay in diagnostics and identification of positive cases, which again can hamper pandemic mitigation and suppression.

Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) is still the gold standard for whole genome detection and has been playing a key role in controlling the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the sample-to-result time for qRT-PCR is several hours, and the method requires a complex thermocycler instrument to raise and lower the temperature of the reaction in discrete steps.

Simpler and less expensive

Non-enzymatic isothermal amplification methods, being simpler and faster, have shown promising potential to substitute for qRT-PCR. Although these methods perform very well when the target gene is short, they are yet to function efficiently for detection of whole viral genomes (long DNA or RNA targets).

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Euro area alone experienced a 3.8% drop in GDP within the first quarter of 2020 (Eurostat 2020). Thus, developing a lower-cost methodology for pathogen detection would be highly beneficial for both patients and the healthcare systems aiming to battle future pandemics.

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This blog originated on the NIH Intramural Research Program’s “I Am Intramural” blog. Thanks to them for allowing us to repost it here.

First-Trimester Blood Analysis Could Enable Earlier, More Effective Intervention

Imagine a world in which pregnant women routinely travel to places of healing and meet with wise sages who examine a bit of their blood to divine when their babies will be born. While this may sound like something out of Greek mythology, it may soon become a reality, as researchers from the NIH Intramural Research Program (IRP) have developed a test that was able to use blood samples taken early in pregnancy to identify women who would later deliver their babies prematurely.

By analyzing blood samples taken in the first trimester of pregnancy, IRP researchers were able to accurately identify most of the women who later went on to deliver their babies prematurely.

Women typically expect to deliver their babies after carrying them for roughly 40 weeks, a period of time known as gestation. In reality, only four percent of mothers deliver on their ‘due date.’ Roughly one in ten babies is born ‘premature’ or ‘preterm,’ meaning they are delivered before 37 weeks of gestation, and most of these births are ‘spontaneous,’ occuring with no prior warning. The earlier in pregnancy a baby is born, the higher the baby’s odds of experiencing short- and long-term health effects, including behavioral problems, learning disabilities, breathing difficulties, and infections. What’s more, because African American women deliver preterm much more often than other groups of women, premature birth is a significant contributor to racial health disparities.

If doctors were able to predict preterm births, they could intervene early to delay delivery. Right now, the best predictors for premature births are a history of preterm delivery and a shorter-than-normal cervix, the tube of tissue connecting the vagina and uterus. However, the former factor cannot be applied to first-time mothers, and most premature births occur in women who have neither of those risk factors. Measuring cervical length also requires significant resources and is only done 16 to 24 weeks into pregnancy.

Senior author Dr. Roberto Romero

“Cervical length is the most powerful predictor of spontaneous preterm birth, but the patient must be seen at a healthcare facility and we need equipment and expertise,” says IRP senior investigator Roberto Romero, M.D., D.Med.Sci., the new study’s senior author. “It would be great if we could have a simple blood test that could predict spontaneous preterm delivery.”

The IRP team’s study used blood samples collected from women who had been pregnant for 6 to 13 weeks, significantly earlier than cervical length can be used to predict preterm birth. First, the researchers analyzed samples from nine women who went on to deliver preterm and 70 women who delivered at term to measure the concentrations in their blood of 45 different microRNA molecules — short strands of genetic material that help control the behavior of genes. This analysis showed that 12 specific microRNAs were much more abundant in blood from women who delivered prematurely.

Next, using blood collected from 78 other women during the same early period of pregnancy, Dr. Romero’s team measured the levels of those 12 microRNAs to attempt to retroactively identify which of them ultimately delivered prematurely. Overall, their analysis method correctly classified nearly 90 percent of the women who went on to deliver preterm, with a low rate of false negatives. Moreover, when the IRP researchers separately analyzed samples from women whose blood was taken before 10 weeks of gestation and those whose blood was taken after that time point, they found that they were able to identify 80 percent of the women who went on to deliver prematurely in the former group and all of the women who delivered preterm in the latter group.

Diagram of how micoRNAs affect protein production by genes

MicroRNAs regulate the activity of genes by reducing the amount of protein they produce.

“I never want to claim anything is 100 percent, but the point is if we have a blood test based on microRNAs, we can predict spontaneous preterm delivery,” Dr. Romero says. “The idea that there is a blood test that can help us assess a person’s risk for preterm delivery is not a dream.”

The researchers also consulted an online database to identify biological pathways that those 12 microRNAs are involved in. These include processes that help transport biological molecules around the cell, control the activity of estrogen-related genes, and activate enzymes involved in cell death. This information provides clues as to the biological triggers of some cases of preterm birth, knowledge that will help scientists develop therapies that prevent it.

Meanwhile, doctors already have some methods to reduce the risk of preterm birth, and these approaches are more effective the earlier in pregnancy they are implemented. If future studies in larger and more diverse populations confirm the results of Dr. Romero’s research, clinicians could identify patients who may need those treatments using a simple blood test.

“We are interested not just in prediction but also in prevention,” Dr. Romero says. “There are substantial advantages if we can use blood markers during pregnancy for this purpose, and the earlier we can do that the better because then there is a window in which we can intervene.”

Reference
Winger EE, Reed JL, Ji X, Gomez-Lopez N, Pacora P, Romero R. MicroRNAs isolated from peripheral blood in the first trimester predict spontaneous preterm birth. (2020) PLoS ONE 15:e0236805. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0236805. PMID: 32790689.