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From Bench to Bedside
A University of Iowa study reveals a new immune defense mechanism in normal airways and may help explain why people with cystic fibrosis are susceptible to bacterial lung infections. The study shows how two enzymes generate and use reactive oxygen species to destroy bacteria in normal airways. This process was shown to be defective in airway tissue and cells with the CF gene mutation. The study was published online by the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Following an earlier discovery that a gene called IRF6 is involved in the common birth defect cleft lip and palate, UI researchers have identified the gene’s function. Their latest findings reveal an unexpected role for IRF6 in the growth and development of skin cells, a discovery that may have implications for wound healing and cancer research. The results open new avenues of research because the function discovered for IRF6 is vastly different than the best understood function for the other IRF gene
♦ Despite hopes to the contrary, a NIH study that included UI found that low-intensity laser treatment did not prevent complications or vision loss from early age-related macular degeneration.
Fiorenza Ianzini, PhD, received a $900,000 NASA grant to study the relationship between high-LET radiation, found in space, and cancer.
Antidepressants help post-stroke thinking
Antidepressant treatment appears to help stroke survivors “think outside the box,” according to a University of Iowa study. The antidepressants’ effects on complex mental abilities were independent of any changes in depression. Also, the improvements were not seen immediately but over the course of 21 months after treatment. The study appeared in the British Journal of Psychiatry. Antidepressant treatment already was known to improve mood in depressed post-stroke patients, but its effects on executive function were not known, said Sergio Paradiso, MD, PhD, the study's corresponding author. Other UI psychiatry researchers included Kenji Narushima, MD, PhD; David Moser, PhD; Ricardo Jorge, MD; and Robert G. Robinson, MD.
Cardiac stem cells under review
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics is one of the nation’s first medical centers, and the only center in Iowa, participating in a clinical trial investigating if a patient's own stem cells can treat a form of severe coronary artery disease. ACT34-CMI is the first Phase II study to investigate selected CD34+ stem cells in patients with chronic myocardial ischemia, says UI Heart and Vascular Center cardiologist Mark Anderson, MD, PhD. “Myocardial ischemia is a serious heart condition that involves narrowing of coronary arteries and results in limited blood flow to the heart, despite medical intervention,” Anderson says. The trial involves adults with severe coronary artery disease who are receiving maximal medical therapy but are not suitable candidates for conventional procedures such as angioplasty, stents, or coronary artery bypass surgery.
TRIALS OPEN TO PATIENTS
Bronchitis
Adult smokers between the ages of 18 and 55 with chronic bronchitis are invited to participate in a University of Iowa research study on bacterial lung infection. Volunteers must be free of other medical problems and using no medications other than birth control pills and/or bronchodilators. Participants will undergo bronchoscopy.
Marijuana use
Male adolescents ages 12 to 17 who are current or former marijuana users are invited to participate in a University of Iowa research study examining the effects of marijuana use during adolescence on brain structure and function, and mental abilities. A parent or guardian must provide permission to participate. Participants will not be given marijuana as part of the study. Information will be treated confidentially. All testing will be performed at UI Hospitals and Clinics. Compensation is provided.
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