News briefs

CSIRO finds new way to harvest stem cells

Scientists at the CSIRO have found a new way to harvest stem cells which reduces the time required to obtain adequate numbers of cells, without the need for a growth factor, according to research published in Nature Communications. “Current harvesting methods take a long time and require injections of a growth factor to boost stem cell numbers. This often leads to side effects. The method … combines a newly discovered molecule (known as BOP), with an existing type of molecule (AMD3100) to mobilise the stem cells found in bone marrow out into the bloodstream. Combining the two molecules directly impacts stem cells so they can be seen in the blood stream within an hour of a single dosage.” The researchers also found that “when the harvested cells are transplanted they can replenish the entire bone marrow system, and there are no known side effects”. The next step is a Phase I clinical trial assessing the combination of BOP molecule with the growth factor, prior to the eventual successful combination of the two small molecules BOP and AMD3100. The research was done in collaboration with the Australian Regenerative Medicine Institute at Monash University.

Trial deaths spark idelalisib safety warning

The Therapeutic Drugs by Administration (TGA) is reviewing information provided the manufacturers of cancer drug idelalisib (marketed as Zydelig) after some patients died while taking the drug in clinical trials overseas, the ABC reports. “The TGA said the drug was first prescribed in 2015 to patients with rare blood cancers like chronic lymphocytic leukaemia and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, who have failed other treatments. The drug works by blocking particular proteins inside cancer cells that encourage the cancer to grow. Drugmaker Gilead Sciences Inc was carrying out six clinical trials to find out whether idelalisib could be a frontline treatment, rather than a last resort for terminal patients. The company said adverse events were discovered during the trials, but would not say how many patients died or suffered serious side effects.” A spokesman for the TGA said doctors should avoid using idelalisib as a first-line treatment. “Patients starting or continuing treatment with idelalisib should be carefully monitored for signs of infections,” the TGA spokesman said. Lymphoma Australia said it was also concerned for patients using the drug. “We strongly advise anyone taking it to talk to their doctor and perhaps consider an alternative treatment,” said Lymphoma Australia’s chief executive Sharon Millman.

Zika link to microcephaly supported

New research published in The Lancet estimates that the risk of microcephaly is about “1 for every 100 women infected with the Zika virus during the first trimester of pregnancy”, based on data from the 2013–14 outbreak in French Polynesia. The outbreak began in October 2013, peaked in December 2013 and ended in April 2014. Over that period, more than 31 000 people saw their doctor with suspected Zika virus infection. Over the course of the outbreak, eight cases of microcephaly were identified. Of these, five pregnancies were terminated through medical abortion (average gestational age 30.1 weeks), and three cases were born. The authors, from the French Institut Pasteur, said that the risk, although low, remains an important public health issue because the risk of Zika virus infection is particularly high during outbreaks, such as the current one in South America. A linked comment in the same issue said: “Further data will soon be available from Pernambuco, Colombia, Rio de Janeiro, and maybe other sites … The fast production of knowledge during this epidemic is an opportunity to observe science in the making: from formulation of new hypotheses and production of new results that will provide confirmations and contradictions to the refinement of methods and the gradual building of consensus.”

Dramatic shift on concussion findings

The National Football League, the United States’ highest-profile sports competition, has finally admitted that the game is connected to high rates of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), the degenerative brain disease found in nearly 100 of its former players, the New York Times reports. After years of denying evidence from medical experts, a senior NFL official, speaking at a round-table discussion with US policymakers, was asked if there was a link between football and degenerative brain disorders like CTE. Jeff Miller, the NFL’s senior vice president for health and safety policy, said: “The answer to that is certainly, yes.” Lawyers for some players involved in a lawsuit with the NFL over its handling of brain injuries quickly seized on the league’s admission. The NYT reports: “The NFL’s denials of any link between football brain trauma and CTE began before the first case was even identified. In a study published in the journal Neurosurgery, which examined head injuries sustained by players from 1996 through 2001, the league’s committee on concussions said that no player had developed the disease — even though CTE can be diagnosed only by examining brain tissue after death, and no deceased player had ever undergone such a procedure.”