Like marijuana years ago, scientists are now looking at the medicinal benefits of mushroom -derived psychedelics for treating neurological diseases like anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress syndrome. However, the hallucinogenic effects of psychedelics are undesirable. By screening variants of psychedelics’ core chemical structure (serotonin), scientists identified promising compounds without those unwanted effects. Screening was done using behavioral analyses in mice.
In another study a non-hallucinogenic serotonin-derived compound (possibly the same one as above) was shown to inhibit chemotherapeutic induced peripheral neuropathy in mice. In mouse models, psilocybin given before chemotherapy prevented the development of pain hypersensitivity. Mitochondrial disfunction, a possible mechanism of toxicity, was prevented when nerves were exposed to psychodelic-derived compound in vitro.
A clinical trial has started to determine if Psilocybin-derived pharmaceuticals can reduce chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy.
NeuroGuard: Psilocybin Trial for Preventing Chemo-induced Neuropathy
ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT07227909
Sponsor M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Should hippies from the 60’s be given some credit for being the original magic mushroom discovers?
Derivative of HIV drug could reverse multiple sclerosis symptoms
The potential of re-purposing of an HIV drug to treat MS was discovered by data mining insurance databases.
An association between HIV patients receiving nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) and lower incidences of macular degeneration, sparked this study.
NRTI’s block inflammasome activation which is known to play a role in MS development and progression.
The research team developed a less toxic derivative of the drug and demonstrated that not only did it stop MS progression in mice, it reversed the symptoms. Clinical trials are being planned.
Read the DDN summary here.
Inherited genes could help make CAR T therapies safer and more effective
Analysis of two pivotal clinical trials involving autologous CAR-T therapies reveal that patients' germline DNA influences both toxicity risk and CAR T expansion, opening new opportunities for smarter cell therapy design.
I found this short summary by Bee Foster at DDN interesting as it focuses on “precision toxicology”, rather than precision medicine to make better therapies.
Summary is here
To doom invasive fish, scientists are breeding ‘supermales’
Swamping populations with males in the insect world has been shown to reduce local populations (mosquitoes carrying malaria and flies carrying screw worm).
A similar strategy can be applied to eradicating invasive fish, which is a huge problem in many of our streams and rivers. Supermales that carry only YY sex chromosomes can be produced by treating brook trout holding tanks with estrogen. The fish are released to mate, and can only produce male fish. Test trials in several streams and lakes indicate that the strategy may be working.
More on supermale fish here
Parasitic Drugs Create an Attenuated Vaccine In Vivo
This report describes a novel dual anti-parasitic / vaccine approach to targeting malaria. The investigators targeted a critical enzyme in the malaria’s life cycle to disrupt its progression toward infecting red blood cells. The result of putting on the brakes resulted in exposure of the defective malaria merozoites to be long enough to generate a protective immune response.
Read the Scientist article here.
A complete genome for the common marmoset
You never know where you might find answers for the development of the next pharmaceutical. Sequence analysis of the common marmoset points to similarities in genes related to familial Alzheimer’s disease. The report mentions that marmosets also experience age-related memory loss, making them potentially useful for translational research.
A few things the report did not mention are that marmosets are fragile; knowledge of their dietary, husbandry, and veterinary needs is crucial for colony management. Colonies can get smelly fast. Lastly, they tend to have identical twins which could be useful in setting up control groups.
Find out more about the marmoset genome here
African Elephants May Eat Medicinal Plants to Treat Ailments Like Upset Stomachs and Exhaustion
Forget about high-throughput screening to discover potential new medicines. Just watch the elephants.
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