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The Future of Medicine - Photo Gallery

Posted 7.13.06 at 2:00 am 0 Comments

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The Genetic Slicer 'N' Dicer
Rajeev/Medi-Mation
A way to turn off the genes that are making us fat
The Prescription: What if a simple injection could silence the genetic culprits that fuel weight gain, coercing cells to burn more fat and be more responsive to changing insulin levels? That´s precisely the sort of treatment now being developed by biochemist Michael Czech and his colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The key to their approach is a technique called RNA interference, or RNAi, one of the body´s natural self-defense mechanisms. In broad strokes, when a virus, for instance, invades a cell, it passes on its genetic code through double-stranded RNA. The cell recognizes the RNA as an invader, dices it up into tiny pieces called short-interfering RNA, and attacks any genes that bind to it. In the past year, Czech has used RNAi to silence 1,000 genes in cultured adipose tissue, a.k.a. fat. The process would have taken them decades without RNAi-now they simply introduce bits of RNA that match the target genes, inducing the cells to shut the genes down. With certain key genes disabled, the researchers learned that the tissue can be more responsive to insulin levels, suck more glucose out of the blood, and actually burn fatty acids instead of storing them as new fat cells.
When?: 2010 or later.
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Precision-Guided Tumor Killers
Rajeev/Medi-Mation
Little carbon bombs target cancer and spell the end of chemo's sickening side effects
The Prescription: Lay waste to cancerous growths while leaving bystander cells unscathed. The solution hinges on hollow spheres of carbon polymer, each 1,000 times as small as a pinpoint. Robert Langer of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Omid Farokhzad of Harvard University are infusing such spheres, known as nanoshells, with minuscule doses of chemotherapy drugs. To ensure that the particles strike only cancer cells, the researchers stud them with a string of molecules called aptamers that bind exclusively to proteins that sprout from cancerous tissue. â€The aptamers act like GPS in your car. They direct the delivery of the particles to the cancer cells,â€ Farokhzad says. Once the particles arrive at their preordained location, they deposit their anticancer cargo inside the culprit cells, killing them off-without killing healthy parts of the patient in the process.
When?: 2014. Langer and Farokhzad published data earlier this year showing that their nanoparticles destroy prostate tumors in mice, but at least three more years of animal studies are planned to confirm this finding. Testing in humans could take an additional five years or more. But it´s worth the wait-colleagues say the one-two punch of nanoparticles and aptamers is key to successful treatments.
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