A new way to defend the body against viruses, anal cancer therapy, organ storage fluid and discovering the cause of early death of women with large numbers of children – Polish scientists have recently been working on these issues.
The last few months have been very fruitful for Polish scientists. The research that was carried out at that time is now being published and it is clearly visible that Polish research centers have made significant progress in the field of medicine. Cooperation in international projects and dedicated to solving specific problems has brought very good results.
An international research team consisting of scientists from Sweden, Denmark, the USA, Belgium and Poland has discovered a new antiviral mechanism that protects the vaginal mucosa from infection with the herpes virus type 2 (HSV-2). Research materials appeared in the February issue of “Nature Immunology”. The discovery is significant – researchers have found the body’s “first line of antiviral defense”. It is located in the mucous membranes.
All higher organisms have mechanisms that enable them to distinguish their own cells from foreign bodies, such as bacteria, viruses, and foreign antigens. They could endanger the maintenance of homeostasis, i.e. the biological balance of the organism. There are many defense mechanisms – the best known are physical barriers such as skin structure, sweat, tears. Much more complicated and less recognized are the mechanisms based on the ligand-receptor system, which activate molecular mechanisms in cells. These are the so-called non-specific mechanisms – operating not very specifically, but allowing for a quick reduction of threats from outside. Scientists are very interested in molecular mechanisms, as they are an introduction to further stages of a precise immune response, recognizing what the body is dealing with and how to eliminate the threat. Getting to know them gives the opportunity to develop new therapeutic methods in the case of many diseases, e.g. viral ones.
The antiviral mechanism discovered by an international research team starts working within the first 10 hours of virus entry. Interestingly, it is triggered by the physical interaction of the virus on hitherto unknown receptors. As a result, the proteins of the CXCL24 chemokine are produced, which attracts neutrophils to the site of infection – phantom cells capable of quickly destroying the virus. Such rapid elimination within XNUMX hours limits the infection and prevents its further development.
Scientists have discovered that the mechanism of rapid activation of neutrophil activity via the CXCL10 chemokine-dependent pathway is also triggered by bacterial antigens or mechanical irritation of an unknown receptor. The very finding is very important, because the discovery of an unknown receptor in human cells can be compared to the discovery of a hitherto unknown island in the well-known Pacific Ocean.
This could be of enormous importance for the rapid defense mechanisms of the vaginal mucosa. It is not yet known whether this mechanism works in other mucous membranes, such as the upper respiratory tract, although it cannot be ruled out. In any case, it is the fastest-acting nonspecific response mechanism known to date and gives great hope for the use of new therapeutic methods or a method of preventing mucosal infections in the construction of new therapeutic methods, explains Prof. dr hab. Małgorzata Krzyżowska from the Military Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology. This prevention of the mucous membranes is very important. The new antiviral response mechanism discovered by researchers could reduce the risk of infection with HIV or the nearly equally lethal hepatitis C virus (HCV).
Equally interesting and already having practical significance are the results of the research conducted by the Warsaw Cancer Center and the Polish Group for Colon Cancer Research. They were presented at the January Symposium on Colon Cancer in San Francisco. Polish scientists have proposed a new type of therapy for advanced rectal cancer, causing fewer complications and giving better chances of survival.
The standard treatment of patients with this type of cancer, without metastases, is to give the patient chemotherapy and then radiotherapy for 5 weeks, which means 25 sessions of irradiation. Such treatment is necessary to reduce the size of the tumor, so that it can be removed surgically at all, and so that no cancer cells remain in the adjacent tissues. However, it weakens the patient very much. Especially that at the beginning and at the end of radiotherapy, he still has to undergo chemotherapy.
According to the Polish Press Agency, prof. Krzysztof Bujko, head of the Polish Group for Colon Cancer Research and Dr. Lucjan Wyrwicz from the gastroenterology oncology clinic of the Warsaw branch of the Oncology Center, their innovative treatment technique is based on a significant reduction in radiotherapy. The researchers gave patients 5 sessions of irradiation, combined with chemotherapy, for 6 days. The patient is operated on 12 weeks after the start of treatment, because it is not as weak as in the case of traditional therapy. In addition, during the research on 540 patients, 73% of survival in patients with the new treatment method, compared to 63,5 percent. in traditional therapy. The research is ongoing as scientists hope that the new therapy will be successfully implemented in patients with advanced metastatic anal cancer. As the results of the research also show, it is also possible to cure patients in the case of a less advanced cancer of the anus.
In turn, a team of scientists from the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice has developed a new fluid for transplantation. Biolasol, because that’s its name, is transparent, colorless or slightly yellowish. It is used for washing and storing organs taken during transplantation. Prof. Florian Ryszka, from the team that developed it, explains that Biolasol is used to flush and cool the organ after collection. It stabilizes the tissue and slows down the negative processes that take place in it. Prof. Lech Cierpka, head of the surgery department at the hospital of the Silesian Medical University in Katowice, Biolasol is a very good fluid, definitely cheaper than its Western counterparts and, after being promoted, can achieve considerable success – even in the West. The fluid has already started to be produced by the medical start-up Biochefa.
The recently published research results of a large international team of scientists from the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Jagiellonian University and Yale University in the USA are also interesting and very important. Scientists have proven that women who have many children have an increased level of oxidative stress. This translates into faster aging after menopause and a shorter-than-life expectancy, i.e. earlier death.
Oxidative stress occurs when there is an imbalance between the production of free radicals – a byproduct of cellular respiration – and the enzymes that neutralize them. Cellular respiration is one of the basic processes of life, but free radicals destroy the cell structure in excessive amounts, damaging DNA and mitochondria. This leads not only to faster aging but also to greater susceptibility to cancer.
Scientists examined the level of oxidative stress in urine samples of 100 multiparous women from the Beskid Wyspowy. It was discovered that women who gave birth to four or more children had about 20 percent. higher concentration of the 8-OHdG biomarker determining cell DNA damage and by as much as 60 percent. higher concentrations of the antioxidant enzyme Cu-Zn SOD compared to women who gave birth to no more than three children. The results were clear – the more pregnancies, the higher the level of biomarkers indicating oxidative stress. Is pregnancy and breastfeeding the cause? Researchers say it is likely, and the effects of stress only show up after the menopause. Other studies indicate an additional reason – the general stress associated with raising a group of children, may also have a negative impact on the level of oxidative stress in the mother’s cells.