antibody therapies Archives - Amazing Health Advances

Four Advances That Could Change Tuberculosis Treatment

The AHA! Team — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 05:47:50 +0000

American Chemical Society via EurekAlert! – As of early 2025, tuberculosis cases are increasing in the U.S. As of early 2025, tuberculosis cases are increasing in the U.S. This disease, often shortened to TB, causes significant lung damage and, if not treated, is almost always lethal. World TB Day on March 24 raises awareness about the disease and commemorates Robert Koch’s discovery of the source bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis. More than a century later, scientists continue refining TB diagnosis methods and treatment strategies, some of which are in these four ACS journal articles. Reporters can request free access to these papers by emailing newsroom@acs.org. 1. Fluorescence for a faster TB diagnosis. Currently, testing saliva samples for M. tuberculosis is time-consuming because of the bacterium’s slow growth and resistance to stains used in imaging. To develop a faster method, researchers targeted a protein that the bacterium uses to steal iron ions from its host’s cells. In a study published in ACS Central Science, the team explains how to label the iron-transporter protein with a fluorescent tag, which turns on after releasing the iron inside the M. tuberculosis cells. In separate tests on saliva from 11 people diagnosed with TB, the fluorescence technique identified infectious levels of the bacterium within 10 minutes. 2. White blood cell-focused M. tuberculosis therapy. A type of white blood cell called a macrophage gets taken over during a tuberculosis infection, becoming an incubator for the pathogen. So, researchers report in ACS Infectious Diseases that they have developed sugar-coated nanoparticles that get absorbed by infected macrophages. And once inside, the nanoparticles interrupted critical cellular pathways and prompted the damaged cells to be recycled. In infected mice, 6 weeks of nanoparticle treatment significantly reduced the amount of M. tuberculosis in the lungs. 3. A potential nasal treatment for tuberculous meningitis. If M. tuberculosis reaches cerebrospinal fluid, the result can be tuberculous meningitis — a life-threatening inflammation around a person’s brain and spinal cord. To get the TB drug clofazimine across the blood-brain barrier, researchers have encapsulated it inside tiny particles and created a nasal spray. According to their study in ACS infectious Diseases, the spray didn’t adversely affect mice with tuberculous meningitis. A 4-week treatment significantly reduced the bacterial burden within the animals’ brains and lungs compared to untreated mice. 4. Light-activated particles inactivate bacteria. Many new TB cases are multidrug resistant. So, a research team wanted to improve treatment efficacy and reduce the risk of further antimicrobial resistance by creating a photoreactive therapy. They encapsulated light-activated particles inside nanometer-wide spheres. When the nanospheres were injected into mice, red laser light triggered the particles to produce reactive oxygen species that inactivated Mycobacterium marinum, a bacterium that causes TB-like illness in fish. The initial animal study results are published in ACS Omega. Additionally in March 2025, ACS Webinars and ACS Publications co-hosted a virtual event, “Disrupt & Destroy: Starving Tuberculosis with Smarter Science,” about innovative drug strategies and cutting-edge TB research. The webinar is available to watch on demand. ### Journal ACS Central Science To read the original article click here.

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Antibody Shows Promise for Preventing Organ Rejection After Transplantation

The AHA! Team — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 04:30:14 +0000

Duke Health – DURHAM, N.C. – A man-made antibody successfully prevented organ rejection when tested in primates that had undergone a kidney transplant, Duke Health researchers report. The finding clears the way for the new monoclonal antibody to move forward in human clinical trials. Results of the study appear online Aug. 30 in the journal Science Translational Medicine. “Current medications to prevent organ rejection are good overall, but they have a lot of side effects,” said lead author Imran J. Anwar, M.D., a surgical research fellow in Duke’s Department of Surgery. “These therapies suppress the immune system, putting patients at risk of infections and organ damage, and many cause non-immune complications such as diabetes and high blood pressure. “The push over the last decades has been to develop new, less toxic drugs,” Anwar said. “We are hopeful this antibody moves us closer to that goal.” Anwar and colleagues, including co-senior author Allan Kirk, M.D., Ph.D., chair of the Department of Surgery, focused on a monoclonal antibody identified as AT-1501. It was engineered to minimize the risk of blood clots, which had become problematic for an earlier version of this therapy. In studies using primates that had undergone kidney transplantation, AT-1501 prevented rejection without the need for additional immunosuppressive drugs or promoting blood clots, confirming its immunosuppressive potential. In animals that had undergone islet transplantation, AT-1501 alone did not lead to uniform rejection control, but it was effective in combination with existing immunosuppressive agents. The combination therapies in islet transplantation led to uniform islet graft survival without weight loss or infections that can typically arise. The islet transplants were performed by Norma Kenyon, Ph.D., co-senior author and professor at the University of Miami. “These data support AT-1501 as a safe and effective agent to promote both islet and kidney transplant survival and function and allow us to advance into clinical trials right away,” Kirk said. “This less toxic approach has been pursued for over 20 years, and I think we are finally at a turning point. This could be a great advance for people in need of organ transplants.” In addition to Kirk and Anwar, study authors include Dora M. Berman, Isabel DeLaura, Qimeng Gao, Melissa A. Willman, Allison Miller, Alan Gill, Cindy Gill, Steve Perrin, Camillo Ricordi, Philip Ruiz, Mingqing Song, Joseph M Ladowski, and Norma S. Kenyon. The study received funding support from the National Institutes of Health (U19-AI051731), the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation, and Anelixis Therapeutics, now Eledon Pharmaceuticals, which is developing AT-1501 for kidney and islet cell transplant. To read the original article click here.

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Study Suggests Healing Properties of Honey and Nigella Sativa Expedites Viral Clearance in COVID-19 Patients

AHA Publisher — Thu, 12 Nov 2020 08:00:01 +0000

Susha Cheriyedath, M.Sc. via News-Medical Net – The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted over 50 million people so far and has claimed more than 1.25 million lives globally. As the virus continues to spread, with many countries experiencing second waves right now, we still do not have an effective vaccine against COVID-19. This makes finding an effective drug to treat the disease very important, and scientists worldwide are racing against time to find therapeutic solutions that will help treat COVID-19 patients. An ideal treatment would speed up symptomatic recovery, decrease viral load, and expedite viral clearance and reduce mortality. Although certain treatments such as hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, dexamethasone, remdesivir, antibody therapies, and convalescent plasma have shown some efficacy, an effective treatment to fight severe COVID-19 is still not a reality. Keeping this in mind, a team of researchers from various institutes across Pakistan, Chile, Canada, and the USA recently conducted a clinical trial to investigate the potential effectiveness of a combination of honey and Nigella sativa (HNS) in treating COVID-19 patients. Their study is published on the preprint server medRxiv* prior to the scientific peer review process*. Since previous studies show that both components of HNS have proven anti-microbial, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, and immune-modulatory effects, the researchers wanted to assess the efficacy of HNS in fighting COVID-19. Healing Properties of Honey and Nigella Sativa Honey has been reported to have beneficial effects against many viruses, including herpes simplex virus (HSV), rubella virus, Hepatitis virus, and Varicella Zoster virus. It is also effective against many multidrug-resistant bacterial strains, especially when used along with antibiotics. In addition to its immunity-boosting effects that stimulate innate as well as adaptive immune responses, honey has been shown to be beneficial in fighting upper respiratory tract infections. Nigella sativa is a medicinal plant commonly known as Black Cumin and has been proven to have anti-viral properties against many viruses, including mouse cytomegalovirus and HCV. In vitro studies have shown that it can decrease the replication of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Some of its components have a high affinity to many SARS-CoV-2 proteins and enzymes. A Randomized, Controlled Trial to Study the Action of HNS Against COVID-19 The researchers performed a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial in patients with COVID-19 of varying severity. Randomized patients received either a combination of 1 gm/kg/day of honey and 80 mg/kg/day of Nigella sativa or placebo for 13 days. Viral clearance, symptoms, alleviation, and 30-day mortality were some of the outcomes. “The trial results show that the use of HNS in COVID-19 patients promotes viral clearance and reduces the severity of the disease.” Of the 313 patients, part of the study cohort, 210 patients with moderate symptoms and 103 with severe COVID-19 underwent randomization. Among these patients, 107 received HNS, and 103 moderate cases received a placebo. Fifty severe COVID-19 patients were given HNS, and 53 severe cases received placebo. Administration of HNS led to alleviation of symptoms by day 3 in moderate cases and day 7 in severe cases. “Anti-diabetic, anti-hypertensive, cardio-protective and broncho-dilatory properties of HNS make it even more beneficial in diabetic, hypertensive, cardiac and asthmatic patients who have a higher COVID-19 associated mortality.” HNS could be an affordable, home-based, OTC treatment option for COVID-19 patients The study results show that HNS helped with symptoms alleviation and viral clearance and reduced mortality in patients with moderate and severe disease. According to the team, HNS can be used as a safe and effective therapy in COVID-19 patients as it promotes quicker recovery and survival. Thus, they concluded that HNS represents an affordable therapeutic option and can be used alone or in combination with other therapies to fight COVID-19. Some benefits of this potential treatment option are its ‘over the counter’ availability, affordability – less than $5 for the entire treatment course, and ease of administration as it can be a home-based remedy. Moreover, HNS can also be used in combination with other drugs for increased efficacy. The authors believe that this treatment will significantly reduce the burden on global health care systems. “A multinational study with larger sample size is required to investigate potential variations in responses to the treatment in COVID-19 patients from different racial and ethnic origins.” *Important Notice medRxiv publishes preliminary scientific reports that are not peer-reviewed and, therefore, should not be regarded as conclusive, guide clinical practice/health-related behavior, or treated as established information. Journal reference: Efficacy of honey and Nigella sativa against COVID-19: HNS-COVID-PK Trial Sohaib Ashraf, Shoaib Ashraf, Muhammad Ahmad Imran, Moneeb Ashraf, Larab Kalsoom, Uzma Nasim Siddiqui, Muhammad Ghufran, Nighat Majeed, Iqra Farooq, Zaighum Habib, Abubakar Hilal, Zain-ul-Abdin, Ayesha Khaqan, Muhammad Kiwan Akram, Sidra Ashraf, Rutaba Akmal, Sundas Rafique, Khawar Nawaz, Shahroze Arshad, Sohail Ahmad, Kanwal Hayat, Ali Arshad, Muhammad Faisal Nadeem, Muhammad Hassan, Abeer-bin-Awais, Muhammad Azam, Muhammad Suhail, Sibgha Zulfiqar, Imran Anwar, Saulat Sarfraz, Ayesha Hamayoun, Amber Malik, Hui Zheng, Talha Mahmood, Mahmood Ayyaz, Ali Ahmad, Muhammad Ashraf, Qazi Abdul Saboor, Mateen Izhar medRxiv 2020.10.30.20217364; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.30.20217364, https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.10.30.20217364v2 To read the original article click here.

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