Warren symposium follows legacy of geneticist giant

If we want to understand how the brain creates memories, and how genetic disorders distort the brain’s machinery, then the fragile X gene is an ideal place to start. That’s why the Stephen T. Warren Memorial Symposium, taking place November 28-29 at Emory, will be a significant event for those interested in neuroscience and genetics. Stephen T. Warren, 1953-2021 Warren, the founding chair of Emory’s Department of Human Genetics, led an international team that discovered Read more

Mutations in V-ATPase proton pump implicated in epilepsy syndrome

Why and how disrupting V-ATPase function leads to epilepsy, researchers are just starting to figure Read more

Tracing the start of COVID-19 in GA

At a time when COVID-19 appears to be receding in much of Georgia, it’s worth revisiting the start of the pandemic in early 2020. Emory virologist Anne Piantadosi and colleagues have a paper in Viral Evolution on the earliest SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequences detected in Georgia. Analyzing relationships between those virus sequences and samples from other states and countries can give us an idea about where the first COVID-19 infections in Georgia came from. We can draw Read more
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propanolol

Beyond birthmarks and beta blockers, to cancer prevention

Ahead of this week’s Morningside Center conference on repurposing drugs, we wanted to highlight a recent paper in NPJ Precision Oncology by dermatologist Jack Arbiser. It may represent a new chapter in the story of the beta-blocker propranolol.

Infantile hemangioma (stock photo)

Several years ago, doctors in France accidentally discovered that propranolol is effective against hemangiomas: bright red birthmarks made of extra blood vessels, which appear in infancy. Hemangiomas often don’t need treatment and regress naturally, but some can lead to complications because they compromise other organs. Infants receiving propranolol require close monitoring to ensure that they do not suffer from side effects related to propranolol’s beta blocker activity, such as slower heart rate or low blood sugar.

Arbiser’s lab showed that only one of two mirror-image forms of propranolol is active against endothelial or hemangioma cells, but it is the inactive one, as far as being a beta-blocker. Many researchers were already looking at repurposing propranolol based on its anti-cancer properties. The insight could be a way to avoid beta-blocker side effects, even beyond hemangiomas to malignant tumors. Check out the Office of Technology Transfer’s feature on this topic. Read more

Posted on November 12, 2019 by Quinn Eastman in Cancer Leave a comment