This is the twice-per-month electronic newsletter for basic, preclinical and translational research news related to the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Direct comments or questions to Joanna Downer, PhD, in the Office of Corporate Communications (4-5105, jdowner1@jhmi.edu).
IN THIS ISSUE:
*** University-Wide Conflict of Interest Training Deadline Dec. 31***
+ Origin of Multiple Myeloma Found in Rare Stem Cell
+ "HapMap" Scientists Provide Detailed Plans
+ Early Treatment Can Prevent Severe Vision Loss in Premature Infants
NEWS BRIEFS:
University-Wide Conflict of Interest Training Deadline Dec. 31
Young Investigators' Day Award Deadline Jan. 8
Basic Sciences Town Meeting Jan. 9
AWARDS AND HONORS:
McKusick Receives AABB Landsteiner Award
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Do you have an interesting research finding about one month from publication or presentation? Send manuscripts to Joanna Downer at jdowner1@jhmi.edu or fax to 410-614-8951. Information about awards and honors received by laboratory personnel and others is welcomed also.
For more info on a story, click the accompanying hyperlink.
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RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS:
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12/3/03
Origin of Multiple Myeloma Found in Rare Stem Cell
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists have identified the cell likely to be responsible for the development of multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow that destroys bone tissue. The research, published in Blood online, suggests that therapies designed for long-term cure of the disease should target this stem cell, which, unlike other cells, can copy itself and differentiate into one or more specialized cell types.
The scientists found the rare stem cell by looking at markers on the surface of damaged immune system B-cells, which develop into plasma cells that cannot divide and multiply. The Johns Hopkins team found that this stem cell gives rise to the malignant bone marrow plasma cells characteristic of multiple myeloma.
"We know what the markers are on cancerous plasma cells and the antibodies they make, and we also know the markers on B-cells that are not cancerous," says William Matsui, MD, assistant professor of oncology. "So, we went looking for a B-cell that has the same antibodies, can make copies of itself and mature into cancerous plasma cells."
Current treatments target the malignant plasma cells but may not be effective on the errant multiple myeloma stem cells, allowing the cancer to recur.
"Most therapies today are aimed at the cancer you can see, but to cure cancer you have to go after the cells responsible for the disease," says Richard Jones, MD, professor and director of bone marrow transplant.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2003/12_03_03a.html
Blood Nov 20 2003 (e-published).
http://www.bloodjournal.org/cgi/reprint/2003-09-3064v1.pdf
12/18/03
"HapMap" Scientists Provide Detailed Plans
The international team of scientists working to determine the most common variations of the human genome report the details of their plans, known as the "HapMap" project, in the Dec. 18 issue of Nature.
The team will obtain and identify genetic variations in DNA samples from 270 people in Nigeria, Japan, China and the United States. Scientists at Johns Hopkins are one of two U.S. groups who will analyze the DNA sequences to determine the most common patterns of genetic variations in populations. Once finished, the HapMap will provide a freely available catalog of common patterns, or haplotypes.
"What we learn from the HapMap project will simplify and accelerate efforts to identify genes associated with common chronic diseases," says Aravinda Chakravarti, PhD, professor and director of the McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine at Johns Hopkins. "This project is intense from a DNA analysis perspective, but it's going to make the next round of studies much easier to do."
The power of haplotypes is that they offer a way of using the identity of a few key genetic building blocks in a given region of DNA to infer the rest of the sequence -- possibly tens of thousands of building blocks long, the scientists say.
The Nature article describes the entire HapMap process, from working with communities to identify participants and collect samples to choosing which DNA variants to look for and how to analyze the data to create the actual map.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2003/12_18_03a.html
Nature Dec 18 2003;426:789-796.
http://www.nature.com/cgi-taf/DynaPage.taf?file=/nature/journal/v426/n6968/full/nature02168_fs.html
From the clinic:
12/2/03
Early Treatment Can Prevent Severe Vision Loss in Premature Infants
A new study by specialists at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center and 25 other institutions nationwide provides the first precise way to identify premature babies at the highest risk of abnormal blood vessel growth in the retina and subsequent blindness. The computerized risk assessment tool they used should lead to treatment of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) at its earliest stages, stopping or limiting both loss of vision and structural damage to the eye.
"Before this study, we did not have a precise clinical model to follow to help predict which infants will ultimately develop vision loss from ROP, so we often had to defer treatment until the disease reached the treatment 'threshold,' at which point there was still a 25 percent chance of retinal detachment," says Michael Repka, MD, a pediatric ophthalmologist at the Children's Center. "Unfortunately, delaying therapy to that point leaves some infants with vision loss."
Using both old and new criteria, researchers were able to identify which premature infants enrolled in the study were at highest risk for blindness. Results of their study, published in the Dec. issue of the Archives of Ophthalmology, show that early treatment significantly reduced the likelihood of poor vision from 19.5 to 14.5 percent at about one year of age. Early treatment also reduced the likelihood of structural damage to the eye from 15.6 to 9.1 percent.
According to Repka, ROP presents ophthalmologists with difficult treatment decisions because the disease can be highly unpredictable. In many infants, he says, it can spontaneously improve and spare the child's vision, while in others, it can suddenly progress and result in blindness.
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2003/12_08_03.html
Arch Ophthalmol Dec 2003;121(12):1684-1694.
http://archopht.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/121/12/1684
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University-Wide Conflict of Interest Training Deadline Dec. 31 -- All University faculty, staff, researchers, students, trainees and administrators (including administrative assistants) must complete the "Conflict of Interest and Commitment" online training module by Dec. 31. The training module is at https://secure.lwservers.net .
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/faculty_staff/policies/facultypolicies/coi_training_module.html
Young Investigators' Day Award Deadline Jan. 8 -- Applications for the 27th annual Young Investigators' Day awards will be accepted Jan. 8 from 9 am until 3 pm in Hunterian 716. Graduate students, medical students and fellows in the basic science and clinical departments of the School of Medicine, as well as house staff at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, are eligible. Those who have graduated or left Hopkins prior to Sept. 1, 2003, are not eligible, and all award recipients must attend the Young Investigators' Day celebration on April 8, 2004. To obtain an application and instructions, look for posters scattered throughout the East Baltimore campus.
Basic Science Town Meeting Jan. 9 -- A Basic Science Town Meeting with Edward Miller, MD, Chi Dang, MD, PhD, and Steve Desiderio, MD, PhD, is scheduled for 3 pm, Jan. 9, in Physiology 612. The agenda will include a discussion of Institute for Basic Biomedical Sciences initiatives, their identification and implementation.
McKusick Receives AABB Landsteiner Award -- Victor McKusick, MD, University Professor of Medical Genetics, has received the American Association of Blood Banks' Karl Landsteiner Memorial Award. The Karl Landsteiner Memorial Award and Lecture was created in 1954 to honor Karl Landsteiner, MD, whose lifetime research laid the foundation for modern blood transfusion therapy, and to recognize original research resulting in important contributions to scientific knowledge. The AABB cited McKusick for "his extraordinary lifetime work in pioneering the field of medical genetics."
http://www.aabb.org/Pressroom/Awards/2003/awwinners.htm
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