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St. Michael’s Hospital Toronto, Ontario Snake venom may help treat heart attacks and strokes

Using a protein purified from snake venom, a team of researchers has developed a new drug that may prevent blood clots that lead to heart attack and stroke.

The venom comes from a Southeast Asian viper commonly known as a hundred pacer. The snake’s name refers to a local belief that, after being bitten, a victim will be able to walk only 100 steps.

Scientists extract the snake’s venom and filter out all but one protein to create the drug, called Anfibatide.

“Three out of every four Canadians will die from a blood-clotting issue, like deep vein thrombosis, stroke or heart attack,” said Dr. Heyu Ni a principal investigator and scientist in the Keenan Research Centre for Biomedical Science of St. Michael’s Hospital. “That’s more than cancer, infections and every other cause combined. We need more effective treatments and Anfibatide might be one.”

Dr. Ni presented an abstract of his research today at the American Society of Hematology annual meeting in New Orleans.

When a blood vessel’s wall is injured, cells in the blood – called platelets – come together to form a plug and stop the bleeding. Sometimes, however, platelets come together even after the bleeding has stopped, forming clots in blood vessels and preventing blood flow. In the coronary artery, these blockages cause heart attacks; when the clots form in the brain, they lead to strokes.

The drug works by attaching to platelets near the injured wall and controlling their response. Fewer platelets are drawn to the injury but a plug is still formed.

When tested in 94 healthy volunteers, Anfibatide prevented platelets from clotting but didn’t prolong bleeding. This means that the body’s natural response is preserved but there’s a reduced risk of further damage.

“What’s most promising is that this reaction works best when the blood is flowing very fast – exactly the conditions when there is a major blockage,” said Dr. Ni, who is also a scientist with Canadian Blood Services.

There were no obvious side effects, although two volunteers withdrew due to allergy during the initial skin test. A Phase 2 clinical trial for patients who are undergoing angioplasty has begun in China.

This work was partially supported by Lee’s Pharmaceutical Holdings. Two contributing authors are employees of the company – which holds the patent for Anfibatide. Five authors are employees of Zhaoke Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. All other authors, including Dr. Ni, reported no conflicts of interest.

About St. Michael’s Hospital

St. Michael’s Hospital provides compassionate care to all who enter its doors. The hospital also provides outstanding medical education to future health care professionals in 27 academic disciplines. Critical care and trauma, heart disease, neurosurgery, diabetes, cancer care, care of the homeless and global health are among the Hospital’s recognized areas of expertise. Through the Keenan Research Centre and the Li Ka Shing International Healthcare Education Centre, which make up the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, research and education at St. Michael’s Hospital are recognized and make an impact around the world. Founded in 1892, the hospital is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto.

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Margaret Cancer Centre Canada : Colon cancer researchers target stem cells, discover viable new therapeutic path

Colon cancer researchers target stem cells, discover viable new therapeutic pathScientists and surgeons at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre have discovered a promising new approach to treating colorectal cancer by disarming the gene that drives self-renewal in stem cells that are the root cause of disease, resistance to treatment and relapse. Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related death in the Western world.




“This is the first step toward clinically applying the principles of cancer stem cell biology to control cancer growth and advance the development of durable cures,” says principal investigator Dr. John Dick about the findings published online today inNature Medicine. He talks about the research at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK7JquljkBc.




Dr. Dick pioneered the cancer stem cell field by first identifying leukemia stem cells (1994) and colon cancer stem cells (2007). He is also renowned for isolating a human blood stem cell in its purest form – as a single stem cell capable of regenerating the entire blood system – paving the way for clinical use (2011). Dr. Dick holds a Canada Research Chair in Stem Cell Biology and is a Senior Scientist at University Health Network’s Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine. He is also a Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Toronto, and Director of the Cancer Stem Cell Program at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research.




In pre-clinical experiments, the research team replicated human colon cancer in mice to determine if specifically targeting the stem cells was clinically relevant. First, the researchers identified that the gene BMI-1, already implicated in maintaining stem cells in other cancers, is the pivotal regulator of colon cancer stem cells and drives the cycle of self-renewal, proliferation and cell survival. Next, the team used an existing small-molecule inhibitor to successfully block BMI-1, thus demonstrating the clinical relevance of this approach.




Lead author Dr. Antonija Kreso writes: “Inhibiting a recognized regulator of self-renewal is an effective approach to control tumor growth, providing strong evidence for the clinical relevance of self-renewal as a biological process for therapeutic targeting.”




Dr. Dick explains: “When we blocked the BMI-1 pathway, the stem cells were unable to self-renew, which resulted in long-term and irreversible impairment of tumour growth. In other words, the cancer was permanently shut down.”




Surgeon-scientist Dr. Catherine O’Brien, senior co-author of the study says: “The clinical potential of this research is exciting because it maps a viable way to develop targeted treatment for colon cancer patients. It is already known that about 65% have the BMI-1 biomarker. With the target identified, and a proven way to tackle it, this knowledge could readily translate into first-in-human trials to provide more personalized cancer medicine.”




The research was funded by Genome Canada through the Ontario Genomics Institute, the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research and a Premier’s Summit Award with funds from the Province of Ontario, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canada Research Chair Program, the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, and The Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation.