On May 7, 2021, CytoDyn Inc. (OTC.QB: CYDY), a late-stage biotechnology company developing leronlimab (Vyrologix or PRO 140), a CCR5 antagonist with the potential for multiple therapeutic indications, announced todaythat its drug candidate, leronlimab, will be featured in a one-hour news segment on Sunday, May 9, at 5:00 pm PDT / 8:00 pm EDT on OneNews in the Philippines. CytoDyn has been supplying leronlimab to the Philippines as a therapeutic treatment for critically ill COVID-19 patients under Compassionate Special Permits (CSPs) authorized by the Philippine FDA. Appearing in this news program will be Nader Pourhassan, PhD, CytoDyn’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Chris Recknor, MD, CytoDyn’s Chief Operating Officer and Head of Clinical Development, Harish Seethamraju, MD, Medical Director for the Mount Sinai Lung Transplantation Program in New York, and Richard Nicolas, MD, Associate Clinical Professor for Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery, University of the Philippines, and practicing surgeon, St. Luke’s Medical Center, Philippines.This news event can be accessed as follows:
Date: Sunday, May 9, 2021; Time: 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm PDT / 8:00 pm to 9:00 pm EDT. Viewers are encouraged to login 30 minutes prior to the start time. Social media: Facebook: facebook.com/onenewsph; YouTube: youtube.com/onenewsph
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Open Letter from Prominent Physicians Supports FDA Issuance of Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for CytoDyn’s Monoclonal Antibody Leronlimab for Treatment of Critically Ill COVID Patients; “Drug Gives Intubated Patients a Fighting Chance,” Authors State
The following open letter to the FDA was posted on May 7, 2021 by two highly experienced and independent physicians: “There is new hope for severely ill patients with Covid-19. On March 30th, US company CytoDyn, released results from a randomized, double-blind study of a drug called leronlimab. The study revealed an unprecedented 82% reduction in the rate of death at Day 14 for patients on a ventilator who received 2 weekly doses of leronlimab compared to a placebo. To confirm the finding, CytoDyn will need to perform another trial that will take months to complete. In the meantime, the company asked the FDA to approve access to leronlimab for critically ill patients now, under an Emergency Use Authorization or EUA. Unfortunately, the FDA rejected that request. The consequences of that decision, both here and abroad, where regulatory agencies generally follow the FDA’s lead, will likely be devastating as new strains of mutant virus sweep the globe. The FDA is given the authority to exercise judgement and approve emergency use of a treatment when evidence suggests it will provide more benefit than harm. The Agency has already approved EUAs for various antiviral therapies, all of which work in the early stages of Covid-19 illness. But, to date, there is still no emergency access to effective treatments for patients with advanced disease on a ventilator. In contrast to traditional antiviral drugs, leronlimab is a monoclonal antibody that disrupts signals that create inflammation in the lungs and elsewhere in advanced illness. In one remarkable case, a patient on life support for 2 months was able to start weaning off that support just 4 days after receiving his first dose [of leronlimab]. Also, because leronlimab works by calming the immune system rather than attacking the virus itself, it should remain effective against mutant strains.”
Research Team Awarded $3.1 Million NIH Grant to Investigate Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer Through Exosome Analysis and Validating Panels of Ovarian-Specific Biomarkers
A research team led by Andrew Godwin, PhD, Deputy Director of The University of Kansas Cancer Center, and Yong Zeng, PhD, Associate Professor at the University of Florida, has been awarded a $3.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to investigate better ways to identify ovarian cancer earlier. Unlike breast, cervical or colorectal cancer, there is no reliable screening test to detect epithelial forms of ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancers represent several distinct diseases, which are named after the type of cell they come from: epithelial, germ cell, and stromal. Epithelial ovarian cancers, which represent 85 to 90 percent of malignant ovarian cancers, are a complex group of tumors that arise from multiple different precursor tissues, and the most common and deadliest subtype (high-grade serous) is thought to originate primarily in the fallopian tubes. Epithelial ovarian cancer is referred to as the “silent killer” due to its lack of overt clinical symptoms. By the time a woman knows she has it, the cancer is often advanced. However, when caught early, the prognosis is excellent. Developing non-invasive and highly specific blood-based tests for pre-symptomatic screening and early detection of ovarian cancer is therefore crucial. Dr. Godwin’s laboratory, which has received funding over the years from the OVERRUN Ovarian Cancer Foundation and the Vicki Welsh Ovarian Cancer Fund, is dedicated to finding better, more reliable methods for the detection of this deadly disease, particularly high-grade serous carcinomas, the deadliest form of ovarian cancer that primarily originates in the fallopian tubes and spreads rapidly. “Most women with epithelial ovarian cancer will be diagnosed at a later stage when it has spread and become much more difficult to treat,” Dr. Godwin said. “There is an urgent need to identify novel biomarkers, apply new strategies, and develop technologies to diagnose ovarian cancer earlier.”
CHOP Researchers Discover and Treat Rare Disease That Prevents Formation of Antibodies
When Luke Terrio was about seven months old, his mother began to realize something was off. He had constant ear infections, developed red spots on his face, and was tired all the time. His development stagnated, and the antibiotics given to treat his frequent infections stopped working. His primary care doctor at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) ordered a series of blood tests and quickly realized something was wrong: Luke had no antibodies. At first, the CHOP specialists treating Luke thought he might have X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA), a rare immunodeficiency syndrome seen in children. However, as the CHOP research team continued investigating Luke’s case, they realized Luke’s condition was unlike any disease described before. Using whole exome sequencing to scan Luke’s DNA, CHOP researchers discovered the genetic mutation responsible for his condition, which prevents Luke and patients like him from making B cells and antibodies to fight infections. The study describing Luke’s condition, which CHOP researchers, together with colleagues, named PU.1 mutated agammaglobulinemia (PU.MA), was published online on May 5, 2021 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine. The article is titled “Constrained Chromatin Accessibility in PU.1-Mutated Agammaglobulinemia Patients” (rupress.org/jem/article-abstract/218/7/e20201750/212070/Constrai…). “It can be pretty scary for a family whose child has a mysterious illness” said Neil D. Romberg, MD, an attending physician with the Division of Allergy and Immunology at CHOP and senior author of the paper. “In this case, science provided an explanation, thanks to numerous departments at CHOP, including the Roberts Individualized Medical Genetics Center, the Center for Spatial and Functional Genomics, and the Cancer Center. Understanding the cause of Luke’s condition absolutely helped us know what direction to take his therapy.”
Epithelial Cells Asymmetrically Release Two Distinct Types of Exosomes with Distinct Protein Compositions; Apical Release Controlled by ALIX, Basolateral Release by Ceramide; Results May Offer Clues to Metastasis
Cells talk to each other to coordinate nutrition, waste removal, energy use, and, in some cases, disease progression. The cells that line the surfaces of organs or specific tissues, called epithelial cells, appear to speak two different languages – one for either side of the cell, according to a new study by researchers based in Japan. The discovery, published online March 16, 2021 in EMBO Reports, could have implications for understanding how cancer spreads and, potentially, for advanced treatments, the team says. The article is titled “ALIX and Ceramide Differentially Control Polarized Small Extracellular Vesicle Release from Epithelial Cells” (www.embopress.org/doi/abs/10.15252/embr.202051475). The team, led by Mitsunori Fukuda, PhD, Professor in the Laboratory of Membrane Trafficking Mechanisms, Department of Integrative Life Sciences, Graduate School of Life Sciences at Tohoku University in Japan, examined epithelial cells from a kidney model. The cells release particles called exosomes that carry bits of the cells themselves or information about the cells. The proteins and other genetic information in the exosomes can then influence how other cells behave or function. In health, such an information exchange could help the immune system mount a more tailored approach to an invading pathogen. Some diseased cells, such as cancer, can release exosomes that make healthy cells less resistant to invasion. “Single cells are known to release various kinds of exosomes, but very little is known about the mechanisms by which they are produced and released,” Dr. Fukuda said. “In this paper, we found that epithelial cells asymmetrically release two distinct types of exosomes with distinct protein compositions.” The researchers developed a purification method to separate out exosomes based on their protein makeup.
Surprising Discovery: Bats Know Speed of Sound from Birth, Map World in Units of Time Not Distance
A new Tel Aviv University study has revealed, for the first time, that bats know the speed of sound from birth. In order to prove this, the researchers raised bats from the time of their birth in a helium-enriched environment in which the speed of sound is higher than normal. They found that unlike humans, who map the world in units of distance, bats map the world in units of time. What this means is that the bat perceives an insect as being at a distance of nine milliseconds, and not one and a half meters, as was thought until now. The study published in the May 11, 2021 issue of PNAS. The article is titled “Echolocating Bats Rely on an Innate Speed-of-Sound Reference” (www.pnas.org/content/118/19/e2024352118). In order to determine where things are in a space, bats use sonar–they produce sound waves that hit objects and are reflected back to the bat. Bats can estimate the position of the object based on the time that elapses between the moment the sound wave is produced and the moment it is returned to the bat. This calculation depends on the speed of sound, which can vary in different environmental conditions, such as air composition or temperature. For example, there could be a difference of almost 10% between the speed of sound at the height of the summer, when the air is hot and the sound waves spread faster, and the winter season. Since the discovery of sonar in bats 80 years ago, researchers have been trying to figure out whether bats acquire the ability to measure the speed of sound over the course of their lifetime or are born with this innate, constant sense.
A Trait of The Rare Few Whose Bodies Naturally Control HIV: “Trained” Immune Cells; Scientists Discover That “Elite Controllers” Have Myeloid Dendritic Cells That Display Characteristics of Trained Innate Immune Cells
Immunity often calls to mind the adaptive immune response, made up of antibodies and T cells that learn to fight specific pathogens after infection or vaccination. But the immune system also has an innate immune response, which uses a set number of techniques to provide a swift, non-specialized response against pathogens or support the adaptive immune response. In the past few years, however, scientists have found that certain parts of the innate immune response can, in some instances, also be trained in response to infectious pathogens, such as HIV. Xu Yu, MD, a Core Member of the Ragon Institute of Massachusettes General Hospital, MIT and Harvard, and colleagues recently published a study in the Journal of Clinical Investigation which showed that elite controllers, a rare subset of people whose immune system can control HIV without the use of drugs, have myeloid dendritic cells, part of the innate immune response, that display traits of a trained innate immune cell. The open-access article was published online on May 3, 2021 and is titled “Long Noncoding RNA MIR4435-2HG Enhances Metabolic Function of Myeloid Dendritic Cells from HIV-1 Elite Controllers” (www.jci.org/articles/view/146136). “Using RNA-sequencing technology, we were able to identify one long-noncoding RNA called MIR4435-2HG that was present at a higher level in elite controllers’ myeloid dendritic cells, which have enhanced immune and metabolic states,” says Dr. Yu. “Our research shows that MIR4435-2HG might be an important driver of this enhanced state, indicating a trained response.” Myeloid dendritic cells’ primary job is to support T cells, which are key to the elite controllers’ ability to control HIV infection. Because MIR4435-2HG was found in higher levels only in cells from elite controllers, Dr. Yu explains, it may be part of a learned immune response to infection with HIV. Myeloid dendritic cells with increased MIR4435-2HG also had higher amounts of a protein called RPTOR, which drives metabolism. This increased metabolism may allow the myeloid dendritic cells to better support the T cells controlling the HIV infection.
Cardea Bio Develops Exosome & EV Detection Technology Called EV-Chip, Showcasing Cancer & Aging Diagnostic Applications: Technology Paves Way for New Generation of Portable, Point-of-Care Devices for Real-Time Analysis of Liquid Biopsies
On May 4, 2021, Cardea Bio, a Tech+Bio company integrating molecular biology with semiconductor electronics via graphene-based biology-gated “Cardean Transistors,” has announced that its Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Kiana Aran, and collaborators have published a paper titled “Rapid and Electronic Identification and Quantification of Age-Specific Circulating Exosomes via Biologically Activated Graphene Transistors” in the peer-reviewed journal Advanced Biology on April 30, 2021 (onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adbi.202000594). The paper reports a novel biosensor called the EV-Chip, a prototype portable, low-cost reader for the detection and quantification of exosome biomarkers of cancer and other aging-related diseases. The paper demonstrates the EV-Chip’s clinical potential to evaluate human liquid biopsy samples through rapid, label-free identification of known biomarkers, CD63 and CD151. The publication was the result of a collaboration among Cardea Bio, Inc., the Keck Graduate Institute and the Keck Science Department in Claremont, California, and the University of California, Berkeley. “Modern clinical advances have extended the bounds of the human lifespan, revealing a new class of health issues related to the aging process, such as cancer as well as inflammatory and degenerative diseases,” said Dr. Aran. “Scientists will be able to use the EV-Chip for biomarker discovery and unlock a new source of diagnostic biomarkers and therapies to combat these diseases more effectively.” The EV-Chip has high-specificity antibodies that bind to one or more exosome biomarkers of interest embedded into a Cardean Transistor chip. It can be functionalized to detect virtually any exosome biomarker. When a plasma-derived exosome sample is added, the one-molecule-thick, biocompatible graphene transistor detects antibody binding events and sends digital feedback to a small device that can connect easily to any computer and return results within an hour. The whole setup is small and simple to use, making it well-suited to a physician’s office or biological lab.
Bornean Rajah Scops Owl Rediscovered After 125 Years
The Bornean subspecies of Rajah scops owl (Otus brookii brookii) (photo) documented in the wild for the first time since 1892, may be its own unique species and deserving of a conservation designation. In an article published online on April 28, 2021 in The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center ecologist Andy Boyce, PhD, reported the rediscovery and photographed this elusive subspecies in the mountainous forests of Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, Malaysia. “It was a pretty rapid progression of emotions when I first saw the owl–absolute shock and excitement that we’d found this mythical bird, then pure anxiety that I had to document it as fast as I could,” Dr. Boyce said. “Based on size, eye color, and habitat, I knew it was the Bornean Rajah scops owl. What’s more, taking into account this bird’s specific plumage characters, known speciation patterns within the Otus genus, and phylogeographic patterns of montane birds in Borneo and Sumatra, O. b. brookii is likely its own unique species and further study is needed.” Scops owls weigh approximately 100 grams (about 4 ounces), equivalent to four AA batteries. Both subspecies of Rajah scops owl are native to southeast Asia–Otus brookii brookii on the island of Borneo and Otus brookii solokensis on Sumatra. Small owls in the genus Otus often show rapid divergence following isolation in this region. In fact, the Indonesian archipelago is composed of islands that facilitate species divergence, and Borneo and Sumatra have been particularly prone to speciation events.
Move Over CRISPR, the Retrons Are Coming; With New Gene Editing Technique from George Church’s Lab, Millions of Genetic Experiments Can Be Performed Simultaneously; Retron Library Recombineering (RLR) May Overcome Many Limitations of CRISPR-Cas9
While the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing system has become the poster child for innovation in synthetic biology, it has some major limitations. CRISPR-Cas9 can be programmed to find and cut specific pieces of DNA, but editing the DNA to create desired mutations requires tricking the cell into using a new piece of DNA to repair the break. This bait-and-switch can be complicated to orchestrate, and can even be toxic to cells because Cas9 often cuts unintended, off-target sites as well. Alternative gene editing techniques called recombineering instead perform this bait-and-switch by introducing an alternate piece of DNA while a cell is replicating its genome, efficiently creating genetic mutations without breaking DNA. These methods are simple enough that they can be used in many cells at once to create complex pools of mutations for researchers to study. Figuring out what the effects of those mutations are, however, requires that each mutant be isolated, sequenced, and characterized: a time-consuming and impractical task. Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School (HMS) have created a new gene editing tool called Retron Library Recombineering (RLR) that makes this task easier. RLR generates up to millions of mutations simultaneously, and “barcodes” mutant cells so that the entire pool can be screened at once, enabling massive amounts of data to be easily generated and analyzed. The achievement, which has been accomplished in bacterial cells, is described in a paper published in the May 4, 2021 issue of PNAS. The article is titled “High-Throughput Functional Variant Screens Via in Vivo Production of Single-Stranded DNA” (www.pnas.org/content/118/18/e2018181118).