Healthspan Blog

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - After decades of dead ends, scientists have identified two genes that may raise the risk of multiple sclerosis, lending insight into the causes of the debilitating disease.

The findings, released in two medical journals on Sunday, represent the first genes conclusively linked to multiple sclerosis in more than 20 years, experts said.

MS is a disease of the central nervous system that affects about 350,000 people in the United States and more than 2.5 million people globally.

In a large-scale study appearing in an online version of the New England Journal of Medicine, teams of international researchers scanned the entire human genome of more than 12,000 people for MS risk factors.

That study uncovered two new gene suspects, both of which are thought to play a role in autoimmune disease.

Until now, the only genetic link identified with MS was the major histocompatibility complex, or MHC, a large cluster of genes essential to the immune system.

Neither of the newly discovered genes appears to be as instrumental to developing the disease as MHC, but the research is important because it lends insight into other genetic factors that raise a person's risk of multiple sclerosis.

"Having this genetic road map will be of incredible importance in developing new therapies," said Dr. David Hafler of Harvard Medical School, who worked on the genome study.

LIKELY SUSPECT

The role of one of the gene suspects in MS -- a variant of the interleukin-7 or IL-7 receptor -- was confirmed in two papers published online on Sunday in Nature Genetics.

The gene helps control the activity of regulatory T cells, which suppress the activation of the body's immune system.

"This discovery brings us into a whole new pathway that could have a very important role in understanding the fundamental mechanisms that trigger MS," said Dr. Stephen Hauser, professor of neurology at University of California San Francisco, who worked on studies released online in the New England Journal of Medicine and Nature Genetics.

While the studies used different methods, they both pointed the finger at IL-7.

The Nature Genetics study, led by Jonathan Haines of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee, and Margaret Pericak-Vance of the University of Miami, examined variants in three genes suspected to have a role in the disease. It found variants in IL-7 receptors were consistently more common in MS patients than in healthy people.

Researchers observed a similar association in a separate study in Nature Genetics by Jan Hillert of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm and colleagues, who looked at a large collection of people from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

The other gene identified by the whole genome scan -- the IL-2 receptor -- has been linked to two other autoimmune diseases: type 1 diabetes and autoimmune thyroid disease.

"The story here is the commonality of autoimmune disease," Hafler said.

Researchers believe both environmental and genetic factors play a role in the development of MS, which attacks and destroys the insulation along nerve fibers.

MS symptoms range from mild muscle weakness to partial or complete paralysis.

By Ben Hirschler

LONDON (Reuters) - The first new vaccine against tuberculosis in more than 80 years has entered mid-stage trials in South Africa, where the killer disease is rife, scientists said on Saturday.

If the tests are successful, a new shot against M. tuberculosis (TB) bacteria could be available within eight years.

The vaccine was developed by researchers at Oxford University, who are now studying it in Phase II studies in the Western Cape. Despite widespread vaccination, one in 100 infants in the Western Cape suffers from TB disease, underscoring the need for better prevention.

The current standard vaccine for TB is Bacille Calmette-Guerin, or BCG, which provides some protection against severe forms of the disease in children but is unreliable against pulmonary TB, the most common type.

TB is second only to HIV/AIDS as the world's most deadly infectious disease, killing around 1.7 million people a year, and the emergence of strains that are resistant to antibiotics has increased the problem.

"The rise in the number of cases of multi-drug resistant forms of TB plus the increasing number of cases of TB in people living with HIV means a new vaccine is essential," the vaccine's co-developer, Dr Helen McShane, said.

"We can no longer rely on antibiotics to treat the disease -- we need to help the body's immune system prevent disease."

McShane and her colleagues received funding for their trials from the Wellcome Trust medical charity, which provides cash for research that is of potential benefit to public health but has not yet secured financing from commercial backers.

The new vaccine, known as MVA85A, works in tandem with the BCG shot and acts as a booster to the older vaccine. Previous tests have already shown it produces a very high immune response but the key is to show it actually prevents disease.

The vaccine's developers declined to comment on the possible future involvement of major drug companies in the program. Leading vaccine producers include GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi-Aventis and Merck & Co..

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Sara Lee Corp is recalling bread sold under EarthGrains, Sara Lee Delightful Wheat and several other brands because the loaves may contain small pieces of metal, the company said on Friday.

The company recalled the bread after it discovered damage to a whole-wheat flour sifter during a routine inspection that indicated some metal might have made its way into the bread, Sara Lee spokesman Mark Goldman said.

The bakery is still operating using bagged whole-wheat flour that does not require sifting, Goldman said,

The bread being recalled is sold in Mississippi and Alabama, most of Arkansas, far southeastern Missouri, western Georgia, southwestern Tennessee, southeastern Louisiana and the panhandle of Florida, Sara Lee said.

The packages are stamped with "best if purchased by" dates of July 25, 2007 through August 7, 2007 and include the code "222." The bread was produced at the company's Meridian, Mississippi, bakery.

The bread should not be consumed and should be returned to the store where it was purchased for a full refund, Sara Lee said.

A list of the affected brands is available in the press release at http://www.fda.gov/oc/po/firmrecalls/saralee07_07.html.

Sara Lee shares closed down 18 cents at $16 on Friday on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Brad Dorfman)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who go through labor and childbirth with a companion of their choice are more satisfied with the experience, and the care they receive, than women who deliver alone, Brazilian researchers report.

Furthermore, the presence of a companion did not create any safety issues, In fact, women with a companion on hand were about half as likely as unaccompanied women to have amniotic fluid stained with fetal stool -- meconium -- which can be dangerous to infants if it is inhaled.

While having a companion to provide support during labor and delivery is accepted practice in much of the world, many health facilities do not allow companions or discourage their presence, Dr. Odalea M. Bruggemann of the Federal University of Santa Catarina in Florianopolis and her colleagues note. This is especially common in the developing world, they add.

Bruggemann and her team randomly assigned 212 women to solo labor or labor with a companion of their choice, to compare childbirth experiences.

About half of the accompanied woman (47 percent) chose their partner or the child's father, while 30 percent chose their mother and 23 percent chose another female relative or a friend.

The women who received support from a companion were significantly more satisfied with labor and delivery than those who went through childbirth alone. They were eight times more likely to be satisfied with their labor experience and nearly six times as likely to be satisfied with delivery.

The accompanied women were also more satisfied with their medical care and medical guidance during labor and delivery. "Perhaps because there was someone else in the room, medical staff were more forthcoming and user-friendly than when no support person was present," the researchers note in their report in the online journal Reproductive Health.

Women with companions were 49 percent less likely to have amniotic fluid stained with meconium than women who delivered on their own. This may have been because they were less anxious and fearful, Bruggemann and her team suggest.

"If on one hand there is a general belief that a labor companion has always positive effects, there are, on the other hand, still a lot of health facilities where companions are not allowed, especially in developing settings," the researchers write. "It is expected that the results of this study could help providers to acknowledge and respect women's rights during birth."

SOURCE: Reproductive Health, July 6, 2007.

By Joene Hendry

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Eating a traditional Mediterranean diet -- more vegetables, fruits, and fish, and fewer animal products -- does seem to ward off heart disease, an Australian study shows, and it may be especially beneficial for people with diabetes.

Mediterranean-born immigrants in Australia have lower death rates from heart disease than native-born Australians, note Dr. Linton R. Harriss, from Monash University in Melbourne, and colleagues. This prompted them to investigate dietary patterns in relation to heart-related mortality "in an ethnically diverse population."

The study involved over 40,000 men and women, aged between 40 and 69 years, 24 percent of whom were native-born Mediterranean while the rest were native-born Australian. They were followed for ten years.

The researchers used food questionnaires to calculate participants' intake of Mediterranean foods, vegetables, fruits, and meats. The results of the study are published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

"Those people in our study that were in the highest category of the Mediterranean foods pattern (i.e. most frequently consumed traditional Mediterranean foods) had a 30 percent lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease compared to those who were in the lowest category," Harriss told Reuters Health.

The investigators found that a Mediterranean-style diet "may be most beneficial for persons with diabetes."

Among the study participants with diabetes, Harriss said, "Our results suggest that the Mediterranean diet may lower mortality from ischemic heart disease." However, because those results are based on a small sub-sample, "more research needs to be performed to investigate these findings better."

The protective effect of a Mediterranean diet pattern against heart-related death was strongest in people who were free of heart disease at the outset. Nonetheless, "the Mediterranean foods pattern showed benefits whether we included or excluded people with a history of cardiovascular disease," Harriss said.

SOURCE: The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, July 2007