Online Health Care Tips

Episcreen T cell assay technology for biologics www.antitope.co.uk Scientists have discovered one of the reasons why many previous attempts to harness the immune system to treat cancerous tumours have failed - a feat that could revolutionise cancer therapy. University of Cambridge scientists revealed that a type of stromal cell found in many cancers which expresses fibroblast activation protein alpha (FAP), plays a major role in suppressing the immune response in cancerous tumours - thereby restricting the use of vaccines and other therapies, which rely on the body's immune system to work. They have also found that if they destroy these cells in a tumour immune suppression is relieved, allowing the immune system to control the previously uncontrolled tumour. "Finding the specific cells within the complex mixture of the cancer stroma that prevents immune killing is an important step. Further studying how these cells exert their effects may contribute to improved immunol...

Self-treatments using baking soda, ash and hydrogen peroxide, many of which are detailed online by members of the public with no dental experience, can strip tooth enamel and cause lasting damage to the gums, experts cautioned. The techniques are becoming an increasingly popular alternative to expensive professional treatment, especially among teenage girls. Examples of the potentially hazardous advice offered online include brushing the teeth with soap, salt, baking soda and hydrogen peroxide, or bleach. But dentists said some of the methods can erode the enamel covering of the teeth, making them appear darker rather than whiter. Up to 100,000 people undergo some type of teeth whitening treatment each year, ten times more than did so five years ago. But for many people the process is prohibitively expensive, costing up to £1,300 for laser treatment and as much as £700 for professional bleaching. Professor Andrew Eder, clinical director of the London Tooth Whitening Centre, ...

Composite Human Antibodies humanization service www.antitope.co.uk Goettingen (Germany), Nov 6 (DPA) Scientists in Germany said they had developed a drug that halts the progress of Alzheimer's disease in mice and hope to begin tests on humans in two years' time. The treatment, which they described as immunisation, employs a new antibody to stop brain degeneration. The findings were announced by the medical department of the University of Goettingen where an international team included Dutch and Finnish scientists. The paper was published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. A spokesman, Thomas Bayer, said the findings from the laboratory-mouse experiments could be applied to humans too and it was assumed that tests on human Alzheimer's patients would begin within two years. The treatment is novel because the antibodies are not aimed against the so-called amyloid plaques which clog the brains of Alzheimer's sufferers. Instead they counter molecular structures in the b...