SCOTTISH HOSPITAL NEWS BREAKTHROUGH FOR PEPTIDE MEDICATION


A new report from the Technical University in Munich has shown how peptides can now be designed so that they can be easily administered orally.


Peptides are short chains of amino acids. In the human body they control diverse functions as signalling molecules. Well-known examples include insulin, which comprises 51 amino acid building blocks and controls the metabolism of sugar, or cyclosporine, an eleven amino acid-peptide that has been proven to suppress organ rejection after transplants.


‘Peptides are wonderfully well suited as medication,’ says Horst Kessler, Carl von Linde Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at TUM. ‘The body already uses them as signalling molecules and, when they have done their job, they can be recycled by the body – no accumulation, no complicated detoxification.’


Worldwide, there are currently some 500 peptide-based medications in clinical trials. A handful of peptide


IN BRIEF


£53M TO PROBE GENETIC LINKS TO DISEASE


Research into human genetics has received a £53m boost from the Medical Research Council (MRC). Funds will support work at the MRC Human Genetics Unit at the University of Edinburgh for the next five years.


Scientists there are using the latest technologies to study how human genes work and to uncover the genetic basis of both rare and common diseases.


Experts are examining the entire genetic make-up of patients and their families to discover how variations in people’s DNA code can lead to diseases, including those


38 - SCOTTISH PHARMACIST


medications are already commanding revenues in the billions. But the fact that they cannot be administered as tablets is a decisive disadvantage of almost all substances in this category.


The team from TUM initially approached this challenge using a ring-shaped model peptide, which comprised six molecules of the simplest amino acid, alanine. The scientists then used it to investigate


that affect childhood development. Researchers are also investigating how genes are switched on and off to reveal how these processes contribute to diseases such as cancer, brain and eye disorders.


ANTIBIOTICS: IMPLICATIONS FOR VACCINATION PROGRAMMES SAY RESEARCHERS


Findings from a new South Australian-led study on antibiotic use and the effectiveness of vaccinations could have significant implications for vaccination programmes globally.


Researchers from the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute in Adelaide have discovered in preclinical animal models that antibiotic exposure in infants could impair their responses to five important, routine vaccinations.


what effect replacing hydrogen atoms of the peptide bonds with methyl groups has on oral availability.


The team chose integrin receptors that control a variety of functions on the cell surface as a target for their peptides. A sequence of the three amino acids arginine, glycine and aspartic acid was the key to the docking at these receptors and Kessler’s co-workers incorporated the


The preclinical research with mice showed that exposure to antibiotics in early life leads to impaired immune responses to routine vaccinations against meningitis, pneumonia, tuberculosis and whooping cough.


BOWEL DISEASE STUDY POINTS TO NEW THERAPIES


Treatments for incurable bowel conditions may be a step closer following the discovery of a key molecule associated with disease flare-ups. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh say the finding helps to explain the underlying cause of disorders such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. The discovery could also lead to new tests to help doctors monitor patients’ condition and help them to tailor treatments accordingly.


key sequence at different positions of their model peptide, thus creating new variants.


Cell tests have shown that the new hexapeptide has a biological effect. In low doses it stimulates the growth of blood vessels and, when mice are fed the masked hexapeptide, the effect is the same as in those that were injected with the unmasked hexapeptide.


NEW ‘BRAIN HEALTH INDEX’ DEVELOPED FOR STROKE PATIENTS


A new computer programme developed by scientists at the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow can assess whole brain deterioration and help predict cognitive function after stroke up to ten times more accurately than current methods.


The new approach, published in the International Journal of Stroke, can quantify visible brain injury from cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) and brain atrophy by translating the million plus bits of information stored in brain scans into a single measure, the ‘brain health index’. The brain health index may also give early warning of risk of future cognitive decline in individuals before they notice any symptoms.


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