Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Flies & muscle atrophy--recent review

Piccirillo R, Demontis F, Perrimon N, Goldberg AL. Mechanisms of muscle growth and atrophy in mammals and Drosophila. Dev Dyn. 2013 Aug 29. PMID: 24038488.

The fly & retinal degeneration--recent review

Xiong B, Bellen HJ. Rhodopsin homeostasis and retinal degeneration: lessons from the fly. Trends Neurosci. 2013 Sep 5. PMID: 24012059.

From the abstract: "We review here the molecular signals involved in Rh homeostasis and the mechanisms underlying retinal degeneration in flies, and discuss possible links to human diseases."

Fly models & neurodevelopmental disorders--recent review

Okray Z, Hassan BA. Genetic approaches in Drosophila for the study neurodevelopmental disorders. Neuropharmacology. 2013 May;68:150-6. PMID: 23067575.

From GWAS to functional genetics--fly study related to diabetes and metabolism

Pendse J, Ramachandran PV, Na J, Narisu N, Fink JL, Cagan RL, Collins FS, Baranski TJ. A Drosophila functional evaluation of candidates from human genome-wide association studies of type 2 diabetes and related metabolic traits identifies tissue-specific roles for dHHEX. BMC Genomics. 2013 Feb 27;14:136. PMID: 23445342; PMCID: PMC3608171.

Two recent fly reports related to neurodegenerative diseases

Richards RI, Samaraweera SE, van Eyk CL, O'Keefe LV, Suter CM. RNA pathogenesis via Toll-like receptor-activated inflammation in expanded repeat neurodegenerative diseases. Front Mol Neurosci. 2013 Sep 5;6:25. PMID: 24046729; PMCID: PMC3763583.

Lenz S, Karsten P, Schulz JB, Voigt A. Drosophila as a screening tool to study human neurodegenerative diseases. J Neurochem. 2013 Sep 12. PMID: 24028575.

Fly models in action--study related to Fragile X syndrome

Friedman SH, Dani N, Rushton E, Broadie K. Fragile X mental retardation protein regulates trans-synaptic signaling. Dis Model Mech. 2013 Sep 5. PMID: 24046358.

New fly model--Pantothenate Kinase-Associated Neurodegeneration

Varun P, Hagit T, Uriya B, Sagiv S, Sebastian K. A new in vivo model of pantothenate kinase-associated neurodegeneration reveals a surprising role for transcriptional regulation in pathogenesis. Front Cell Neurosci. 2013 Sep 9;7:146. PMID: 24058333.

Monday, September 16, 2013

Relevant review--NF-Y transcription factor & fly model

Ly LL, Yoshida H, Yamaguchi M. Nuclear transcription factor Y and its roles in cellular processes related to human disease. Am J Cancer Res. 2013 Aug 14;3(4):339-46. PMID: 23977444; PMCID: PMC3744014.

Relevant review--fly model & host defense

Ferrandon D. The complementary facets of epithelial host defenses in the genetic model organism Drosophila melanogaster: from resistance to resilience. Curr Opin Immunol. 2013 Feb;25(1):59-70. Review. PMID: 23228366.

Expression of Gaucher disease gene in fly eye

Suzuki T, Shimoda M, Ito K, Hanai S, Aizawa H, Kato T, Kawasaki K, Yamaguchi T, Ryoo HD, Goto-Inoue N, Setou M, Tsuji S, Ishida N. Expression of Human Gaucher Disease Gene GBA Generates Neurodevelopmental Defects and ER Stress in Drosophila Eye. PLoS One. 2013 Aug 2;8(8):e69147. PMID: 23936319; PMCID: PMC3732251.

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Fly studies relevant to spinal muscular atrophy

Garcia EL, Lu Z, Meers MP, Praveen K, Matera AG. Developmental arrest of Drosophila survival motor neuron (Smn) mutants accounts for differences in expression of minor intron-containing genes. RNA. 2013 Sep 4. PMID: 24006466.

Sen A, Dimlich DN, Guruharsha KG, Kankel MW, Hori K, Yokokura T, Brachat S, Richardson D, Loureiro J, Sivasankaran R, Curtis D, Davidow LS, Rubin LL, Hart AC, Van Vactor D, Artavanis-Tsakonas S. Genetic circuitry of Survival motor neuron, the gene underlying spinal muscular atrophy. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Jun 25;110(26):E2371-80. PMID: 23757500; PMCID: PMC3696827.

Review includes discussion of fly models of fungal infection

Arvanitis M, Glavis-Bloom J, Mylonakis E. Invertebrate models of fungal infection. Biochim Biophys Acta. 2013 Sep;1832(9):1378-83. PMID: 23517918.

From the abstract: "The purpose of this review is to compare several model hosts that have been used in experimental mycology to-date and to describe their different characteristics and contribution to the study of fungal virulence and the detection of compounds with antifungal properties."

"Small organism, big discoveries"--a review and recent neurodegeneration-related studies that include fly models

Debattisti V, Scorrano L. D. melanogaster, mitochondria and neurodegeneration: small model organism, big discoveries. Mol Cell Neurosci. 2013 Jul;55:77-86. PMID: 22940086.

Vashishtha M, Ng CW, Yildirim F, Gipson TA, Kratter IH, Bodai L, Song W, Lau A, Labadorf A, Vogel-Ciernia A, Troncosco J, Ross CA, Bates GP, Krainc D, Sadri-Vakili G, Finkbeiner S, Marsh JL, Housman DE, Fraenkel E, Thompson LM. Targeting H3K4 trimethylation in Huntington disease. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Aug 6;110(32):E3027-36. PMID: 23872847; PMCID: PMC3740882.

O'Rourke JG, Gareau JR, Ochaba J, Song W, Raskó T, Reverter D, Lee J, Monteys AM, Pallos J, Mee L, Vashishtha M, Apostol BL, Nicholson TP, Illes K, Zhu YZ, Dasso M, Bates GP, Difiglia M, Davidson B, Wanker EE, Marsh JL, Lima CD, Steffan JS, Thompson LM. SUMO-2 and PIAS1 Modulate Insoluble Mutant Huntingtin Protein Accumulation. Cell Rep. 2013 Jul 25;4(2):362-75. PMID: 23871671.

Beharry C, Alaniz ME, Alonso AD. Expression of Alzheimer-Like Pathological Human Tau Induces a Behavioral Motor and Olfactory Learning Deficit in Drosophila Melanogaster. J Alzheimers Dis. PMID: 23948901.

Mason RP, Casu M, Butler N, Breda C, Campesan S, Clapp J, Green EW, Dhulkhed D, Kyriacou CP, Giorgini F. Glutathione peroxidase activity is neuroprotective in models of Huntington's disease. Nat Genet. 2013 Aug 25. PMID: 23974869.

Friday, September 6, 2013

Study uses fly model of Alzheimer's disease

Park SH, Lee S, Hong YK, Hwang S, Lee JH, Bang SM, Kim YK, Koo BS, Lee IS, Cho KS. Suppressive effects of SuHeXiang Wan on amyloid-β42-induced extracellular signal-regulated kinase hyperactivation and glial cell proliferation in a transgenic Drosophila model of Alzheimer's disease. Biol Pharm Bull. 2013;36(3):390-8. PMID: 23238278.

Relevant review--fly models & tauopathies

Cowan CM, Mudher A. Are tau aggregates toxic or protective in tauopathies? Front Neurol. 2013;4:114. PMID: 23964266; PMCID: PMC3741634.

Relevant technique: Injecting drugs into adult Drosophila

Howlett IC, Tanouye MA. Seizure-Sensitivity in Drosophila Is Ameliorated by Dorsal Vessel Injection of the Antiepileptic Drug Valproate. J Neurogenet. 2013 PMID: 23941042.

Glaucoma, the unfolded protein response, and the fly--relevant review

Anholt RR, Carbone MA. A molecular mechanism for glaucoma: endoplasmic reticulum stress and the unfolded protein response. Trends Mol Med. 2013 Jul 19. PMID: 23876925.

Includes discussion of a fly model--transgenic expression of myocilin.

Fly disease model used in Huntingtons disease study

Arribat Y, Bonneaud N, Talmat-Amar Y, Layalle S, Parmentier ML, Maschat F. A Huntingtin Peptide Inhibits PolyQ-Huntingtin Associated Defects. PLoS One. 2013 PMID:
23861941; PMCID: PMC3701666.

New fly model--pythiosis

Zanette RA, Santurio JM, Loreto ES, Alves SH, Kontoyiannis DP. Toll-deficient Drosophila is susceptible to Pythium insidiosum infection. Microbiol Immunol. 2013 Jul 19. PMID: 23865688.

From the abstract: "There is a paucity of animal models of pythiosis, a life-threatening disease of humans and animals that has poorly understood immunopathogenesis. We developed a pythiosis model ..."

Integrated approach to spinocerebellar ataxia includes Drosophila genetic screens

Park J, Al-Ramahi I, Tan Q, Mollema N, Diaz-Garcia JR, Gallego-Flores T, Lu HC, Lagalwar S, Duvick L, Kang H, Lee Y, Jafar-Nejad P, Sayegh LS, Richman R, Liu X, Gao Y, Shaw CA, Arthur JS, Orr HT, Westbrook TF, Botas J, Zoghbi HY. RAS-MAPK-MSK1 pathway modulates ataxin 1 protein levels and toxicity in SCA1. Nature. 2013 Jun 20;498(7454):325-31. PMID: 23719381.

From the abstract: "We have developed a strategy to identify therapeutic entry points ... this approach, which integrates parallel cell-based and Drosophila genetic screens, ... revealed that downregulation of several components of the RAS-MAPK-MSK1 pathway decreases ATXN1 levels and suppresses neurodegeneration in Drosophila and mice."

Study includes fly assays relevant to fragile X-associated tremor ataxia syndrome

Todd PK, Oh SY, Krans A, He F, Sellier C, Frazer M, Renoux AJ, Chen KC, Scaglione KM, Basrur V, Elenitoba-Johnson K, Vonsattel JP, Louis ED, Sutton MA, Taylor JP, Mills RE, Charlet-Berguerand N, Paulson HL. CGG repeat-associated translation mediates neurodegeneration in fragile X tremor ataxia syndrome. Neuron. 2013 May 8;78(3):440-55. PMID: 23602499.

From the abstract: "In Drosophila, CGG repeat toxicity is suppressed by eliminating RAN translation and enhanced by increased polyglycine protein production. These studies expand the growing list of nucleotide repeat disorders in which RAN translation occurs and provide evidence that RAN translation contributes to neurodegeneration."

Thursday, September 5, 2013

Flies & infection.

Ben-Ami R, Watson CC, Lewis RE, Albert ND, Arias CA, Raad II, Kontoyiannis DP. Drosophila melanogaster as a model to explore the effects of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus strain type on virulence and response to linezolid treatment. Microb Pathog. 2013 Feb;55:16-20. PMID: 23232438.

Diaz L, Kontoyiannis DP, Panesso D, Albert ND, Singh KV, Tran TT, Munita JM, Murray BE, Arias CA. Dissecting the mechanisms of linezolid resistance in a Drosophila melanogaster infection model of Staphylococcus aureus. J Infect Dis. 2013 Jul;208(1):83-91. PMID: 23547139; PMCID: PMC3666140.


See also this post.

Fly model of Alzheimer's disease is used to explore links to copper homeostasis.

Lang M, Fan Q, Wang L, Zheng Y, Xiao G, Wang X, Wang W, Zhong Y, Zhou B. Inhibition of human high-affinity copper importer Ctr1 orthologous in the nervous system of Drosophila ameliorates Aβ42-induced Alzheimer's disease-like symptoms. Neurobiol Aging. 2013 Nov;34(11):2604-12. PMID: 23827522.

From the abstract:  "These results imply that copper may play a causative role in developing AD ... Early manipulation of brain copper uptake can have a great effect on Aβ pathology."

Fly cells and in vivo assays used in Huntingtons study.

Lu B, Al-Ramahi I, Valencia A, Wang Q, Berenshteyn F, Yang H, Gallego-Flores T, Ichcho S, Lacoste A, Hild M, Difiglia M, Botas J, Palacino J. Identification of NUB1 as a suppressor of mutant Huntington toxicity via enhanced protein clearance. Nat Neurosci. 2013 May;16(5):562-70. PMID: 23525043.

New fly model related to neurodegeneration--DRPLA fly model--linking neurodegeneration with autophagy

Charroux B, Fanto M. The fine line between waste disposal and recycling: DRPLA fly models illustrate the importance of completing the autophagy cycle for rescuing neurodegeneration. Autophagy. 2010 Jul;6(5):667-9. PMID: 20543566.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

High Level Panel Report of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda Released

 

At the beginning of June, the high level panel (HLP) co-chaired by Prime Minister David Cameron passed its recommendations to the UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon on the future of the global development agenda.

The report is a hugely ambitious one and has managed to target many of the most pertinent issues in development today and in the future, ranging from food security to economic development and water and sanitation to good governance. It has also crucially included a health specific goal of ensuring healthy lives.

The report has not only built on the millennium development goals (MDGs) but has also looked beyond them up to 2030. For NTDs, this is hugely important.

Great progress has been made in the areas targeted by the MDGs such as malaria and HIV/AIDs with notable successes in both. However, inevitably, those issues that were excluded from the process did suffer in terms of attention and funding, with NTDs a notable example from the health sector.

The Coalition is delighted to note that the report has called for NTDs to be included in the top-level health targets, alongside HIV and AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis. By giving NTDs this platform, we are hopeful that this will help to ensure millions of people can look forward to a future free from the burden that these diseases cause.

Looking ahead, we now await the next stage of this consultative process where the UN General Assembly will make a final decision on what the development agenda will look like beyond 2015 incorporating the sustainable development agenda. The report notes that for all the health goals, the indicators should be further disaggregated and the Coalition urges that this be done with precision, incorporating tangible targets beneath the overarching health goal.


Tuesday, May 28, 2013

NTDs at the World Health Assembly


Members of the UK Coalition against NTDs recently attended the World Health Assembly in Geneva to support the passing of a resolution on neglected tropical diseases. The resolution urges Member States to ensure country ownership of NTD programmes and supports an integrated approache to achieve the World Health Organisation NTD roadmap targets.

Read our statement to the World Health Assembly (presented by Sightsavers):

"Thank you, Chair, for the opportunity to address the World Health Assembly on behalf of Sightsavers who currently Chair the UK Coalition against neglected tropical diseases. We are pleased to share our support for this resolution and its recognition of the importance of NTDs to global health.

We welcome Dr Chan’s support for NTDs. This leadership is essential and needed more than ever to reach our ambitious control, elimination and eradication targets by 2020. WHO recognition that increased investment in NTDs has improved health and social well-being in many countries is valued- and we commend the political will that this resolution demonstrates.

This resolution represents a transformative milestone, continuing the positive momentum generated by the London Declaration and the WHO Road Map. We applaud the recognition that NTDs represent a major global health priority and that partnership, collaboration and integration must form the bedrock of the drive to end NTDs. This partnership must include endemic country governments, NGOs, donors and pharmaceutical companies.  

We look to WHO member states to lead the charge and ensure that the resolution’s implementation realises the need for cross-sectoral collaboration across planning, programme implementation monitoring and evaluation. Endemic countries must be supported to implement NTD programmes in an integrated, community-led way, targeting the poorest and most marginalised populations and delivering sustainable, lasting change.

The elimination of NTDs rests on consistent action to tackle their structural determinants. In particular, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services represent a major safeguard against many of the NTDs and should be promoted and supported as part of a cross-sectoral commitment to reaching the WHO’s 2020 targets.

We encourage endemic country Member States to bring together all relevant NTD stakeholders including health, water and education actors to drive forward cross-sectoral action.  NTD implementation plans must be aligned with wider health systems based on primary health care with strong community participation and cross-sectoral collaboration if they are to be sustainable.

As partners actively engaged in the implementation, capacity building and research of NTDs, the UK Coalition will continue to support a cross-sectoral approach- championing efforts to develop the diversity and breadth of stakeholders involved in NTDs.

NTDs are diseases of poverty; afflicting those who are subject to low access to water and sanitation services, poor or limited access to health care and overcrowded living conditions. NTD control and elimination will contribute to increased education outcomes, economic productivity and it will reduce social inequalities in health within and between countries. We have the tools and the knowledge of what needs to be done to end the suffering caused by NTDs. However our ambition to end these"

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Collaboration is the key to beating Neglected Tropical Diseases, says UK Coalition against NTDs


As highlighted in ‘Promises to Progress: The First Annual Report on the London Declaration on NTDs’ released today, the past year has seen many successes in the fight against Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) – a group of infectious diseases which affect more than one billion of the world’s poorest people.  Whilst celebrating these achievements, the UK Coalition against NTDs is also stressing the need for continued collaboration and integration in 2013 so progress can be made towards eliminating ten of these diseases by 2020.

Caroline Harper, Chair of the UK Coalition against NTDs, and Chief Executive of member NGO Sightsavers, says: “Many of the steps forward in the fight against NTDs over the past 12 months are the result of public and private partners working together.  One of the biggest achievements is the development of the London Declaration Scorecard as a new tool to unite all NTD partners.  It will drive collaborative working, outlining the responsibilities of the wide variety of partners involved. 

“This shift in the way we are working as a community gives me hope for the future.  However, it is essential that this continues, for example, with partners across different sectors including health, education, water and sanitation working together.  Only by pooling expertise, resources and research can NTD elimination become a reality.”

The ‘Promises to Progress’ Report and the WHO’s new NTD report ‘Sustaining the Drive to overcome the Global Impact of Neglected Tropical Diseases’, clarify the path forward whilst identifying the challenges in fighting these debilitating diseases.    

The UK government signified its commitment to NTDs by announcing £195m funding in January 2012 to support NTD control and elimination, protecting more than 140 million people. This includes support to make Guinea Worm the second human disease ever to be eradicated by 2015 and the provision of £10.6m to complete the global mapping of blinding NTD trachoma. 

“Thanks to support from DFID and other donors, significant progress has been made on NTD elimination and eradication agendas,” says Caroline Harper.  “Despite these success stories the NTD community still faces an annual funding gap of almost US$300 million which is preventing key elements of elimination programmes from being brought to scale.  We as a coalition are keen to see further donor commitments to ensure a positive future for the millions of people living at risk of these terrible diseases.”    

Wednesday, January 16, 2013


First Annual Report on the London Declaration on NTDs launched
 

Today marks the launch of a new report, From Promises to Progress. This report reflects on the 12 months since the London Declaration meeting last January and highlights successes in 2012 as well as goals and challenges for 2013.  

Alongside this report, the WHO has also launched its second NTD report, Sustaining the Drive to Overcome the Global Impact of Neglected Tropical Diseases, which discusses the path to achieving 2020 goals, identifies challenges and proposes plans to address each disease. Together, these reports offer a united way forward for the NTD community. The reports, press release and full version of the NTD scorecard are now available here.

Read the UK Coalition reponse to the reports  here