Down-doobie-doo-down-down

Enjoy the good news: All four Covid-19 metrics* in Georgia were down last week, and only 103 people died from the coronavirus. That’s not to minimize those 103 deaths by any stretch, but it’s good to see the number down from mid-January, when 769 Georgians died in one week.

Perspective: At its peak, the virus was equivalent to the crash of more than four 737s full of Georgians every week.

* Cases, hospitalizations, ICU admissions, and deaths

Breaking walls

A lot of new treatments these days involve attacking bad cells (of various kinds) indirectly. The latest example comes out of Australia, where researchers went after pancreatic cancer. But instead of just targeting the tumors directly, they went after the tough layer of scar tissue that surrounds pancreatic cancer cells — fibroblasts.

Realizing that those fibroblasts are built by “helper cells,” that’s what they attacked.

It seems that the anti-arthritis drug sulfasalazine inhibits a protein called SLC7A11 — which is exactly what those helper cells need to build their walls. Using the sulfasalazine meant stopping the wall-building. And that meant it’s easier to break in and kill the tumor. (And yes, of course they used nanomedicine. Because that’s what you do.)

They expect clinical trials to begin quickly.

“Using an approved drug has allowed us to get this piece into the clinic much faster than what would be the case if we started from scratch with drug development.”

And then there’s the University of Minnesota

Where their solution is an engineering one: They’re making genetic changes to T cells so they’re better at mechanically breaking through the barriers of solid tumors.

The researchers are working to create cells that are good at overcoming different kinds of barriers. When these cells are mixed together, the goal is for groups of immune cells to overcome all the different types of barriers to reach the cancer cells.

Bringing back MAOIs — for cancer

Want to put some cancer immunotherapy into overdrive? Who wouldn’t? You know what could do the trick? MAOIs. Yep, the old-school antidepressants seem to be able to boost the power of checkpoint inhibitors (according to UCLA immunologists).

How? Some tumors use the MAO-A protein as a barrier — a way to make it harder for T cells to kill them. Reduce the protein (with that MAO inhibitor) and the T cells work better. Combine the MAOI with anti–PD-1 drugs … bam. And because MAOIs are already approved, it could technically be used right away.

If an anti–PD-1 drug could be combined with an inexpensive MAOI drug, “that’s a real advantage.”

81’s as good as 325

The latest aspirin study: Duke cardiologists found that overall, taking a low-dose aspirin (81mg) was just as good as taking a full dose (325mg) for people with coronary heart disease. Taking 81mg reduce all-cause deaths a bit, while taking 325mg reduced cardiac “events.”

So, as the lead researcher said, “But overall, there was no difference.”

The answer to the meningitis question

If you lie awake wondering “What’s the best way to treat bacterial meningitis?” we’ve got good news. The answer seems to be “corticosteroids and antibiotics.”

Treating bacterial meningitis early with dexamethasone, a corticosteroid hormone that is effective at reducing inflammation, along with antibiotics, leads to full recovery in the shortest time, according to a recently published case report by researchers from Hackensack Meridian Jersey Shore University Medical Center and the Cleveland Clinic.

Now you can rest easy.

Zapping the BP down

What happens when drugs won’t lower someone’s blood pressure? You find something to zap them with, of course. Why not ultrasound?

Cardiologists in New York did that, using “brief pulses of ultrasound delivered to nerves near the kidney” — and whatd’yaknow, it worked.

Daytime blood pressure after two months had dropped 8 points compared to a 3-point drop in patients who were treated with a sham procedure. Nighttime blood pressure decreased by an average of 8.3 points in the treatment group versus 1.8 points in the sham group.