Surprising New Role
for Lungs: Making Blood, University of California San Francisco, Nicholas Weiler, 22 Mar 2017.
“Using video microscopy in the living mouse lung, UC San
Francisco scientists have revealed that the lungs play a previously
unrecognized role in blood production. As reported online March 22, 2017, in
Nature, the researchers found that the lungs produced more than half of the
platelets – blood components required for the clotting that stanches bleeding –
in the mouse circulation.”
“In another surprise finding, the scientists also identified
a previously unknown pool of blood stem cells capable of restoring blood
production when the stem cells of the bone marrow, previously thought to be the
principal site of blood production, are depleted.”
“’This finding definitely suggests a more sophisticated view
of the lungs – that they’re not just for respiration but also a key partner in
formation of crucial aspects of the blood,’” said pulmonologist Mark R. Looney,
MD, a professor of medicine and of laboratory medicine at UCSF and the new
paper’s senior author. “’What we’ve observed here in mice strongly suggests the
lung may play a key role in blood formation in humans as well.’” Please go here for the whole story.
Breakthrough
discovery may make blood test feasible for detecting cancer, Purdue University
“Doctors may soon be able to detect and monitor a patient’s
cancer with a simple blood test, reducing or eliminating the need for more
invasive procedures, according to Purdue
University
“W. Andy Tao, a professor of biochemistry and member of the
Purdue University Center for Cancer Research and colleagues identified a series
of proteins in blood plasma that, when elevated, signify that the patient has
cancer. Their findings were published in the early edition of the Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences.”
“Tao’s work was done with samples from breast cancer
patients, but it is possible the method could work for any type of cancer and
other types of diseases. The work relies on analysis of microvesicles and
exosomes in blood plasma.” Please go here for the whole story.
Back When I Knew Everything - Aaron Tippin
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