28-Jul-2020: Dr. Harsh Vardhan participates in 2nd Empathy e-Conclave on “World Hepatitis Day” for creating awareness among parliamentarians
On the occasion of “World Hepatitis Day”, 2nd Empathy e-Conclave was organised with Sh. Om Birla, Speaker of Lok Sabha as the Chief Guest and Sh. Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union Minister of Law and Justice (who participated digitally) along with Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare as the guests of honour. The event was organised by Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) in collaboration with Airport Authority of India (AAI) for creating awareness among the parliamentarians.
At the outset, Dr. S. K. Sarin, Director, ILBS made a presentation and highlighted the importance of healthy liver and features of “Empowering People Against Hepatitis: The Empathy Campaign” by ILBS in partnership with AAI, undertaking several innovative initiatives across the country and reaching out to diverse populations.
Inaugurating the Conclave, Sh. Om Birla said, “It is my pleasure that I could participate in observing World Hepatitis Day for the second year in a row. In these trying times, when India along with the whole world is fighting the pandemic, it is our dedication and will that have enabled us to come together via this e-conclave. We are committed to the WHO goals of elimination of Hepatitis C and of reducing the burden of Hepatitis B by 2030. We, as the representatives of people of India, have a larger responsibility of spreading awareness in people about this disease so as to make this a Jan Andolan.”
Welcoming everyone to the Conclave, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, “The theme of this year’s conclave is “Keep your Liver Safe in COVID times”, which is very apt and important especially in these testing times. Under the guidance of Hon. Prime Minister, the pre-emptive and proactive measures taken have helped us control the spread of COVID-19 pandemic. While the mortality due to COVID-19 is approximately 2 to 3 % and most cases are largely asymptomatic, it is important to create awareness about the higher risk of both morbidity and mortality faced by people with co-morbidities like diabetes, obesity and fatty liver, chronic liver diseases. The Ayushman Bharat – Health and Wellness Centres are tirelessly working for screening of such conditions.”
Highlighting the issue to creating mass awareness and community mobilisation, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, “Hepatitis has become a global health problem. Viral Hepatitis is a very common and serious disease in India, but is virtually unknown to health care providers and the general public. Individuals with viral B & C hepatitis are at increased risk for liver cancer and chronic liver disease, yet an estimated 80 percent of persons with chronic viral hepatitis do not know that they are infected. The mantra to educating people is “Talk Test & Treat” and I appeal to all participants especially from industries, NGOs and other fraternity to support ILBS in this campaign. I request all my colleagues present here to act as a Champion/Ambassador in spreading awareness about the silent epidemics of Hepatitis B & C and help remove the stigma attached to these diseases.”
On the contribution of ILBS, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, “ILBS is also a WHO collaborative centre. It helped in the development of the National Viral Hepatitis Program which was launched on July 28, 2018. It is the largest program for Hepatitis B and C diagnosis and treatment in the world. We have made seminal progress in reaching out to the people and now every state has several model treatment units.”
Dr. Harsh Vardhan also congratulated Dr. S. K. Sarin and Team ILBS for their tireless efforts towards the fight against ongoing COVID – 19 pandemic by testing SARS-Cov-2 samples since the last four months. “It’s indeed been a matter of pride that the country’s first Plasma Bank was made functional at ILBS. Plasma warriors have been selfless contributors helping in improving Recovery Rate in India ”.
At the end of the event, all participants took a pledge of “Healthy Liver – Healthy India” by committing to care for the liver even during the COVID-19 pandemic and spread the same message to at least ten people. The event concluded with a vote of thanks.
Dr. Poonam Khetrapal, Regional Director, SEARO (WHO), Sh. Vijay Kumar Dev, Chief Secretary of Delhi, Sh. Arvind Singh, Chairman, AAI and other parliamentarians and audience also participated through digital platforms.
26-Jul-2019: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Thailand achieve Hepatitis B control: WHO
Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Thailand have become the first countries in WHO South-East Asia Region to achieve Hepatitis B control, with prevalence of the deadly disease dropping to less than one per cent among five-year-old children.
“Unwavering determination to reach every child, everywhere, every time, with life-saving Hepatitis B vaccines through childhood immunisation, has made this achievement possible. These successes are a testimony of the countries’ commitment to health of their people, and the untiring efforts being made by health workers and communities for the well-being of children,” said Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia.
The Expert Panel for Verification of Hepatitis B Control in WHO South-East Asia Region recommended verification of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Thailand, after reviewing childhood immunisation data that showed consistent over 90% coverage with Hepatitis B vaccine doses provided during infancy for past many years. Studies conducted among five-year old children in these countries corroborated the high immunisation rates, and that Hepatitis B prevalence in these four countries among children was less than one per cent.
Children across 11 countries of WHO South-East Asia Region get three doses of Hepatitis B containing vaccines in their first year of life under national immunisation programme. Eight countries also administer Hepatitis B vaccine birth dose crucial to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the disease.
Preventing Hepatitis B infection in infancy substantially reduces chronic infections and cases of liver cancer and cirrhosis in adulthood.
Hepatitis B control through immunisation gained momentum in the WHO South-East Asia Region with countries endorsing it as a target by 2020, as part of the South-East Asia Regional Vaccine Action Plan.
WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Hepatitis in the Region, Mr. Amitabh Bachchan’s, advocacy added impetus to efforts against hepatitis
These achievements come days before the World Hepatitis Day which focuses this year on ‘Invest in eliminating hepatitis.’
Hepatitis can be easily prevented and also treated. Member countries must continue to spread awareness about Hepatitis and scale up other preventive measures such as safe injection, safe blood and infection prevention and control.
Though preventable, viral hepatitis kills 410 000 people in WHO South-East Asia Region every year, mostly people in their productive years. Nearly 90 million people suffer from chronic liver disease that is driving rates of liver cancer and cirrhosis in the Region.
14-Jun-2020: New drug for amoebiasis in the offing
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Entamoeba histolytica is the third-leading cause of morbidity and mortality due to parasitic disease in humans. It causes amoebiasis or amoebic dysentery, which is highly prevalent in developing countries. A team of researchers from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has developed new drug molecules against the protozoa that causes amoebiasis.
This protozoan is anaerobic or micro-aerophilic in nature such that it cannot survive high concentrations of oxygen. However, during infection, it faces a high surge of oxygen inside the human body. The organism synthesizes large amounts of cysteine to counter oxidative stress.
This pathogen deploys cysteine as one of the essential molecules in its defence mechanism against high oxygen levels. Entamoeba expresses two crucial enzymes for synthesizing cysteine. Researchers from JNU has characterized and determined the molecular structures of both these crucial enzymes. “We have also successfully screened for potent inhibitors for one of the enzymes, O-acetyl L-serine sulfhydrylase (OASS). Some of these inhibitors can check the growth of this organism with high efficacy,” said Prof. Samudrala Gourinath, lead researcher, School of Life Sciences, JNU, while speaking with India Science Wire.
“Cysteine biosynthesis is crucial for the survival of E. histolytica and may be similar protozoan parasites. These can be targeted by inhibiting their pathways, which we have successfully done. The identified molecules can be lead to the development of drug molecules” said Dr Gourinath.
The research team includes Sudhaker Dharavath, Ramachandran Vijayan, Khushboo Kumari, and Priya Tomar. The study has been published in the journal European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.
9-Jun-2020: New study may help develop therapeutics for tongue cancer
A team of researchers from IIT Madras, Cancer Institute, Sree Balaji Dental College and Hospital, Chennai, and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru have identified a specific microRNA (miRNAs) called ‘miR-155’ that is over-expressed in tongue cancer. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small Ribo Nucleic Acid. They are non-coding RNAs involved in the regulation of a variety of biological and pathological processes, including the formation and development of cancer. This finding is important in that molecular strategies can potentially be devised to manipulate miR-155 expression to develop therapeutics for tongue cancer.
The main function of miRNA is to silence the expression of the other genes. If the silence oncogenes then the cancer will be suppressed. On the other hand, if they suppress tumour suppressor gene, the cancer will progress. Accordingly, miRNA can act as oncogenes or tumour suppressor genes depending on what they act upon. “There are only two therapeutic approaches that can be possible. If the miRNA has been shown to work as oncogenes, then one wants to inhibit; this is known as miRNA inhibition therapy. If the miRNA acts as tumour suppressor genes, then you want to introduce to the system so that tumour can be suppressed; such therapy is called miRNA replacement therapy,” said, Prof. Karunagaran, Head, Department of Biotechnology, IIT Madras, while speaking with India Science Wire. miRNA manipulation is being combined with conventional cancer treatment methods such as chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and immunotherapy, and the study reported by collaborative team can enable such emerging therapeutics for cancer.
Elaborating about this research, Prof. Karunagaran said, “miRNA is already known to be an oncogene in tongue cancer and has been found to play important roles in many cancers, in carcinogenesis (start of cancer), malignant transformation and metastasis – the development of secondary cancer. The miRNAs associated with cancer are called ‘Oncomirs’.”
Further, Prof. Karunagaran added, “Many of the oncomirs affect cancer by suppressing the performance of tumour-suppressing agents that can prevent growth and spread of cancer cells, although some Oncomirs are also involved in preventing tumour growth itself. It is, therefore, important to identify the types of miRNAs that are associated with both suppression and proliferation of cancer cells.”
miRNAs affect cancer growth through inhibiting or enhancing the functions of certain proteins. For example, it has been shown that a type of protein called ‘programmed cell death 4’ (pdcd4) helps in stopping cancer cells from growing and spreading. Inhibition of this protein has been known to cause spread of oral, lung, breast, liver, brain and colon cancers.
The team has gone beyond showing the connection between miR-155 and pdcd4. They have also shown that knocking out miR-155 causes death of cancer cells, arrests the cell cycle, and regresses tumour size in animal models and reduces cell viability and colony formation in bench top assays.
Adding on, Shabir Zargar, research scholar said, “While it has been long suspected that miR-155 downregulates pdcd4, there have, hitherto, been no evidence for such interaction.”
The collaborative team headed by Prof. Karunagaran has shown that miR-155 is overexpressed in tongue cancer cells and tongue tumour tissues. This ‘overactivity’ of miR-155 hinders the action of pdcd4, which, in turn, causes spread and growth of cancer of the tongue.
“Our study has shown that the restoration of pdcd4 levels through molecular manipulation of miR-155 can lead to potential therapeutic developments for cancers, especially of tongue cancer,” said Prof. Karunagaran.
The research findings have been published in the journal Molecular and Cellular Biology. The research team included Shabir Zargar, Vivek Tomar, Vidyarani Shyamsundar, Ramshankar Vijayalakshmi, Kumaravel Somasundaram, and Prof. Karunagaran.
13-Mar-2020: Scientists pave way for potential new therapy for tongue cancer
A new therapy for tongue cancer could be in the offing, with a team of scientists at the Department of Biotechnology’s Hyderabad-based Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics coming out with a new insight into the mechanism by which an anti-cancer protein helps in the development of cancer when it mutates.
Human cells carry a protein called p53. It is very helpful as it controls several fundamental processes including cell division and repair of damaged DNA. It functions by binding directly to DNA leading to the production of proteins needed for regular cellular functions as well as effectively blocking cancer development.
However, its ability to prevent cancer is significantly compromised, if it mutates. More importantly, recent studies have reported that some specific and common mutated p53 forms even activate cancer growth.
In a new study, scientists at CDFD have identified rare p53 mutant forms unique to Indian tongue cancer and the likely means by which these mutant p53 cause cancer. For this, they collected tongue cancer samples from post-surgery patients and screened them for modifications in a gene called TP53. The gene is a sequence of nucleotides (building blocks) in the DNA that code for the production of the p53 protein.
Further, by using state of the art technologies, they identified target genes of the mutant p53 protein. Of these, a gene called SMARCD1 was the most prominent. SMARCD1 encodes a protein that along with several other proteins constitutes a multi-protein complex involved in changing the structure of DNA enabling the production of proteins from genes. Surprisingly, the scientists found that SMARCD1 was an exclusive target of mutations observed in Indian tongue cancer patients. Further studies showed the ability of SMARCD1 to increase cancerous features in tongue cancer cells.
Notably, this is the first time that SMARCD1 has been shown to be a possible driver of any form of cancer. The leader of the study team, Dr. M.D. Bashyam of the Laboratory of Molecular Oncology at the Centre said, “The observations made in this study assume significance since they reveal a new and probable mechanism by which mutant p53 proteins encourage cancer development. The results of the study can be employed to develop therapies to treat tongue cancer, a common debilitating cancer in India”.