A new technology to determine the resistance or sensitivity to the rabies virus has been developed. Researchers at Texas A&M AgriLife were able to create a platform so that they could look further into how pathogens interact with human genes which will allow them to find genes that are either more sensitive or less sensitive to the rabies virus. The rabies virus is still a concern in today's world, it is the cause to nearly 55,000 deaths per year worldwide. Further understanding the way that genes are affected by this virus will greatly help the human race when it comes to the Rabies virus.
These researchers used "knockout mice" which are laboratory mice that have inactivated existing genes, these genes are replaced with an artificial piece of DNA. They took thousands of different stem cell lines carrying different mutations and separate them into neurons. With this they were able to see that genes that are known to be involved in rabies when mutated had different sensitivities to the rabies virus.
The experiment was set up so that about 100 embryonic stem cells were spread out on different plates, separating them into fully functioning neurons. The rabies virus was then added showing up as a florescent green color and monitored for several days. The results were astounding, some plates showed large amount of fluorescent green, while others showed very little. The plates that showed high amounts of green were more sensitive to the rabies virus, the ones showing little green were more resistant. The researchers were able to uncover 63 different host genes that will help with new pathways that can aide in the treatment of rabies. This is a remarkable discovery as it will help with other diseases such as tuberculosis, botulism, Ebola as well as many other disorders. This experiment can be used to help find resistances or sensitivities to almost any virus or bacteria.
Article:
Stem cells help researchers peg rabies resistance
Article 2:
Rabies
Interesting article! I was surprised as to the number of deaths from rabies. Stem cell research is progressing very rapidly. It is amazing that fluorescent light can display the severity of the disease in the gene. The fact that they can now find the different sensitivities of genes to certain diseases is going to be vital to the advancement of genetics. This will open many doors for vaccines and even cures to certain diseases or issues.
ReplyDeleteGreat topic! Working in the veterinary field, we deal with rabies often. I'm vaccinated against it, but still need boosters when my titers are low. This makes me wonder if perhaps they may need to revamp the vaccine in the future?
ReplyDeleteAlso take into consideration, in Atlantic and Ocean counties alone, the rate of rabies infection has been increasing over the years. While it is the skunk strain of the rabies virus that is infecting all types of mammals (racoons, feral cats, etc)... it is absolutely transmittable to people. The dog strain of rabies is irradiated in the US but not in other parts of the world. This therapy can greatly HELP those countries who aren't as fortunate as us.
I also posted (very early in the semester) an article in regards to a new rabies vaccine in development for animals. Check it out. :)