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New York Science Philantrhopist, Jeffrey Epstein, Advances a genetic cure for Multiple Sclerosis
Boston Globe

NEW YORK/ A recent study at Oxford University in England and published in Annals of Neurology, has identified a gene that causes vitamin D deficiency and may also be the cause of multiple sclerosis. The study was partly funded by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, The Wellcome Trust and the support of science investor, Jeffrey Epstein and The Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation.

 Multiple sclerosis is a neurological disease caused by the decay of myelin, the fatty sheath that protects the axons around the brain and spinal cord. Myelin is an essential part of neural communication because it not only protects the nerve circuits but promotes efficient conductivity. Every year, approximately 400,000 people in the United States develop the disease and about 2.5 million people worldwide. Symptoms vary widely, ranging from mild tingling to blindness and paralysis.

 The cause of myelin damage is still hotly debated: some believe it to be an autoimmune disease while others cite viruses or the environment as the culprit. There is growing evidence however of a correlation between multiple sclerosis and vitamin D deficiency. Epidemiological studies also show that populations closer to the equator and the sun, have far fewer case of multiple sclerosis than populations closer to the north or south poles. Researchers at Oxford University have now taken this premise a step further by showing that vitamin D deficiency and therefore multiple sclerosis could have a genetic cause.

 The study examined the DNA of a group of people with multiple sclerosis who also have a large number of family members with the disease. All the DNA samples showed a distortion of the CYP27B1 gene which controls vitamin D levels in the body. And in a few rare cases where the DNA showed two copies of the distorted gene, the person was found to have a genetic form of rickets caused by vitamin D deficiency as well as multiple sclerosis.

 Despite this pivotal link, not all people with vitamin D deficiency develop multiple sclerosis. More research is needed to fully understand why only some people develop multiple sclerosis from vitamin D deficiency and why others don't. However, a distortion of the CYP27B1 gene is increasingly apparent in MS cases and it's possible that the gene generates other, yet undetected, complications that lead to the disease--such as genetically caused rickets.

 "Although vitamin D deficiency doesn't always cause MS, it unveiled a critical genetic source that could be causing other problems that lead to MS," Jeffrey Epstein asserted, whose foundation, advances science and medical research across the United States. "Even if we don't understand all of the implications of that gene's distortion, research can focus on gene therapy, and that will accelerate a cure."

The National Multiple Sclerosis Society which also helped fund the Oxford study provides more than 325 research grants worldwide and training fellowships on a broad range of topics from immunology, nerve tissue repair and myelin biology, clinical trials, rehabilitation, psychosocial issues and health care delivery.

 SOURCES:
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www.jeffreyepsteinscience.com


Jeffrey Epstein, New York Philanthropist, and the American Cancer Society Tackle Genetic Resistance to Drugs
Reuters

New York/ -- There are two common dilemmas in the treatment of cancer today: the first is that many therapies, including chemotherapies and radiation can debilitate healthy cells, to the point of killing the person before defeating the cancer. The second problem is that many cancer cells, responding to a prevention drug, can quickly mutate to become immune and more resilient.

Recent advances in circulating tumor cell technology (CTC) however, headed by Dr. Daniel Haber, Director at Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and Dr. Mehmet Toner, Director of the Center for BioMicroElectroMechanical Systems, address this mutation problem head on. Their research has also found support from The American Association of Cancer Research, the American Cancer Society and The Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation, which supports cutting edge medical research around the world.

CTC is a simple blood test to detect circulating cancer cells. Using a microfluidic chip, the test isolates cancer cells in the blood and allows them to be purified to analyze their genetic structure. Although many challenges remain in the test, the advantages have already made a huge impact on the treatment of cancer. To date, the test has identified more than 1,200 cancer-causing genetic mutations, the largest collection in the world. The findings have led to a host of mutation specific targeted therapies including the use of reversible and irreversible inhibitors, which have been highly effective in tumor reduction. For instance, Dr. Haber's team recently found that gastric adenocarcinomas, stemming from amplification of the growth factor receptor gene c-MET, only respond to novel inhibitors of the MET tyrosine kinase, leading to the initiation of a genotype-directed clinical trial.

Critically, the CTC test also addresses the major problem of secondary and tertiary genetic mutation to treatment. For while targeted inhibitors can be highly effective in tumor shrinkage, almost all cancer cells quickly mutate to be resistant, reversing tumor reduction within six to eight months. Furthermore, resistance becomes effective from the slightest evolution. For example, approximately half of non-small cell lung cancer cases with mutations to EGFR TK inhibitors became resistant from a single mutation of T790M within the EGFR kinase domain. Indeed, the bulkier methionine residue at position T790M hinders interaction with the inhibitor, preventing binding to the EGFR kinase domain while preserving catalytic activity. An analogous mutation (T315I) in the BCR-BL fusin kinase in chronic myelogenous leukemia cells renders them resistant to ABL kinase inhibitors, gleevec and dasatinib. Cont...

SOURCE:
www.jeffreyepsteinfoundation.com
www.jeffreyepsteinscience.com


Jeffrey Epstein, New York Financier, Advances Pivotal Findings in the Evolution of Cancer

The Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation, a science philanthropy foundation based in New York City, has helped finance the first mathematical model of how human cancer cells evolve, and more specifically, how they evolve to become immune to inhibitor drug therapy, a popular alternative to chemotherapy. Cellular resistance to inhibitor drug therapy is still a major challenge to finding a cure for cancer and the new mathematical model has led to a critical understanding of how to combat it.

The mathematical model was developed by Martin Nowak, Director of the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics at Harvard University and a team of post-doctoral students, Benjamin Allen and Ivana Bozic. Martin Nowak, a well-known evolutionist, is also the Professor of Mathematics and Biology at Harvard. Their research was conducted from the request of the Pathology and Oncology Department at John Hopkins University. The Department was trying to understand how the KRAS gene in colon cancer cells becomes activated after inhibitor drug therapy, making the cells resistant to treatment.

By developing a mathematical model of colon cancer cell growth during the treatment of an inhibitor drug, (which typically target a protein receptor), Nowak and his team, showed how the KRAS gene is not actually activated or ‘switched on’ from inhibitor drugs but rather a small percentage of colon cancer cells with an already activated KRAS gene are immune from the start and evolve to predominance as the other cancer cells are destroyed by the inhibitor drug.

The discovery was critical in changing the approach to inhibitor drug therapy. Instead of applying a single inhibitor drug, which can lead to a resilient minority to dominate, the Pathology and Oncology Department at John Hopkins are now exploring the necessity of providing a cocktail of drugs to block all colon cancer cell types: those with the activated KRAS gene and those without. The same approach is underway for other cancer types.

Much research still needs to be done: cocktail tolerance needs to be assessed, and cocktails will have to be specific to both cancer types and their minority cells that are known to be resistant.

The Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation is known for establishing the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics at Harvard University in 2003 with a $30 million dollar grant. In addition to funding cutting edge science research across the country, the foundation also supports education in many other fields. The Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation was founded in 2000 by Jeffrey Epstein, a New York financier and philanthropist. Jeffrey Epstein also sits on the board of the Mind, Brain and Behavior Committee at Harvard.

SOURCE:
www.jeffreyepsteinscience.com

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