Research Program Are Helping People With Health Problems

Animal research at UCLA has shown that many lives have improved through their research program. The researchers have helped treatments and cures for many health problems.

The studies, using mice, have proven very helpful in the treatment of patients with metastatic breast cancer. Because of this research, it has been discovered that a new medication known as Herceptin has reduced some side effects caused by chemotherapy. Side effects, such as nausea, can be very disturbing to the patient, so it is good to find out that there is a medication that can be helpful.

An ongoing research using animals have been used at other hospitals as well as UCLA. UCLA oncology specialists have used specially bred mice to bring about a more effective radiation therapy for cancer. It is also hoped that newer methods will bring about minimal side effects which is caused by radiation. The mice used in this research are of a strain known for their longevity and are protected from infection so they will live long enough to be evaluated.

Researchers are pleased to have developed new insights into the biochemical causes of Schizophrenia. As research in this area continues, there are some promising results. Certain genes have been discovered that are the cause of this behavior disorder, and now scientists are working on treatment to counteract it.

It is hoped that through the discovery of the treatment for schizophrenia, people who have genes that cause other neurological and psychiatric disorders such as Alzheimer’s can be helped.

Having worked with children with heart problems at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles, it was interesting to me to learn that children with congenital heart defects may soon have an alternative to invasive open heart surgery.

The UCLA researchers are presently developing a heart valve that can be loaded into a catheter and inserted into a vein in a groin area. It is then guided into place and positioned to the precise location within the heart. Researchers are using pigs to test this device. They feel that pigs have a circulatory system that closely resembles that of humans.

Another advancement in the medical field is the seeking of new ways of preventing organ rejection in transplant recipients. Researchers have found a gene that helps a patient’s immune system from rejecting organs.

There have been cases where babies are born blind due to a missing gene. Because of this awareness, scientists are learning about blindness through gene therapy.

Another good news in the discovery of treatment for better health is the development of new vaccines that can combat Tuberculosis. Tuberculosis infects about 2 billion people in today’s world. By using guinea pigs that are highly susceptible to infection by the tuberculosis bacterium, many lives will be saved.

Source: UCLA News Room