Study Results

Genomics research identifies childhood cancer genes
With the introduction of next-generation sequencing techniques, research now has the ability to identify disease causing genes. In fact, Dr. Nada Jabado and her team have been able to determine which mutations are driving the growth and spread of disease. Focusing on pediatric cancers, they have uncovered genetic abnormalities that cause tumor cells to grow, or even, become resistant to treatment in pediatric glioblastoma, a deadly brain tumour.

This discovery has the potential to lead to more tailored treatment for this cancer. Using these technologies, we will soon be able to better understand the origin of several diseases including other types of cancer, and the reason(s) for their progression or resistance to therapies. Vast amounts of clinical, biological and sequencing data are now being generated by an expanding number of research efforts on a scale that we could only dream of a few years ago. These endeavors are expected to bring a major shift in clinical practice in terms of diagnosis and understanding of diseases, ultimately enabling personalized medicine based on one's genome and/or the genome of the tumour.

January 26, 2012

Breakthrough Treatment Found to be Successful for Patients with Blocked Arteries
The world's first clinical trial of a new treatment for patients with blocked coronary arteries has shown the novel approach to be safe with promising success rates.

Drug policy and the public good
Illicit drugs constitute a concrete threat to the public good, not only because they have a negative effect on public health, but also because they can generate crime, disorder and other social problems. Actual policies and programs to improve these problems have various levels of effectiveness. However, policy initiatives to prevent or reduce the harms caused by illicit drugs are often only minimally informed by scientific evidence. Too often, the reasoning behind decisions is of a non-scientific nature, focused more on what the public and policy-makers consider of value.

Dr. Benedikt Fischer, a CIHR-funded researcher, was part of an international team who reviewed relevant evidence and outlined the likely effects of fuller implementation of existing interventions to draw attention to the drug-control policies available to governments, published as part of a featured article series on 'Addiction' in The Lancet. Evidence-based interventions that help making drugs less available, prevent drug use initiation in young people, or reduce violence in drug markets, for examples, are increasingly being identified. Dr. Fisher's work constitutes one of many important opportunities that exist for science to guide the selection of policies that maximize the public good.

Dr. Benedikt Fischer, CIHR/PHAC Research Chair in Applied Public Health, is a Professor and Director of the Centre for Applied Research in Mental Health and Addictions (CARMHA) at Simon Fraser University's Faculty of Health Sciences and as a Senior Scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. Fischer specializes in psychoactive substance use and public health.

January 25, 2012

Identification of molecule has the potential to increase effectiveness of HIV therapy treatment
Dr. Tania Watts, a CIHR-funded scientist, and her research team have identified a molecule in white blood cells that could be used to track the effectiveness of HIV treatment. The findings of her analysis, which have been published in the prestigious Journal of Experimental Medicine, have been discovered while the team was investigating the immune system and what happens when chronic infection, such as HIV, sets in. These results demonstrate the importance this molecule plays in limiting HIV infection.  Dr. Watts hopes that the findings will have the potential to provide more effective treatments to those who are infected with the HIV virus.

January 18, 2012

A new discovery links menstrual pain and cardiovascular diseases
Dr. Michel A. Fortier, professor at Université Laval, studies uterine function at the cellular and molecular level in the context of fertility and early pregnancy. In the course of his CIHR funded project on menstrual disorders, he has made an important discovery about prostaglandins – locally-acting hormones that are essential for female reproduction, yet also responsible for inflammation, pain, fever and headaches. Prostaglandins have been the target for treatment with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin and ibuprofen for over a century. One such prostaglandin, PGF2α, is responsible for blood vessel constriction that can lead to menstrual pain and even stroke and heart attacks. While looking for the biological pathway that produces PGF2α in the uterus, Dr. Fortier and his colleagues discovered that the enzyme known as "human aldose reductase" plays an important role in the process of creating PGF2α. The discovery of this enzyme opens up the possibility of entirely new ways to treat not only menstrual pain, but also cardiovascular complications including stroke and heart attack.

Recognizing the importance of this discovery, Dr. Joy Johnson, Scientific Director of the CIHR Institute of Gender and Health, highlights: "It is fascinating that a study of uterine function could lead to new ways to treat cardiac disorders. This research is a testament to the importance of considering the role of biological sex-based factors in influencing seemingly unrelated health issues."

January 17, 2012

Results from a study on youth with government care experience
The Ministry of Child and Family Development of British Columbia commissioned the McCreary Centre Society to conduct an in-depth study of almost 1000 youth who reported ever being in government care. Elizabeth Saewyc, Applied Public Health Chair in Youth Health and Research Director for the Centre, was involved in guiding this research. The study led to the publication of a community report entitled "Fostering Potential: The lives of BC youth with government care experience," on December 13, 2011. While it was found these youth experience much higher rates of trauma and challenges in their lives, as has been documented by many other studies, the research tried to understand potential protective factors that were linked with better health. No similar study had looked at nutrition and food security issues among youth in care. The study examined different combinations of risk and protective factors that affect these young people's intentions and chances of completing high school and/or post-secondary education. The influence of other protective factors was also studied, for example: sports involvement, volunteering, meaningful extracurricular activities, school connectedness, and having caring adults to talk to about problems. Finally, the study analyzed how these factors were associated with better health outcomes, including lower rates of suicide attempts and self-harm. To summarize, teenagers who go through the BC government care system are facing many difficult challenges but, with support from peers and adults, they can experience better health outcomes.

The McCreary Centre Society is a non-governmental non-profit youth health research organization in British Columbia. The Centre conducts the province-wide BC Adolescent Health Survey every five years among more than 29,000 students in grades 7 to 12. This is one of the largest, regularly recurring surveys of youth health in Canada.