UQ researchers identify a cellular pathway to reprogram the body’s immune system

https://www.news-medical.net/news/20230118/UQ-researchers-identify-a-cellular-pathway-to-reprogram-the-bodye28099s-immune-system.aspx

UQ researchers identify a cellular pathway to reprogram the body’s immune system

University of Queensland researchers have identified a pathway in cells that could be used to reprogram the body's immune system to fight back against both chronic inflammatory and infectious diseases.

Dr Kaustav Das Gupta and Professor Matt Sweet from UQ's Institute for Molecular Bioscience discovered that a molecule derived from glucose in immune cells can both stop bacteria growing and dampen inflammatory responses.

Dr Das Gupta said the finding is a critical step towards future therapeutics that train immune cells.

The effects of this molecule called ribulose-5-phosphate on bacteria are striking – it can cooperate with other immune factors to stop disease-causing strains of the E. coli bacteria from growing."

Dr Kaustav Das Gupta, UQ's Institute for Molecular Bioscience

"It also reprograms the immune system to switch off destructive inflammation, which contributes to both life-threatening infectious diseases such as sepsis as well as chronic inflammatory diseases like respiratory diseases, chronic liver disease, inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, heart disease, stroke, diabetes and dementia."

The research was carried out on a strain of E. coli bacteria that causes approximately 80 per cent of urinary tract infections and is a common cause of sepsis.

Animal trials were used to confirm the role of this pathway in controlling bacterial infections.

Professor Sweet said human cells were also used to demonstrate that ribulose-5-phosphate reduces the production of molecules that drive chronic inflammatory diseases.

"Host-directed therapies which train our immune systems to fight infections, will become increasingly important as more types of bacteria become resistant to known antibiotics," Professor Sweet said.

"A bonus is that this strategy also switches off destructive inflammation, which gives it the potential to combat chronic disease.

"By boosting the immune pathway that generates ribulose-5-phosphate, we may be able to give the body the power to fight back against inflammatory and infectious diseases – not one, but two of the major global challenges for human health."

Many current anti-inflammatory therapies target proteins on the outside of cells but because this pathway occurs inside cells, the researchers devised a new approach to target the pathway using mRNA technology.

Professor Sweet said the technology has shown promising results to deliver the enzyme that generates ribulose-5-phosphate into immune cells and has been filed as a provisional patent by UniQuest, UQ's commercialisation company.

The work involved international and national cooperation, including UQ researchers Professor David Fairlie and Professor Mark Schembri as key collaborators.

The research was published in the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Source:

The University of Queensland

Gupta, K.D., et al. (2023) HDAC7 is an immunometabolic switch triaging danger signals for engagement of antimicrobial versus inflammatory responses in macrophages. PNAS. doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2212813120.

U.S. hits credit limit. Amid fears of debt default, Treasury begins 'extraordinary' measures

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/treasury-is-starting-extraordinary-measures-to-avoid-debt-default-yellen-tells-lawmakers/ar-AA16wzoj

The Treasury's 'extraordinary measures' are meant to avoid a default as a debt ceiling fight looms in Congress.

WASHINGTON – The Treasury Department Thursday began “extraordinary measures” to pay the nation’s bills after reaching a limit on how much it's allowed to borrow, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congress.

While the United States has been in this position before, fears are rising over whether political brinkmanship will prevent the limit from being raised as it has in the past, risking an economic calamity.

The amount of time the Department can continue taking steps to avoid defaulting on the debt unless the $31.381 trillion limit is raised is uncertain, Yellen wrote in her letter to lawmakers. But the government is expected to be able to keep operating until at least June.

to keep the government operating until at least June.

“I respectfully urge Congress to act promptly to protect the full faith and credit of the United States,” she said.

Related:5 ways your finances could be impacted if the debt ceiling isn't raised by the deadline

What happens if the debt ceiling is it?:Here's what to expect if we reach debt limit.

Some House Republicans are insisting Democrats agree to spending cuts in exchange for Congress raising the debt limit.

“We cannot raise the debt ceiling,” Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., tweeted Tuesday. “Democrats have carelessly spent our taxpayer money and devalued our currency. They've made their bed, so they must lie in it.”

The White House insists the limit be raised “without conditions.”

“We're not going to negotiate on this,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday. “The basic duties of Congress is to deal with this issue.”

The debt ceiling refers to the maximum amount the U.S. government can spend on its existing obligations, including Social Security and military salaries. Voting to raise the debt ceiling would not be a vote to spend more money. Without a higher debt ceiling, the government would default on bills it already has incurred and has committed to pay.

Economists warn that defaulting on its debt – something the U.S. has never done – could cause financial markets to tank, hurting 401(k)s and other investments. A debt ceiling standoff in 2013 cost the economy 1% in GDP.

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Since 1960, Congress has acted 78 times to permanently raise, temporarily extend, or revise the definition of the debt limit – 49 times under Republican presidents and 29 times under Democratic presidents, according to the Treasury Department.

The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget called Thursday for Congress to raise the debt ceiling as quickly as possible.

“The debt ceiling is too important to turn into a game of chicken, and default should never be suggested by those with a fiduciary responsibility to govern the nation,” said Maya MacGuineas, the group’s president.

Politicians worried about the nation’s unsustainable borrowing should oppose legislation that would add to the debt while offering specific solutions to control financial obligations already on the books instead of threatening not to pay down debt that already has been incurred, MacGuineas said.

“An ideal solution would be for Congress to lift the debt ceiling as soon as possible and at the same time put in place measures to improve our fiscal trajectory,” such as specific policies or processes such as a fiscal commission, she said.

>>18174938

the biggest tragedy in world history. 5B+ jabbed… even more potentially exposed to the original spike complex.

tribulation is not to punish, it is to awaken

>>18174990

all take the journey.

>>18174956

> too dangerous for democracy.

'…livin' in the gangsta's paradise'