Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Useful molecular garbage bags


Linda and Murphy, the Prince of Darkness

Clemson University is the second largest university in South Carolina, and the hardest to get into.  This does not place it in the top dozen universities academically, however, nor even the top hundred.  You usually associate Clemson with ferocious football teams and pretty cheer leaders, not with scientific research.  Nevertheless . . .

One of the most desired results in the battle against ovarian cancer would certainly be a means to detect it early.  I have written about this many times, but with precious little good news to report.  Thus it is with an internal “whoopee” that I can report that Clemson scientists may have made a breakthrough.  You probably know that cells excrete little “garbage bags”, called exosomes, which they require the bloodstream to eliminate.  Well, these Clemson folks seem to have determined that, in early OVCA victims, these exosomes contain scraps of telltale RNA and other stuff that give the presence of tumor, or even incipient tumor, away.  If so, and if a feasible test can be developed, this would be a huge step forward.  Read their little ditty for the details.

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