UCSF scientists identify drugs that could help treat symptoms

UCSF scientists - using a new, automated system for quickly screening drugs for their effect on human cells - have identified eight compounds that may help treat symptoms of multiple sclerosis.

All of the compounds have federal approval for treatment of other conditions; one of the compounds is an antihistamine. That compound, called clemastine, already is being tested in clinical trials for treatment of multiple sclerosis.

In patients with multiple sclerosis, the immune system attacks myelin, the insulation that surrounds the wire-like connections between nerve cells that allows them to communicate. Protecting and replacing that myelin is a key goal of treatment for multiple sclerosis.

The new screening platform designed by UCSF scientists uses lab-made "micropillars" - extremely thin, conical threads - that are lined with thousands of cells that are precursors to cells that make myelin. The scientists applied about 1,000 compounds to the micropillar platform, looking for drugs that would cause the precursor cells to mature into cells that make myelin, or even better, to start actually producing myelin.

The scientists will now examine why those compounds seem to work - they all had similar biological effects on the precursor cells - and whether they hold up in further study in human tissue and subjects.

A paper on the new platform and the screening results was published online July 6 in the journal Nature Medicine.

- Erin Allday


Radiation risk can outweigh benefits

Doctors increasingly use CT scans to screen for brain bleeding following head trauma, but UC Davis researchers say that for most cases in children, the risk of radiation exposure may outweigh the scans' benefits.

If children lose consciousness following head trauma, but have no other symptoms, such as vomiting or cognitive issues, they're at low risk of serious traumatic brain injury, researchers found in a nationwide study of 40,000 kids evaluated for head trauma.

Since serious injury isn't common in those with few symptoms, they concluded it's unnecessary to perform CT scans, whose radiation slightly increases children's risk of developing cancer in the long run.

For small children, radiation from one CT scan can be equivalent to 140 chest X-rays. Doctors are advised to weigh the severity of the head trauma with exposing the child's head to such radiation. Another alternative is for medical professionals to monitor a child for a few hours for symptoms before calling for a CT scan, UC Davis researchers propose.

In the U.S., nearly a half million youngsters visit emergency rooms for head trauma annually.

The findings were published in JAMA Pediatrics July 7.

- Greta Kaul


Compound shows promise in mice

A team of scientists led by UCSF has found a compound that, in mice, appears to protect against cellular degeneration that causes both blindness and Type 1 diabetes.

Surprisingly, the compound, called KIRA6, inhibits a molecular pathway that previously has been known to boost cellular health. When cells are under stress, a "life-or-death" response kicks in, during which cells are given extra resources to work properly, or killed if they're still not functioning.

As part of this response, one pathway promotes cell survival while a parallel pathway is associated with cell death. So scientists weren't expecting the KIRA6 compound, which inhibits the cell survival pathway, to stop cell death and protect cellular function in both blindness and diabetes.

Plus, scientists were excited to see the compound have protective effects on two unrelated conditions.

Further testing of KIRA6 will be needed to test its effect in human cells. The research in mice was published Thursday in the journal Cell.

- Erin Allday


Young adults on parents' policies may lose some privacy

Many young adults don't realize that as they gain coverage on their parents' health insurance policies under the federal health law, they may be losing some of their privacy.

A new UCSF health policy report has found that privacy violations have increased now that adult children can stay on their parents' health coverage until they reach age 26 under the Affordable Care Act.

In the report, the UCSF authors interviewed 31 health care administrators, health policy experts, adolescent health clinicians, advocates and insurance representatives over the phone.

They found health insurance companies automatically and routinely send forms to the primary policyholder that include information such as the type and time of service a patient received. In other words, parents may be informed of their child's visit to receive substance abuse, mental health or reproductive services even though that "child" may be an adult who no longer lives with them.

The paper calls for this conflict to be resolved. While the authors don't recommend a single strategy, they make some suggestions and list the pros and cons of several of them.

The policy paper was published last month by the UCSF Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, with funding from Atlantic Philanthropies.

- Victoria Colliver