Medical Bulletin 27/March/2023

Here are the top  medical news for the day:

Study shows Buprenorphine after nonfatal opioid overdose reduces risk of overdose death

Receiving medication for opioid use disorders, such as buprenorphine after an overdose, leads to lower mortality risk, according to a Rutgers study.

Rutgers researchers found that opioid-involved overdose deaths following nonfatal overdose events are largely preventable with buprenorphine medication for opioid use disorder.

The medication, approved by the Food and Drug Administration, is a highly effective treatment for opioid use disorder that can be prescribed or dispensed in physician offices. However, fewer than one in 20 individuals studied received buprenorphine after experiencing a nonfatal opioid overdose, according to the study.

Reference:

Buprenorphine After Nonfatal Opioid Overdose: Reduced Mortality Risk in Medicare Disability Beneficiaries,American Journal of Preventive Medicine,doi 10.1016/j.amepre.2023.01.037

VCP/p97 as a therapeutic target in KRAS-mutant pancreatic cancer: Study

Researchers have recently shown that proteins involved in the DNA damage response (DDR) are critical for KRAS-mutant pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cell growth in vitro. However, the CRISPR-Cas9 library that enabled the identification of these key proteins contained limited representation of DDR-related genes. In their recent study, researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill performed a comprehensive, DDR-focused CRISPR-Cas9 loss-of-function screen to further investigate the DDR in this context.

This screen identified valosin-containing protein (VCP) as an essential gene in KRAS-mutant PDAC cell lines. The team observed that genetic and pharmacologic inhibition of VCP limited cell growth and induced apoptotic death. To address the basis for VCP-dependent growth, they first evaluated the contribution of VCP to the DDR and found that loss of VCP resulted in accumulation of DNA double-strand breaks.

Reference:

VCP/p97, a pleiotropic protein regulator of the DNA damage response and proteostasis, is a potential therapeutic target in KRAS-mutant pancreatic cancer,Genes & Cancer,doi10.18632/genesandcancer.231

Saving more lung tissue in lung cancer surgeries supported in new study

The traditional treatment for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer is a lobectomy, where a surgeon eradicates cancerous tissue by removing an entire lung lobe. Yet, new research finds that select patients with early-stage disease who undergo a less invasive procedure have comparable outcomes, sparking hope for a less aggressive approach to lung cancer surgery.

The 10-year study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine and led by University of Chicago Medicine medical oncologist Everett Vokes adds to evidence that supports a new standard to preserve lung tissue in cancer patients whenever possible. In this study, 697 patients with peripheral stage 1 tumors less than 2 centimeters in size were randomly assigned to undergo a lobectomy or a sublobar resection, where part of the cancerous lobe is removed.

Reference:

Everett Vokes et al,JOURNAL New England Journal of Medicine, DOI 10.1056/NEJMoa2212083