Low-dose ketamine treats depression, but is it safe?
“It contains an active portion of the ketamine have more information for psychiatrists to decide
molecule, whose antidepressant properties are whether ketamine can be safely prescribed for
not well understood yet.” suicidal patients and for patients who do not
Among the researchers working to understand
Kabbaj
respond to classic antidepressant treatment,” he said.
those properties are Mohamed Kabbaj and his Ketamine was developed in the 1960s as an
Department of Biomedical Sciences assistants. anesthetic to replace PCP, which gave patients
Ketamine is a fast-acting substitute for people
hallucinations and other so-called “dissociative
who get no depression relief from Prozac-type effects.” In the last decade, psychiatrists
medicines. Some have called it a wonder drug, but discovered that ketamine in low doses also
the National Institutes of Health still wonders exactly worked remarkably fast to relieve the symptoms
how it works. It has awarded Kabbaj nearly $2 of depression and reverse thoughts of suicide.
Earlier this year, people with depression and million. Over the next five years, he will investigate anxiety received welcome news when the Food whether ketamine is addictive when administered treating depression and bipolar disorder with
and Drug Administration approved a fast-acting in low doses; how it affects females and males repeated infusions of ketamine,” Kabbaj said.
nasal spray called esketamine. But farther down differently; and how it interacts with alcohol. “But no studies have been done to look into the
in the New York Times story was this sentence:
“Clinics have popped up around the country
“Hopefully, by the end of these five years we’ll
safety of these treatments.”
A step closer for victims of spinal cord injury
period of time following a spinal cord injury.”
Ren’s lab found that the body’s effort to clear
explaining why so much of the damage caused by debris at the site of the injury inadvertently
a severe spinal cord injury takes place long after stimulates fibrotic components, leading
the initial trauma. to the buildup of scar tissue and chronic
One of the body’s own natural immune
inflammation. Her finding is important in
In Nature Neuroscience, Professor of
Biomedical Sciences Yi Ren came closer to
system responses may be to blame. helping scientists solve the critical problem Ren
mechanisms involved in clearing debris from the
“Uncontrolled inflammation is one of the most of figuring out how to promote neural injury site will lead researchers toward new ways
important pathological events in the secondary regeneration during the healing process. for accident victims to regain lost functional ability
injury cascade,” Ren said. “It persists for a long Ren hopes that this explanation of the
without many of the unwanted side effects.
Taking out the trash – and other cancer news
as protein waste). It’s part of the cell survival
process.
But how, exactly, does this process work?
“Typically, proteins inside the cell are
produced to fulfill a certain function, and once
Proteasomes – tiny structures within a cell
that dispose of the waste – are the answer.
“They’re kind of like the cell’s recycling center
by overproducing proteasome assembly
chaperones, which build more proteasomes
to meet the cancer cells’ needs. These fleets of
for proteins,” Tomko said. They also may be the diligent proteasome cleanup crews keep the
answer for new clues about cancer treatment. cancer cells from self-destructing and allow
In Cell Reports, Tomko published a
groundbreaking study in which he and his team
them to propagate more effectively.
By understanding signaling mechanisms that
that function is fulfilled, focused on the signaling mechanisms involved activate proteasome assembly, Tomko hopes to
they are no longer needed in proteasome assembly. His work is funded by also find ways to interfere with that signal. An
and need to be removed,” the National Institutes of Health. obvious advantage would be if such interference
said Assistant Professor
of Biomedical Sciences
Because cancer cells produce large amounts
of damaged proteins, they compensate
condemned a cancer cell to die at the hands of
its own toxic proteins.
Robert Tomko Jr.
Tomko Jr.
5
All cells – even the ones with cancer – need
a way to throw out the trash (otherwise known