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Aging News & Information
Premature Aging Just Tip Iceberg in Worldwide Study
to Stop Free Radicals
Researchers to follow ‘smoking gun’ trail of
devastation caused to the body
 Oct. 10, 2007- A worldwide network of researchers
will soon begin a study into the “smoking gun” trail of devastation
caused to the body by substances known as “free radicals.” Premature
aging is a major result of these chemicals but they are also a major
culprit in cancer.
The study, headquartered at the University of
Leicester, is also expected to enhance the understanding of heart
disease, neurodegenerative disease and arthritis.
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“Most of us have heard of free radicals, and the
benefits of antioxidants which mop them up - even if it is just from
cosmetics commercials,” says Dr. Marcus Cooke, Senior lecturer in the
Radiation and Oxidative Stress Section at the University of Leicester.
“However, premature aging is just the tip of the
iceberg for their detrimental effects. Free radicals have been
implicated in many diseases. They are arguably the most prevalent cancer
causing chemicals known.
“Free radicals are highly reactive, and can cause
widespread damage to cells, and in particular DNA - the cell's
blueprint. Whilst it is very difficult to measure free radicals
themselves, we can measure this damage as a smoking gun signature of
free radical activity.
“Being able to accurately and sensitively measure
this damage will allow us to:
>> get a better understanding of the role
of this damage in disease
>> develop assays to determine disease
risk, by measuring cell damage
>> design strategies to prevent, or
encourage repair, of this damage, and hence prevent disease
“This research is particularly important because it
provides validated, non-invasive methods for assessing oxidative stress
in humans. Being non-invasive this is ideal for looking in young and old
patients.
“It will allow us to develop reference ranges to
identify what levels of damage in urine are normal, or abnormal, for
clinical application and to develop disease risk/prognostic tests.”
Dr. Cooke has been made Principal Investigator of a
project (Euros 45k) to undertake the Europe-wide validation of a urinary
biomarker of oxidative stress.
This is one of two studies where Leicester is
playing a lead role. Dr. Mark D. Evans is the Principal Investigator in
a Euros 60k study to better understand the sources of biomarkers of
oxidative stress in urine.
Both projects are spin-offs from a larger Euros 11
million EU Network of Excellence grant (Environment, Cancer, Nutrition
and Individual Susceptibility, ECNIS,
www.ecnis.org) of which Professor Peter Farmer, of the Department of
Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine, is the project lead at Leicester,
U.K.
(see link at end of story)
Dr Evans said: “These are projects addressing
fundamental questions that have been, for the most part, overlooked.
Being awarded these two complimentary projects, back-to-back gives us
the unique opportunity to address questions that we, and others in the
scientific community, have wanted to examine for many years."
Dr Cooke said: “This is a further reflection of the
international status of our group within the free radical and
bio-monitoring community. Through these projects, we are working closely
with many of the top research institutes worldwide.”
Dr Cooke said Leicester would act as the hub of a
worldwide network of more than 17 laboratories comparing methods of
measuring damage to DNA, in urine: “Once we have agreement between
methods, we can apply these methods to the study of DNA damage in
disease.
Editor’s Notes:
The funding has allowed the formation of the
European Standards Committee for Urinary (DNA) Lesion Analysis (ESCULA;
http://escula.org), which involves researchers from around the
world, including industrial collaborators.
This project incorporates worldwide collaborations between Leicester, Collegium Medicum in Bydgoszcz, Poland; DKFZ (the German Cancer
Institute), Heidelberg, Germany; Institute of Cancer Research Sutton,
U.K; Medical Institute of Bioregulation, Fukuoka, Japan; and Department
of Toxicogenetics, University of Leiden, The Netherlands.
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