The Best-Laid Schemes of Mice and Medical Researchers…

This is Dr. Ellen Heber-Katz. She’s an internationally-renowned immunologist and regeneration biologist, but her perhaps greatest discovery was accidental.

Unlike in Robert Burns’ famous poem, this one has a happy ending!

But it did involve the best-laid schemes of mice and medical researchers, and how they did indeed “gang gagly“ (or in the English translation, “go awry”).

How it started…

Back in 1995, she was conducting autoimmune research, and doing a mouse study. Her post-doc assistant was assigned to punch holes in the ears of mice that had received an experimental treatment, to distinguish them from the control group.

However, when the mice were later checked, none of them had holes (nor even any indication there ever had been holes punched)—the experiment was ruined, though the post-doc swore she did her job correctly.

So, they had to start from scratch in the new year, but again, a second batch of mice repeated the trick. No holes, no wounds, no scarring, not disruption to their fur, no damage to the cartilage that had been punched through.

In a turn of events worthy of a superhero origin story, they discovered that their laboratory-made autoimmune disease had accidentally given the mice super-healing powers of regeneration.

In the animal kingdom, this is akin to a salamander growing a new tail, but it’s not something usually found in mammals.

Read: A New Murine Model for Mammalian Wound Repair and Regeneration

How it’s going…

Dr. Heber-Katz and colleagues took another 20 years of work to isolate hypoxia-inducible factor-1a (HIF-1a) as a critical molecule that, if blocked, would eliminate the regenerative response.

Further, a drug (which they went on to patent), 1,4-dihydrophenonthrolin-4-one-3-carboxylic acid (1,4-DPCA), chemically induced this regenerative power:

See: Drug-induced regeneration in adult mice

Another 5 years later, they found that this same drug can be used to stimulate the regrowth of bones, too:

An injectable hydrogel-formulated inhibitor of prolyl-4-hydroxylase promotes T regulatory cell recruitment and enhances alveolar bone regeneration during resolution of experimental periodontitis

And now…

The research is continuing. Here’s the latest, a little over a month ago:

Epithelial–mesenchymal transition: an organizing principle of mammalian regeneration

Regrowing nerves has also been added into the list of things the drug can do.

What about humans?

Superpowered mice are all very well and good, but when can we expect this in humans?

The next step is testing the drug in larger animals, which she hopes to do next year, followed eventually by studies in humans.

Read the latest:

Regrowing nerves and healing without scars? A scientist’s career-long quest comes closer to fruition

Very promising!

The Three Rs To Boost Thyroid-Related Energy Levels

This is Dr. Izabella Wentz. She’s a doctor of pharmacology, and after her own diagnosis with Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, she has taken it up as her personal goal to educate others on managing hypothyroidism.

Dr. Wentz is also trained in functional medicine through The Institute for Functional Medicine, Kalish Functional Medicine, and the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine. She is a Fellow of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, and holds certifications in Medication Therapy Management as well as Advanced Diabetes Care through the American Pharmacists Association. In 2013, she received the Excellence in Innovation Award from the Illinois Pharmacists Association.

Dr. Wentz’s mission

Dr. Wentz was disenchanted by the general medical response to hypothyroidism in three main ways. She tells us:

• Thyroid patients are not diagnosed appropriately.
  • For this, she criticises over-reliance on TSH tests that aren’t a reliable marker of thyroid function, especially if you have Hashimoto’s.
• Patients should be better optimized on their medications.
  • For this, she criticizes many prescribed drugs that are actually pro-drugs*, that don’t get converted adequately if you have an underactive thyroid.
• Lifestyle interventions are often ignored by mainstream medicine.
  • Medicines are great; they truly are. But medicating without adjusting lifestyle can be like painting over the cracks in a crumbling building.

*a “pro-drug” is what it’s called when the drug we take is not the actual drug the body needs, but is a precursor that will get converted to that actual drug we need, inside our body—usually by the liver, but not always. An example in this case is T4, which by definition is a pro-drug and won’t always get correctly converted to the T3 that a thyroid patient needs.

Well that does indeed sound worthy of criticism. But what does she advise instead?

First, she recommends a different diagnostic tool

Instead of (or at least, in addition to) TSH tests, she advises to ask for TPO tests (thyroid peroxidase), and a test for Tg antibodies (thyroglobulin). She says these are elevated for many years before a change in TSH is seen.

Next, identify the root cause and triggers

These can differ from person to person, but in countries that add iodine to salt, that’s often a big factor. And while gluten may or may not be a factor, there’s a strong correlation between celiac disease and Hashimoto’s disease, so it is worth checking too. Same goes for lactose.

By “checking”, here we mean testing eliminating it and seeing whether it makes a difference to energy levels—this can be slow, though, so give it time! It is best to do this under the guidance of a specialist if you can, of course.

Next, get to work on repairing your insides.

Remember we said “this can be slow”? It’s because your insides won’t necessarily bounce back immediately from whatever they’ve been suffering from for what’s likely many years. But, better late than never, and the time will pass anyway, so might as well get going on it.

For this, she recommends a gut-healthy diet with specific dietary interventions for hypothyroidism. Rather than repeat ourselves unduly here, we’ll link to a couple of previous articles of ours, as her recommendations match these:

• Making Friends With Your Gut (You Can Thank Us Later)
• Foods for Managing Hypothyroidism

She also recommends regular blood testing to see if you need supplementary TSH, TPO antibodies, and T3 and T4 hormones—as well as vitamin B12.

Short version

After diagnosis, she recommends the three Rs:

• Remove the causes and triggers of your hypothyroidism, so far as possible
• Repair the damage caused to your body, especially your gut
• Replace the thyroid hormones and related things in which your body has become deficient

Learn more

If you’d like to learn more about this, she offers a resource page, with resources ranging from on-screen information, to books you can get, to links to hook you up with blood tests if you need them, as well as recommended supplements to consider.

She also has a blog, which has an interesting relevant article added weekly.

Enjoy, and take care of yourself!