A bitter flavor for health

The ABCs of Biotech for Christians - Eighteenth in a series - Q is for Quinine

Quinine holds a special place in science history as the first chemical compound ever used successfully against infectious disease. During the American Civil War, its importance in treating malaria led to the first large-scale drug manufacturing operations and the first federal drug-testing program.

Quinine is derived from the bark of the Cinchona tree, an evergreen native to the Andes tropical forests, by isolating it from the bark through a process that also crystalizes its alkaloids— which are naturally occurring organic compounds with a nitrogen base. Quinine has healed the sick from kings to the poorest infant, and enabled armies over the centuries to maintain troop vigor and achieve military conquests.

In use since the 1600s, many chemists starting in the 18th century studied quinine to understand its properties, and worked to determine how it might be reinvented in a laboratory for mass production as a pharmaceutical. Though they figured out its molecular structure, and ultimately, in the 1940s, how to synthesize it from coal tar, the vast research led to better chemical discoveries for malaria treatment, though quinine still is used.

Today, biotechnology plays a large role in synthesizing and producing alkaloids for commercial use on an industrial scale. The discoveries of biotech and molecular biology make it convenient to transfer and propagate genes in plant cells, among other processes, to commercially produce alkaloid related drugs.

An aside: This webpage explains how to make a transgenic plant.

In current clinical trials, quinine is being studied “To investigate the effect of oral sham feeding and intragastric delivery of a bitter tastant on food intake.” In other words, this is research to determine whether quinine could assist obese people to eat less. It is also under study to discover how it interacts or reacts with other compounds and medicines for more effective treatments for a range of illnesses.

Despite the wonderful progress in medicinals, in 2016, there were an estimated 216 million cases of malaria in 91 countries, an increase of 5 million cases over 2015, and malaria deaths reached 445,000 in 2016, a similar number (446,000) to 2015. In 2016, nearly half the world’s population was at risk of malaria. The latest World Malaria Report may be viewed on WHO's website.

There is no vaccine against malaria, though some progress in vaccines has been reported.

The story of Elisha and the pottage made for the prophets’ families comes to mind. There was a famine in the area so the stew was made with whatever was found in the field including wild gourds. Upon eating it, the prophets’ sons cried out, “There is death in the pot!” (2Ki 4:40) So Elisha cast some meal or flour into the pot, and remedied the poisoned stew.

I am not likening quinine to the meal that was cast into the stew. Then as now, the flour is symbolic of the bread of life, Christ, who must assist to bring health back, and with His help, biotechnology can find new ways to heal. It is true, though, that Christ is a bitter flavor to many.

Personalized, precise care

The ABCs of Biotech for Christians - Seventeenth in a series - P is for Pharmacogenetics

We hear about the Human Genome. Is there only one? Do all humans have the same one?

Clarification: The human genome is the complete set of nucleic acid sequences for humans, encoded as DNA within the 23 chromosome pairs in cell nuclei and in a small DNA molecule found within individual mitochondria. But each person’s genome is unique.

Pharmacogenomics, also called Pharmacogenetics, is the study of how genes affect a person’s response to drugs. “This relatively new field combines pharmacology (the science of drugs) and genomics (the study of genes and their functions) to develop effective, safe medications and doses that will be tailored to a person’s genetic makeup.” It is part of the field of precision medicine, which aims to treat each patient individually. (ref)

Because of the variation in human genomes, tailoring a drug to an individual can be an expensive project. However, progress in this special area of biotech is being made to lessen the individual expense. Identification of genetics variations that are associated with disease susceptibility and drug responses among individuals (“markers”)1 are being researched, and there have been some discoveries for specific therapies like warfarin, taken by many for blood coagulation.

Efforts to validate pharmacogenomics based algorithms for warfarin dosing have shown that such algorithms can improve the accuracy of dose prediction. However, converting theoretical benefit into validated clinical benefit has proven difficult… (ref)

This statement describes a difficulty with pharmacogenetics; it is hard to prove that the money spent on development is well spent, which brings us to a brief list of the challenges to the quest.

  • Evidence. There is not a weight of evidence that patient outcomes are significantly affected by individual therapies made possible through pharmacogenetics.
  • Reimbursement. The need for payment approved by insurance companies.
  • Integration into the electronic health record. (Not enough fields for the data, I guess.)

That last one seems funny but must be a real problem for those who have to make it all work. (ref)

A wonderful friend who sits near me at church, was recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. After trying some health supplements, he chose to have chemotherapy at one of the Cancer Centers of America that offers the pharmacogenomic approach to treatment. This hospital is not very near his home, but the doctor in his hometown was brutally negative in his prognosis, and it drove him and his wife away.

Hope is a critical element of any professional prognosis. Without it, there is no point in trying to get well. Any doctor can at least say, “Let’s all pray. God is still a God of miracles.” A true statement.

My friends experienced the warmest of receptions at CTCA and a hope for the future. Its website gives easy-to-understand explanations about the drug therapies given for pancreatic cancer (and other ones), so that a person can figure out what is going on when they get a treatment or take a pill. Some of these medicines are listed in the FDA’s table of biomarkers, showing that they have been studied for individual or groups with similar profile for genomic efficacy. (ref)

CTCA also advertises that they participate in clinical trials to offer patients innovative treatment options. The local doctor could have said that if a treatment were not to help, he knew of other avenues.

Back to the topic of Pharmacogenomics: the major criticism seems to be its cost to benefit ratio.

None of us can know if we will be faced with a decision to pursue an expensive route that could hold more promise than the one-size-fits-all offer. I am glad that my church has provided as much assistance as possible for our couple with this tremendous need.

It comes to my mind that individual support for human suffering and need is perfectly carried out by the body of Christ in the local church. The member whose intimate identity is known finds help in the arms of the Lord through his people. This is the most precisely perfect care that is possible to have.

1 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) monitors drug safety in the United States. It now includes pharmacogenomic information on the labels of around 200 medications. https://www.fda.gov/Drugs/ScienceResearch/ucm572698.htm This information can help doctors tailor drug prescriptions for individual patients by providing guidance on dose, possible side effects, or differences in effectiveness for people with certain gene variants.

Angel fish
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...and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind ... the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind ...the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good. -Genesis 1

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Flesh and Bone and The Protestant Conscience is an e-book on Amazon.com. It is 99¢ and in the Amazon lending library as well. It is also available here in PDF format. The book description follows.

Would you let your conscience be your guide?

Does God care if the skin and bone of the dead are passed along to the living for medical uses? Is organ donation OK with God? Should you sign a Living Will?

Did you know that dead organ donors are often anesthetized before their organs are removed? Do you know the current definition of death? The conscience cannot function without facts.

As we ponder the ethics of in vitro fertilization, stem cell research and man-made chimeras, our thoughts trail off. How then should we live? (Ez 33:10)

How should a Christian think about euthanasia by starvation when doctors and the state attorney general all agree it is time to withhold feeding from a brain injured patient? Some things are family matters, but someday it may be our family.

Here is a small book to help you think about whether you want to sign your driver's license, donate a kidney, cremate your loved one, and many other practical questions that may arise in the course of your healthcare decisions or watch over others.

It offers a special focus on the doctrine of the Resurrection that is related to such decisions. Sunday School classes and Bible Study groups could use this book to facilitate discussion about the issues covered.