Suppressing a gene by using its antibody can lead to tooth growth: animal study • Hacker News Board

Re: Suppressing a gene by using its antibody can lead to tooth growth: animal study

#51

Post by graderjs » Wed, Mar 31, 2021, 3:45 AM UTC

goodells wrote: post #19

xvilka wrote: post #16

I hope someone works on recovering UOX (Urate Oxidase)[1] gene resurrection. It disappeared in one of our predessors making us prone to gout and excessive fat deposition[2]. Recovering this gene will treat both at the same time. [1] https://www.genecards.org/cgi-bin/carddisp.pl?gene=UOX [2] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41366-019-0487-9

I found the Slate Star Codex article about uric acid interesting [1]. The bit about this gene: > About ten million years ago, the common ancestor of apes and humans got a mutation that broke uricase, causing uric acid levels to rise. The mutation spread very quickly, suggesting that evolution _really_ wanted primates to have lots of uric acid for some reason. Since discovering this, scientists have been trying to fig…

Maybe it functioned as a pheromone somehow (or pheromone precursor) and was aided by sexual selection: stinkiest mates were more attractive and reproduced more. Hehe.

Or might make your flesh pungent and not tasty to predators. The 'stinkiest' fish in the world[1] has high levels of urea (so high that its toxic, and while not uric acid these two molecules are related and both are options in metabolic pathways for processing ammonia) and before eating, hákarl needs to be dried in ice sheds in the artic circle for 3 months. Even then it's acquired taste.

Still, it seems unlikely primates were hunted by some unknown predator in such large numbers, for evolution to select for those with slightly more pungent flesh to deter such predation, but ... who knows? :P ;) xx

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A1karl

Re: Suppressing a gene by using its antibody can lead to tooth growth: animal study

#52

Post by wcarss » Wed, Mar 31, 2021, 3:49 AM UTC

graderjs wrote: post #51

goodells wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I found the Slate Star Codex article about uric acid interesting [1]. The bit about this gene: > About ten million years ago, the common ancestor of apes and humans got a mutation that broke uricase, causing uric acid levels to rise. The mutation spread very quickly, suggesting that evolution _really_ wanted primates to have lots of uric acid for some reason. Since discovering this, scientists have been trying to fig…

Maybe it functioned as a pheromone somehow (or pheromone precursor) and was aided by sexual selection: stinkiest mates were more attractive and reproduced more. Hehe. Or might make your flesh pungent and not tasty to predators. The 'stinkiest' fish in the world[1] has high levels of urea (so high that its toxic, and while not uric acid these two molecules are related and both are options in metabolic pathways for pro…

Might have suppressed cannibalism!

Re: Suppressing a gene by using its antibody can lead to tooth growth: animal study

#53

Post by fooker » Wed, Mar 31, 2021, 4:06 AM UTC

wcarss wrote: post #52

graderjs wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it functioned as a pheromone somehow (or pheromone precursor) and was aided by sexual selection: stinkiest mates were more attractive and reproduced more. Hehe. Or might make your flesh pungent and not tasty to predators. The 'stinkiest' fish in the world[1] has high levels of urea (so high that its toxic, and while not uric acid these two molecules are related and both are options in metabolic pathways for pro…

Might have suppressed cannibalism!

This is probably the right answer.

Re: Suppressing a gene by using its antibody can lead to tooth growth: animal study

#54

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Mar 31, 2021, 4:09 AM UTC

logicchains wrote: post #43

dannyw wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's so sad that most dentists optimise for billable revenue, even at the detriment of long term patient health. Fillings for example always degrade and need repairs after X years. Drilling and filling even the smallest cavity puts that teeth on a lifetime progression to bigger and bigger fillings, eventually a root canal, eventually an implant. Cavities, on the other hand can be arrested (stopped), and if small can…

>Cavities, on the other hand can be arrested (stopped), and if small can even be remineralised. Yes, most dentists don't tell you that! >Careful monitoring and patient education on the other hand can lead to permanently keeping that natural teeth, as our teeth are living and can heal. Do you have any sources for this? I'm not disagreeing; I hope it's true.

[deleted]

Re: Suppressing a gene by using its antibody can lead to tooth growth: animal study

#55

Post by Teever » Wed, Mar 31, 2021, 4:09 AM UTC

Ericson2314 wrote: post #15

The other one would be nice is synthetic gums for grafts. Far from teeth, should be one of the easier things. Lot of research on that one. Just goes to show how lousy the development part of R&D is these days.

The issue with periodontal tissue as I understand it revolves around a relatively complicated protein scaffold that binds the gums to the teeth.

Growing tissue like gums is relatively straight forward -- we do something similar with skin for burns but the actual physical structure that bonds the soft tissue to the hard teeth is complicated to produce and apply in practice.

Re: Suppressing a gene by using its antibody can lead to tooth growth: animal study

#56

Post by pixel_tracing » Wed, Mar 31, 2021, 4:13 AM UTC

giardini wrote: post #30

Whatever progress it may provide, I am certain that dentists and dentists' associations will slowly and surely entomb any process that reduces the sum of their individual annual incomes. I believe Adam Smith called it "the invisible hand" (w/o explicitly noting that the "invisible boot" is jammed into the "invisible customers"' collective asses).

Then let this be a callout for all you HN types let’s disrupt the shit out of these dentists

Re: Suppressing a gene by using its antibody can lead to tooth growth: animal study

#57

Post by ronyfadel » Wed, Mar 31, 2021, 4:25 AM UTC

I’ve been seeing headlines like this come up once every 6 months for the past 10 years.

One can only dream :(

Re: Suppressing a gene by using its antibody can lead to tooth growth: animal study

#58

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Mar 31, 2021, 4:34 AM UTC

pixel_tracing wrote: post #56

giardini wrote: post #30

Whatever progress it may provide, I am certain that dentists and dentists' associations will slowly and surely entomb any process that reduces the sum of their individual annual incomes. I believe Adam Smith called it "the invisible hand" (w/o explicitly noting that the "invisible boot" is jammed into the "invisible customers"' collective asses).

Then let this be a callout for all you HN types let’s disrupt the shit out of these dentists

[deleted]

Re: Suppressing a gene by using its antibody can lead to tooth growth: animal study

#59

Post by blackrock » Wed, Mar 31, 2021, 4:39 AM UTC

donatj wrote: post #41

dannyw wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's so sad that most dentists optimise for billable revenue, even at the detriment of long term patient health. Fillings for example always degrade and need repairs after X years. Drilling and filling even the smallest cavity puts that teeth on a lifetime progression to bigger and bigger fillings, eventually a root canal, eventually an implant. Cavities, on the other hand can be arrested (stopped), and if small can…

Novamin toothpaste has been life changing for me. Cannot recommend highly enough. A tooth that was deteriorating and the dentist wanted to cap is now fine enough for them to simply keep an eye on.

I have never heard of this Novamin toothpaste before. Nor has any of my dentists ever recommended it.

It looks like the popular brand is Sensodyne.

Re: Suppressing a gene by using its antibody can lead to tooth growth: animal study

#60

Post by drawfloat » Wed, Mar 31, 2021, 4:44 AM UTC

logicchains wrote: post #43

dannyw wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's so sad that most dentists optimise for billable revenue, even at the detriment of long term patient health. Fillings for example always degrade and need repairs after X years. Drilling and filling even the smallest cavity puts that teeth on a lifetime progression to bigger and bigger fillings, eventually a root canal, eventually an implant. Cavities, on the other hand can be arrested (stopped), and if small can…

>Cavities, on the other hand can be arrested (stopped), and if small can even be remineralised. Yes, most dentists don't tell you that! >Careful monitoring and patient education on the other hand can lead to permanently keeping that natural teeth, as our teeth are living and can heal. Do you have any sources for this? I'm not disagreeing; I hope it's true.

I'd be suspicious of those claims – anecdotal but, unless US doctors differ greatly, neither of those are secrets that have been withheld from me by dentists in 3 European countries.

In fact the second statement is surely the basis for most modern dentistry...?

(I said US there because it's an assumption that the US approach to dentistry may be different to rest of the world. From afar, seems more cosmetic focused with a lot more emphasis put on whitening/straightening/veneer/fixing procedures than over here)