Medslant Acid Reflux Newsletter

New Drug Study - Stomach Acid Gene Discovered

A study sponsored by drug manufacturer Pfizer is recruiting. The purpose of the study is to see if a drug as add on therapy helps patients who have a poor response to proton pump inhibitor therapy. To learn more about the study and to determine if it is something that would help you, please go to www.clinicaltrials.gov, click on search for clinical trials, then enter NCT00730665 in the search box.

Stomach Acid Gene Discovered

University of Cincinnati professor Manoocher Soleimani, MD, and some of his colleagues have discovered a gene that helps to control acid secretion in the stomach. Dr. Manoocher maintains that overproduction of acid in the stomach causes acid reflux disease and he believes that current medicines that treat and/or control the disease not only cause undesirable side effects but that long term use of these kinds of drugs can cause many problems including damage to the lining of the stomach.

The study found that when the gene responsible for chloride production in the stomach was eliminated from the mouse model's system, stomach acid secretion stopped. Gastric acid, comprised mainly of hydrochloric acid is the main secretion in the stomach and helps the body break down and digest food. According to Soleimani, 'Investigators were already aware of the gene that caused hydrogen to secrete in the stomach but the gene that caused chloride to secrete has remained an unknown. When we knocked out or eliminated this specific transporter in mouse models, acid secretion in the stomach completely halted. Hydrogen and chloride genes must work together for the stomach to produce acid and function normally.'

The value of this information will be the ability to one day administer gene therapy to patients so that the problem will be eliminated.

Sleep ChartWhich Season Gives You the Best Sleep?

Here's a fun fact from the National Sleep Foundation. Most scientists believe that the temperature can have both a positive and negative effect on sleep and that temperatures below 54 degrees Fahrenheit and above 75 degrees disrupt sleep. Although researchers can't seem to agree on the perfect sleep temp, most sleep scientists say that a slightly cool environment works best. Apparently the people who took their poll agreed.

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