Of the specimens that survived treatment, were there any noticeable differences/side effects that could suggest other problems caused by the treatment?
Unfortunately we didn’t save the flies that had survived so we weren’t able to test what the effect of MGO was on the flies beyond survival. It is possible that MGO impacted other pathways in the flies beyond DNA repair post radiation, but that would require a different experimental design.
That is a great question! We didn’t have the opportunity to test that, but using the powdered MGO it would definitely have to do with what the therapeutic index is for MGO when using it in the powdered form, and we unfortunately didn’t have a chance to actually identify the TI for MGO.
That would be a great question to test! I am honestly not sure – MGO showed serious promise as an antibiotic, which means it probably interferes with cell repair, but we cannot know what the proper dosage would be without further testing of it as a powder instead of when it is dissolved in water.
Thank you! We saw that MGO had been an effective antibiotic when testing it in a previous semester, and there is a lot of overlap between successful antibiotics and chemotherapies, so we thought we would see if it could be used to inhibit cell repair following exposure to radiation. Antibiotics and chemotherapies tend to target cell repair mechanisms and so if a drug is effective in one arena, it tends to be effective in another, however, at 0.4% MGO this does not appear to be the case.
If used as an antibiotic, MGO could definitely result in resistance. When used as a chemotherapy at 0.4% MGO, it does not appear to have any effect, and thus would be unlikely to result in resistance because there is no preferential reproduction in any form of the drosophila melanogaster that we tested.
I’m honestly not sure! I think a good baseline to test that would be to test it at ~ 1% MGO. 0.4% MGO is a very low dose, and so without any information about the effects of higher doses, I’m not sure, but testing 1% MGO would be a great place to start.
Great question – the honest answer is I don’t know, but given the highest dose we tested was 0.4% MGO and the fact that antibiotics are often effective chemotherapies, it is likely that testing MGO at a higher dose will show more promising data. That said, there is a fine line between a drug and a poison, and determining that for MGO will be very important in assessing MGO’s potential as a chemotherapy.
Of the specimens that survived treatment, were there any noticeable differences/side effects that could suggest other problems caused by the treatment?
Unfortunately we didn’t save the flies that had survived so we weren’t able to test what the effect of MGO was on the flies beyond survival. It is possible that MGO impacted other pathways in the flies beyond DNA repair post radiation, but that would require a different experimental design.
If you were able to have MGO at its highest concentration, what is the highest concentration you would have used to test its efficacy?
Great question – I am not sure! But that would be a great next step to establish its therapeutic index in fruit flies.
That is a great question! We didn’t have the opportunity to test that, but using the powdered MGO it would definitely have to do with what the therapeutic index is for MGO when using it in the powdered form, and we unfortunately didn’t have a chance to actually identify the TI for MGO.
If you were able to have MGO at its highest concentration, what is the highest concentration you would have used to test its efficacy?
That would be a great question to test! I am honestly not sure – MGO showed serious promise as an antibiotic, which means it probably interferes with cell repair, but we cannot know what the proper dosage would be without further testing of it as a powder instead of when it is dissolved in water.
Great presentation! How did you come up with the idea to test Methylglyoxal and its potential benefits to cancer?
Thank you! We saw that MGO had been an effective antibiotic when testing it in a previous semester, and there is a lot of overlap between successful antibiotics and chemotherapies, so we thought we would see if it could be used to inhibit cell repair following exposure to radiation. Antibiotics and chemotherapies tend to target cell repair mechanisms and so if a drug is effective in one arena, it tends to be effective in another, however, at 0.4% MGO this does not appear to be the case.
Is there a possibility of someone becoming antibiotic resistant to MGO, if so, what would be your next steps to prevent this from happening again?
If used as an antibiotic, MGO could definitely result in resistance. When used as a chemotherapy at 0.4% MGO, it does not appear to have any effect, and thus would be unlikely to result in resistance because there is no preferential reproduction in any form of the drosophila melanogaster that we tested.
Really well done presentation! Do you believe methylglyoxal still has potential at higher dosages, or is it a bit of a dead end?
I’m honestly not sure! I think a good baseline to test that would be to test it at ~ 1% MGO. 0.4% MGO is a very low dose, and so without any information about the effects of higher doses, I’m not sure, but testing 1% MGO would be a great place to start.
Based on the results you obtained from this experiment, do you believe a higher dose in the powder form would yield different results?
Great question – the honest answer is I don’t know, but given the highest dose we tested was 0.4% MGO and the fact that antibiotics are often effective chemotherapies, it is likely that testing MGO at a higher dose will show more promising data. That said, there is a fine line between a drug and a poison, and determining that for MGO will be very important in assessing MGO’s potential as a chemotherapy.