So here I was, in Wrexham meeting with a GP and his Nurse Practitioner discussing how the Pernicious Anaemia Society would be able to help the nurse complete her Masters Degree that involved writing a Research Proposal. It was a straightforward debate and we are now participating in a mutually beneficial project. The old Chestnut of frequency of treatment came up and it was suggested that the problem may lie in the way B12 enters cells – a highly complex biological process involving lots of long words and intricate processes.
A week after the meeting the GP sends me a paper, just published on just that topic.
“Structural insights into the MMACHC-MMADHC protein complex involved in vitamin B12 trafficking”
An international team of Biochemists had produced the paper after a number of years researching the issue. And so yesterday I emailed the lead researcher who telephoned me yesterday afternoon. He was fascinated with what I had to say regarding patients suffering because they couldn’t receive more regular treatment and I suggested that he and his team might hold the answer to the age-old question of why some patients needed far more frequent injections than others. Anyway the upshot is that I’m travelling to Oxford in November for a full morning session with the team and he wants me to introduce him to some of the other scientists and doctors who are associated with the society.
This really is a remarkable development and offers the potential to provide the much needed clinical scientific evidence that will hopefully lead to a more flexible treatment regime for those patients who need more frequent treatments. I’ll keep you posted.
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