• hinkley 6 hours ago

    > Infused in the bloodstream, scavenger hemoproteins like RcoM-HBD-CCC rapidly bind to carbon monoxide molecules, reducing the time it takes to clear half of the carbon monoxide in the blood to less than a minute, compared to more than hour with pure oxygen therapy and five hours without any treatment.

    • lawlessone 4 hours ago

      I can see a market in selling this to urban cyclists..

      I've seen people doing that get quite a bit of exhaust fumes to the face.

      • hinkley 3 hours ago

        Breath control is an underrated skill.

    • jfarlow 8 hours ago

      Here's the full sequence of the protein, found in the supplement [1]

      KSSEPASVSAAERRAETEQHKLEQENPGIVWLDQHGRVTAENDVALQILGPAGEQSLGVAQDSLEGIDVVQLHPEKSRDKLRFLLQSKDVGGSPVKSPPPVAMMINIPDRILMIKVSSMIAAGGASGTSMIFYDVTDLTTEPSGLPAGGSAPSHHHHHH

      It is a protein encoding the PxRcoM-1 heme binding domain with C94S mutation and a C-terminal 6xHis tag (RcoM-HBD-C94S)

      [1] https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2501389122#supplementa...

      • meisel 6 hours ago

        Thanks for that sequence, I can really picture it now

        • dekhn 5 hours ago

          You can search for it here: https://alphafold.ebi.ac.uk/search/sequence/KSSEPASVSAAERRAE... and in principle get the AlphaFold predicted structure (I couldn't find an experimentally determined one). However, like nearly all EBI resources, the web server timed out before I could get a link to the prediction.

          • immibis 4 hours ago

            Isn't it strange to see protein codes spreading the same way magnet links or AACS encryption keys might.

        • sunrunner 6 hours ago

          This looks like an puzzle input to a day from Advent of Code.

          • mhb 5 hours ago

            That doesn't look right. I think the problem is in the last quarter. Exercise for the reader.

          • kazinator 6 hours ago

            The existing methylene blue substance is also effective in cases of CO poisoning.

            1933 paper:

            https://journals.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1152/ajplegacy.19...

            "Methylene Blue as an Antidote to CO Poisoning", Matilda Moldenhauer Brooks

            • skadamou 5 hours ago

              This paper is interesting but I want to point out there is a difference between a research paper showing that something is hypothetically feasible and something that is actually useful clinically.

              Clinically, methylene blue is used to treat a different condition, methemeglobinemia and is not used to treat carbon monoxide poisoning which relies on hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

              • kazinator 3 hours ago

                The researcher used non-human animals; it worked on them.

                The hypothetical part was only that it might also work on humans.

                In any case, it seems the result was good enough as a clinical trial from the point of view of veterinary medicine, in regard to those specific types of animals.

            • searine 9 hours ago

              This research was funded by multiple NIH grants, a Department of Defense grant, and the Martin Family Foundation.

              • dtgriscom 9 hours ago

                How is this administered? Seems like a crucial detail to omit.

                • elric 9 hours ago

                  > This has the potential to become a rapid, intravenous antidote for carbon monoxide

                  So intravenously, presumably.

                  • DonHopkins 9 hours ago

                    You can spread it on bread, melt it over pancakes, rub it all over corn on the cob, put it in baked potatoes, etc, promise!

                  • sandworm101 5 hours ago

                    CO poisioning is one of those strange cases treatable using scuba diving. Recompression therapy, which can be theoretically aped under water, can be like magic. In some cases the patient just wakes up like nothing is wrong. No drugs. No invasive treatment. Get deep enough and hemoglobin isnt totally necessary for getting O2 where it needs to be.

                    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK470531/

                    • pfdietz 5 hours ago

                      This looks like a therapy you can only get once in your life, after which it has acted like a vaccine and your immune system would react to it.

                      • dekhn 18 minutes ago

                        Typically, protein therapeutics are "humanized" before being pushed through the drug approval process. Part of that is ensuring that the therapeutic isn't extremely likely to trigger an immune response. It's a nontrivial problem.

                        • isk517 3 hours ago

                          If getting carbon monoxide poisoning once isn't enough to make you invest in a few detectors then I don't know what will

                        • bananapub 10 hours ago

                          not very on topic, but for those who missed one of the more surreal reddit threads in history:

                          - [MA] Post-it notes left in apartment [0]

                          - and the update from OP a while later [1]

                          [0]: https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/34l7vo/ma_post...

                          [1]: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/49zfvb/what_is_t...

                          • gus_massa 10 hours ago

                            It looks like he found a note in his room and see some strange thing in the window, and someone somehow says it's CO but it may be that the OP has unrelated hallucinations. Is this a symptom of CO poisoning? I think you only get sleepy, faint and die.

                            • maxbond 9 hours ago

                              Chronic exposure can lead to memory loss, yes. You're describing the symptoms of acute exposure.

                              • hinkley 9 hours ago

                                CO exposure is accumulative. If you’re around an intense source of it you’re toast. But with a small point source or decent ventilation it kills you slower.

                                And your body produces new blood cells every day, so minor sources like wood smoke or burning a candle don’t dose you enough to be a problem, unless perhaps your day job is as an athlete.

                                • hinkley 6 hours ago

                                  Also looks like the half-life of CO in the blood is around five hours.

                            • DonHopkins 12 hours ago

                              >New Protein Therapy Shows Promise as Antidote for Carbon Monoxide Poisoning

                              So Shatner was right all along: not only is Promise Margarine good for lowering your cholesterol level, but it can also treat carbon monoxide poisoning! And it tastes like butter, promise.

                              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3wf717fKFE

                              • majkinetor 11 hours ago

                                I don't see a relation of any kind and I hate commercials maybe more than anybody else, but it's always a good time for a funny one with Shatner :)

                                • DonHopkins 9 hours ago

                                  Sheez, I can't believe I have to explain that Shatner shows Promise as antidote for high cholesterol too.

                                  • selimthegrim 6 hours ago

                                    He just played New Orleans. Somebody should’ve been throwing tubs of Promise margarine at the stage.