Researchers at the University of Dundee have made a significant new discovery on how cells behave and protect themselves against cancers and congenital disorders as reported in Nature tomorrow (Thursday April 21).
Dr Tomo Tanaka and his team members at the University’s School of Life Sciences, Drs Kozo Tanaka, Naomi Mukae and Hilary Dewar, in collaboration with Drs Euan James and Alan Prescott and researchers in Germany, have uncovered how cells prepare for the process of chromosome
Scientists working at Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a new method for the study of ion channel gating kinetics. An ion channel is a protein pore that lets ions (charged atoms such as calcium) pass through a cell’s membrane. The method fits data to a new class of models, called manifest interconductance rank (MIR) models, which will give researchers a better understanding of the mechanisms by which ion channels open and close.
In research published in the cur
Scientists have identified a new gene that appears to be linked to a small but significant percentage of familial cancer cases – as well as seemingly randomly occurring malignancies.
The finding has scientists re-examining commonly held beliefs about the nature and frequency of genetic mutation as a cause of cancer. Familial cancer, in contrast to inherited cancer, is defined as multiple cases of cancer in one family that cannot be accounted for by classic rules of inheritance.
In laboratory mouse experiments, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have developed a way to use RNA interference (RNAi) so that it permanently hampers breast cancer development. The technique permanently silences activated STAT3, a crucial gene found in some human breast tumors, thus reducing the cancer’s ability to become invasive.
The study, presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), used a modifi
Reducing expression of a gene called BRCC36 that interacts with the breast cancer susceptibility gene 1 (BRCA1) makes breast cancer cells more responsive to ionizing radiation, according to scientists at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. The research was presented today at the 96th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in Anaheim, Calif. BRCC36 directly interacts with the BRCA1 protein. Almost all invasive breast cancer cells have elevated BRCC36 levels compar
Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia have come a step closer to understanding selenium’s molecular role in causing prostate cancer cells to self-destruct. According to data presented today at the 96th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Anaheim, Calif., selenium helps malignant cells overcome their resistance to TRAIL-induced apopstosis (self-inflicted cell death). Previous studies had shown that TRAIL, a cytotoxic agent being investigated as
A new drug, RAD001, has been shown to stop the growth and movement of certain ovarian cancer cells, according to scientists at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. The research was presented today at the 96th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in Anaheim, Calif.
A large percentage of human cancers have high activity levels of an enzyme known as AKT. This enzyme controls a number of cell functions, including cell size, division and response to c
The complexity of the brain and, more specifically, how nerve cells form billions of contacts when there are fewer than 30,000 human genes is still a scientific mystery.
A team headed by Drs. Robin Hiesinger and Hugo J. Bellen at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston have unraveled a piece of that puzzle by finding a gene that plays a key role in brain wiring. A report on their work appears today in the journal Neuron.
“We were surprised to find an exocyst mutant h
As the brain develops, neurons reach out helter-skelter to form new connections, only a small number of which take hold. How the brain chooses which connections to keep and which to prune back appears to be governed by which branches have the most electrical activity-a finding that could help to explain how early experiences guide brain development.
The work, published in the April 21 issue of Nature, takes advantage of tiny, see-through zebrafish. Stephen Smith, PhD, professor
pH value in rock pores where organisms live acidic enough to dissolve nails, say researchers
University of Colorado at Boulder researchers say a bizarre group of microbes found living inside rocks in an inhospitable geothermal environment at Wyoming’s Yellowstone National Park could provide tantalizing new clues about ancient life on Earth and help steer the hunt for evidence of life on Mars.
The CU-Boulder research team reported the microbes were discovered in the p
Why people get drowsy and fall asleep, and how caffeine blocks that process, are the subjects of a new study by researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center. When cells in a certain part of the brain become overworked, a compound in the brain kicks in, telling them to shut down. This causes people to become drowsy and fall asleep. Alter that natural process by adding coffee or tea, and the brain compound – called adenosine – is blocked, and people stay awake.
These findings, avai
Screening for breast cancer and the early detection of other tumors one day may be as simple as spitting into a collection tube or cup, according to recent studies by UCLA researchers.
In one early study based on a risk model, presented here at the 96th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, the UCLA scientists reported that genetic “biomarkers” isolated in saliva predicted oral squamous cell carcinoma in about nine out of 10 cases.
A recent stud
Scientists have discovered that chemical signals thought to function primarily as cellular traffic directors play a much more complex role in the activation of the adaptive immune response than was previously expected. The research, published in the April issue of Immunity, demonstrates that the molecules belonging to a class of proteins called chemokines do more than simply guide migration of the immune cells that are activated in the very early stages of infection.
Dendritic
For the first time, researchers appear to be able to use a comprehensive panel of genetic variants to predict how a patient with esophageal cancer will respond to a spectrum of cancer treatments.
At the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report that six different gene variants can predict an improved outcome in patients treated with two different chemotherapy drugs and/or
More than 20 million men in the United States with a particular signature set of inherited characteristics and mutations in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) are at significantly increased risk for developing renal and prostate cancers, according to research at Emory University. The findings will be presented at the 96th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research by John A. Petros, MD, associate professor of urology at Emory University School of Medicine, its Winship Cancer Instit
A full-term pregnancy at an early age is one of the most effective ways to reduce the lifetime risk of breast cancer, according to research pathologist Irma H. Russo, M.D., of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. A number of studies around the world have established that a full-term pregnancy by age 20 reduces breast cancer risk by half.
Previous studies by Russo and colleagues suggest that breast cells reach full maturity–a process called differentiation–only after a full-
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