In experiments with mice, a team of scientists from the United States, Sweden and Japan has discovered that having a double dose of one protein is sufficient to change the normal balance of cells within the lining of the colon, thereby doubling the risk that a cancer-causing genetic mutation will trigger a tumor there. Roughly 10 percent of people have this double protein dose as well.
In the Feb. 24 online version of Science, the researchers report that mice engineered to have a d
The spontaneous mutation was discovered in a strain of Fox Chase laboratory mice—a potentially useful new research tool for studying the development of immune response
A team of Fox Chase Cancer Center scientists led by immunologist Dietmar J. Kappes, Ph.D., has identified the genetic mutation that keeps a mouse strain from developing white blood cells, or lymphocytes, called helper T cells. The report by Kappes and his colleagues appears in the Feb. 24 issue of Nature. Kappes’
Early Alzheimer’s disease may be precipitated by a “traffic jam” within neurons that causes swelling and prevents proper transport of proteins and structures in the cells, according to new studies by Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers.
In mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease and in human brain samples from people with the disease, researchers observed a characteristic breakdown in neurons that appears to prevent the normal movement of critical proteins to the commu
Porthole used in both odor-detecting cells and digestion-aiding cells
A cellular “porthole” known best for its role in the digestive system apparently has a major role in helping the brain sense odors, Johns Hopkins scientists report in the Feb. 17 issue of Neuron. The porthole, which lets chloride into cells, is also critical in digestion, hearing, balance, and fertility. The researchers suggest that digestive system cells and odor-detecting cells use the same chloride porthole,
Scientists at Joslin Diabetes Center have discovered one reason why infants with low birth weight have a high potential of developing type 2 diabetes later in life. In studies of mice, the researchers found that poor prenatal nutrition impairs the pancreas’s ability to later secrete enough insulin in response to blood glucose.
“The bottom line is that if you don’t have delivery of enough nutrients from the mother to the baby, the baby’s pancreatic cells will be prog
A new Standard Reference Material from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will help clinical genetics labs improve the accuracy of their diagnostic tests for the most common cause of hereditary mental retardation.
“Fragile X Syndrome” is a genetic mutation affecting approximately one in 3,600 males and one in 4,000 to 6,000 females. It has been linked to several physical abnormalities and to intellectual problems ranging from minor learning disabilities to se
Crystal images could yield new strategies for AIDS vaccine and drug development
Structural biologists at Children’s Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School have shown how a key part of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) changes shape, triggering other changes that allow the AIDS virus to enter and infect cells. Their findings, published in the Feb. 24 issue of the journal Nature, offer clues that will help guide vaccine and treatment approaches.
Researchers
Data may help researchers develop new vaccines and diagnostic tests to distinguish the amoeba’s most deadly strains
The genome sequence of the parasitic amoeba Entamoeba histolytica, a leading cause of severe diarrheal disease in developing countries, includes an unexpectedly complex repertoire of sensory genes as well as a variety of bacterial-like genes that contribute to the organism’s unique biology. The report, which appears in the February 24 issue of Nature, pres
Research on adult stem cells found in the skin hints at a new class of genes, according to a study from investigators at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. These genes – dubbed pangenes – can both govern a stem cell’s fate and put a hold on future differentiation until the time is right. Understanding the molecular control of these genes has implications for therapies that involve tissue regeneration. The researchers found that Pax3, a gene critical in embryonic development of m
Researchers have unprecedented chance to search for Alzheimer’s susceptibility genes and develop advanced clinical testing
Phoenix-Researchers at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and Kronos Science Laboratories, an affiliate of Phoenix-based Kronos Optimal Health Company, have initiated a study with unprecedented power to identify genes that are involved in the development of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of disabling memory and thinking problems
Finding that Mcl-1 blocks cell suicide in hematopoietic stem cells also suggests that interfering with this protein might improve leukemia treatment
The complex and life-sustaining series of steps by which hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) give rise to all of the body’s red and white blood cells and platelets has now been discovered to depend in large part on a single protein called Mcl-1. This finding, from an investigator at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, is publi
St. Jude study shows success in blocking CK2 activity in tumor cells, suggesting that a similar tactic could enhance treatment of patients with colorectal cancer and other solid tumors
A protein called CK2 plays a deadly role in colorectal carcinoma by blocking the ability of these tumors to activate a natural self-destruct mechanism that would clear this cancer from the body. This finding, by researchers at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, is currently published in t
A newly discovered plant protein complex that apparently switches on plants’ growth machinery, has opened a scientific toolbox to learn about both plant and animal development, according Purdue University scientists.
The protein complex triggers communication between molecules along a pathway that leads to the creation of long protein strings, called actin filaments, that are necessary for cellular growth, said Dan Szymanski, agronomy associate professor and lead author of the st
A group of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute and several other institutions has solved the structure of a rare human antibody that broadly neutralizes human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).
Neutralizing antibodies are soluble proteins that are secreted by adaptive immune cells into the bloodstream, following exposure to a virus. In the bloodstream, antibodies bind to viral particles in circulation, prevent them fr
Hoping to prevent blindness in premature babies, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have identified a protein that responds to oxygen levels in cells and tissues and also affects the developing eye.
Premature birth carries the risk of multiple disabilities, including retinopathy of prematurity, or ROP. ROP affects the retina, the part of the eye that detects light before it is transformed in the brain to an image. ROP babies have poor vision, and in many cases, go blin
Newborn screening could detect bubble boy illness early, save lives
Researchers at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), have developed a new laboratory method that rapidly identifies babies born with inherited forms of severe immune deficiency. The new genetic test, which still must be validated before widespread use, could someday be added to the panel of tests that already screen newborns for a variety of disor
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