Scientists at the MUHC have made an important discovery that will advance our understanding of how the female hormone estrogen causes growth of breast cancer cells. The research, in collaboration with scientists at the Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montreal (IRCM) identifies 153 genes that respond to estrogen and one in particular that can be used to halt the growth of breast cancer cells. The study, published in today’s Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), will focus futu

Scientists have used a glowing protein from fireflies to observe the activity of a molecule that is an important target for new drugs to treat cancer, autoimmune diseases and several other disorders.

The target molecule, known as IKK (for IKappa kinase), regulates processes that can trigger dramatic changes in cellular physiology. Scientists have linked these changes to many different disorders.

“Our new system allows researchers to monitor whether drugs for these condit

Breast cancer patients could find out whether they will respond positively to chemotherapy treatment by testing for the activity of certain genes. In a study published today in the Open Access journal, Journal of Translational Medicine, researchers analysed the genes expressed in the tumours of eighty-three patients with primary breast cancer. The researchers were able to predict which breast tumours would improve from chemotherapy in all cases of partial remission and nearly three quarters of

An amazing device has been invented by the St. Petersburg physicists – specialists of the Vavilov State Optical Institute. With its help, a patient can learn the glucose concentration in the blood without injections, and if the concentration is rather high, to inject additional amount of insulin into the blood.

The device is an artificial pancreas and it will consist of two parts. One part, according to the developers’ idea, is slightly larger than a watch battery and can be im

Malaria remains a devastating problem in Africa and understanding the factors affecting its transmission remains a crucial part of the effort to combat the disease. A new study published in the premier open access journal PLoS Biology conducted in Western Kenya by Jacob Koella and colleagues now reveals that mosquitoes are more attracted to children with the infectious stages of malaria than to those infected with non-transmissible forms of the disease or to uninfected people.

The questi

A survey of U.S. adults has found that a majority believe that HIV vaccines are the best hope for controlling the global AIDS epidemic and are confident such vaccines can be made. But while most of those surveyed felt it personally important to help support HIV vaccine research, a majority expressed reluctance to support a friend or family member’s participation in an HIV vaccine clinical trial.

These were among the conflicting findings of a telephone survey of more than 3,500 adu

Johns Hopkins researchers have, for what is believed to be the first time, used a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique called diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI), a technique that images the movement, or diffusion, of water molecules in tissues, to successfully determine the effectiveness of high-intensity focused ultrasound for treating uterine fibroids. Uterine fibroids are noncancerous tumors that line the uterine wall and can cause intense pain and bleeding. The study appears in the July edi

Terrorists have just laced the water supply of a major metropolis with a chemical so lethal that only small amounts are needed to kill thousands of people. But the chemical never reaches its targets. Tiny liquid phase sensors at strategic points in the city’s water mains detect the chemical as it passes and tell a computer to close down the affected pipes.

Current technology is too cumbersome for this kind of rapid detection and response. But new advances in liquid and gas phase

Lead may pose greater leaching risk than standard tests show

In critiquing a common safety standard for brass used in plumbing, researchers have found the regimen may be flawed. As a result, they say, some of the lead that crept into tap water in Washington, D.C., and other metropolitan areas may be traceable to household fixtures, valves and other components and not just pipes and systems further from the home.

The new study looked at the American National Standards Ins

Defects in a single gene can result in two immune system disorders that leave affected individuals vulnerable to frequent or unusually severe infections, according to new findings reported in the August issue of Nature Genetics. The discovery may lead to new diagnostic tests for these two inherited conditions–immunoglobulin A (IgA) deficiency and common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) Currently, doctors diagnose the conditions by measuring immunoglobulin levels and excluding other causes for

Routinely discarded as medical waste, placental tissue could feasibly provide an abundant source of cells with the same potential to treat diseases and regenerate tissues as their more controversial counterparts, embryonic stem cells, suggests a University of Pittsburgh study to be published in the journal Stem Cells and available now as an early online publication in Stem Cells Express.

A part of the placenta called the amnion, or the outer membrane of the amniotic sac, is comp

Scientists from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a protein that may inhibit cellular movement, or migration.

The protein, CIB1, or calcium and integrin-binding protein 1, was originally discovered at UNC in 1997 as a blood platelet protein that may play a role in clotting.

Cell migration belongs to the most rudimentary of cellular functions that allow processes such as f

The continual and inevitable shortening of telomeres, the protective “caps” at the end of all 46 human chromosomes, has been linked to aging and physical decline. Once they are gone, so are we. But there are more ways than one to grow old.

Researchers at Salk Institute for Biological Studies demonstrate for the first time that the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans succumbs to the trials of old age although its telomeres are still long, and moves with a youthful spring in its craw

Oregon Health & Science University researchers have identified some of the key factors that prevent the repair of brain damage caused by multiple sclerosis (MS), complications of premature birth, and other diseases and conditions. The findings offer important clues about why the nervous system fails to repair itself and suggest ways that at least some forms of brain damage could be reversed. The research is published in the August edition of the scientific journal Nature Medicine.

Factors inhibiting the brain’s natural self-healing process identified

Factors that inhibit the brain’s natural self-healing process and that may offer new insights into how to prevent brain damage in premature babies have been identified by a team of researchers supported in part by the March of Dimes.
The research is published online today in Nature Medicine.

Stephen A. Back, M.D., Ph.D., an Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Neurology at the Oregon

Study results reaffirm cyclin D1 as a candidate target for molecular therapeutic control of breast tumor development.

For about a decade, scientists have recognized that many cases of hereditary breast cancer result from a mutation of a specific gene called BRCA1, which, in its normal state, helps keep tumor formation in check. About five to 10 percent of breast cancer cases arise from these genetic miscues, about half of which are linked to the abnormal functioning of BRCA1.