Histones News and Research

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Simple blood test can detect a wide range of diseases

In diagnostic medicine, biopsies, where a sample of tissue is extracted for analysis, is a common tool for the detection of many conditions. But this approach has several drawbacks - it can be painful, doesn't always extract the diseased tissue, and can only be used in a sufficiently advanced disease stage, making it, in some cases, too late for intervention.

9 Feb 2021

Plants depend on LEAFY protein that enables cells to change their fate

Cells don't express all the genes they contain all the time. The portion of our genome that encodes eye color, for example, doesn't need to be turned on in liver cells. In plants, genes encoding the structure of a flower can be turned off in cells that will form a leaf.

28 Jan 2021

New method can help identify potential anti-cancer drugs at a high pace

The enzymes in human cells known as histone deacetylases, or HDACs, are targets for a handful of anticancer drugs because of their ability to affect gene expression.

25 Jan 2021

Computational method uses heat map data to reverse engineer 3D chromosome models

Genome analysis can provide information on genes and their location on a strand of DNA, but such analysis reveals little about their spatial location in relation to one another within chromosomes -- the highly complex, three-dimensional structures that hold genetic information.

15 Jan 2021

Moffitt study may lead to potential treatment options for cutaneous T cell lymphoma

Cutaneous T cell lymphomas (CTCLs) are a group of non-Hodgkin lymphomas that develop from T cells and mainly impact the skin with painful lesions.

21 Dec 2020

Glyphosate could be used as biomarkers to predict multiple diseases in future generations

Exposure to the widely used weed-killer glyphosate makes genetic changes to rats that can be linked to increased disease in their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, a new study has found.

10 Dec 2020

Repair protein may prevent damage to healthy cells during cancer therapy

A key way radiation therapy and chemotherapy work is by making highly lethal double-strand breaks in the DNA of cancer cells.

9 Dec 2020

Affinity-Bead Assisted Mass Spectrometry for Proteomics

In this interview, Ghaith Hamza from AstraZeneca talks to News-Medical Life Sciences about the basic principles of Affinity-Bead Assisted Mass Spectrometry (Affi-BAMS) and how Affi-BAMS can help target specific proteins for proteomic applications.

From Bruker Life Sciences Mass Spectrometry 16 Nov 2020

Men and women may require different brain tumor therapy, study finds

The current study shows that the sex differences in the tumor phenotype vary with the effect of the enhancer regulatory molecule bound to Brd4 on the course of stem cell-like differentiation in male and female GBM cells. Inhibition of Brd4 by genetic and pharmacological factors also varies in males and females, both in vivo and in vitro.

11 Nov 2020

Modification of DNA structure plays key role in the recovery phase after DNA damage

A research team from Cologne has discovered that a change in the DNA structure - more precisely in the chromatin - plays a decisive role in the recovery phase after DNA damage.

14 Oct 2020

Valproic acid can interact with DNA conformation and regulate gene expression

Results of recent studies involving valproic acid, used for decades as an anti-convulsant drug, show that it can interact with the conformation of DNA and regulate gene expression.

29 Sep 2020

Epigenetic changes in the brain drive late-onset Alzheimer's disease

New findings suggest that late-onset Alzheimer's Disease is driven by epigenetic changes -- how and when certain genes are turned on and off -- in the brain. Results were published today in Nature Genetics.

28 Sep 2020

New approach can make immunotherapy effective against cancers

If cancer is a series of puzzles, a new study pieces together how several of those puzzles connect to form a bigger picture.

3 Sep 2020

Advances in Virus Epigenetics

Growing evidence shows viruses exploit epigenetic processes to control their life cycles but epigentic regulation of viral infections is not fully understood.

From Chromatrap® - Porvair Sciences Ltd 25 Aug 2020

Manipulating cancer cell metabolism may help combat DIPGs and other brain tumors

Every year, 150 to 300 children in the United States are diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPGs), aggressive and lethal tumors that grow deep inside the brain, for which there are no cures.

18 Aug 2020

NSD2 enzyme protects against cellular senescence

Researchers from Kumamoto University in Japan have used comprehensive genetic analysis to find that the enzyme NSD2, which is known to regulate the actions of many genes, also works to block cell aging.

7 Aug 2020

New strategies can help increase the efficiency of artificial cell reprogramming

Maria-Elena: Can you imagine being able to artificially generate cells that can develop into any cell type? That would be really fantastic! We call this ability 'totipotency' and it is the highest level of cellular plasticity.

6 Jul 2020

UCLA scientists identify new function for histones

UCLA scientists have identified a new function for histones, the spool-shaped proteins that regulate gene expression and serve as anchors for strands of DNA to wrap around.

2 Jul 2020

Severity of COVID-19 linked to heparanase activity and heparan sulfate levels

Researchers at Radboud University Medical Center in the Netherlands reported an increase of heparanase activity and heparan sulfate levels in the plasma of patients with coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which was also associated with the severity of the condition – suggesting, in turn, potential treatment utility of low molecular weight heparins. The paper is currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server.

16 Jun 2020

Scientists uncover why developing nerve cells take a wrong turn

A group of scientists from CECAD, the Cluster of Excellence 'Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases,' have found a mechanism by which neurodevelopmental diseases concerning neurons can be explained: The loss of a certain enzyme, UBE2K, impeded the differentiation of stem cells by silencing the expression of genes important for neuronal differentiation and, therefore, the development and generation of neurons.

3 Jun 2020