Kinase News and Research

RSS

Tarceva plus Gemcitabine improves survival compared to Gemcitabine alone

OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Genentech, Inc., and Roche announced today that results from a randomized Phase III clinical study of the investigational drug Tarceva (erlotinib HCl), in combination with gemcitabine chemotherapy met its primary endpoint of improving survival.

20 Sep 2004

New method targeting hypermethylation detects ovarian cancer in the blood

Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers have found a new way to detect ovarian cancer in the blood. Reported in the Sept. 15, 2004, issue of Cancer Research, the new method targets hypermethylation--one mechanism used by cancer cells to turn off genes that protect against tumor development.

16 Sep 2004

Researchers accurately pinpoint the types of lymphoma, Hodgkins or non-Hodgkins

“There are many types and subtypes of lymphoma, some of which are easy to detect, but many that are very difficult to identify,” says Antonio Giordano, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Sbarro Institute at Temple and one of the study’s principal investigators.

1 Sep 2004

Enzyme activation key to body clock

Feel like time is repeating itself and won’t move on? It could be your internal clock is backpedaling because your PKG-II is out of whack.

20 Aug 2004

FDA fast tracks temsirolimus, first-line treatment of poor-prognosis patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma

Wyeth Pharmaceuticals has announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted a new "fast track" designation for temsirolimus (CCI-779), an investigational mTOR kinase inhibitor, in the first-line treatment of poor-prognosis patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC).

18 Aug 2004

First evidence of the molecular link between inflammation and cancer

The investigators found that a gene called I-kappa-B kinase (IKK beta), a pro-inflammatory gene, acts differently in two cell types to cause cancer. When IKK beta was deleted, the cancer incidence and tumor growth in mice was decreased by nearly 80 percent.

5 Aug 2004

Scientists create mice that don't gain weight, even when fed fat-laden, high calorie diets

By altering the expression of a single -- albeit different – gene, Drs. Roger Davis (UMASS Medical School, USA) and Ying-Hue Lee (Academia Sinica, Taiwan) have succeeded in creating two different strains of transgenic mice that don't gain weight, even when fed fat-laden, high calorie diets.

2 Aug 2004

Identification of PIK3CA as an oncogene associated with brain cancers opens the door to new screening processes

Hotspots in two areas of a gene that encodes a specific signaling enzyme, or kinase, are vulnerable to a variety of mutations found in five types of brain cancers, according to a report published in the August 1 issue of the journal Cancer Research.

2 Aug 2004

Proof of principle that it is possible to deliver new genes body-wide to all the muscles of an adult animal

MDA-supported researchers at the University of Washington-Seattle have delivered the gene for the dystrophin protein to all voluntary muscles with a single intravenous injection in mice with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

29 Jul 2004

Epilepsy, new therapeutic possibilities

To date epilepsy research has mainly concentrated on the transmission of the nerve cell signals to what are known as the synapses.

23 Jul 2004

New compound that is designed to overcome Gleevec resistance

One of the truly spectacular success stories in modern oncology is the development and implementation of Gleevec, a drug that virtually halts the progress of chronic myeloid leukemia. Yet for some patients who harbor particularly stubborn genetic mutations, Gleevec fails miserably.

17 Jul 2004

8.5 million Euros to address a fundamental question on mitosis: How is cell division regulated?

Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) join forces with top scientists from eleven research institutes in Austria, Germany, Italy, France and the United Kingdom for “MitoCheck” – the largest integrated research project on cell cycle control within the European Commission’s 6th Framework Programme (FP6).

15 Jul 2004

Research provides new insight into the carefully controlled architectural changes that underlie organ development

A new research study demonstrates that a single chemical growth factor orchestrates a complex developmental process by sequentially activating distinct subsets of molecular signals.

13 Jul 2004

New compound, ZK-CDK combines the inhibition of tumour cell growth as well as inhibition of tumour angiogenesis in one single molecule

Treatment with a new dual cell cycle and angiogenesis pathway inhibitor blocks VEGF-induced vascular permeability, inhibits tumour angiogenesis and induces apoptosis in human tumour models

7 Jul 2004

Key proteins that regulate neurofibromatosis could be targets for new drugs

More than 100,000 Americans suffer from the painful and debilitating genetic disorder known as neurofibromatosis, or NF, which causes tumors to grow in various types of nerve tissue throughout the body.

7 Jul 2004

Brain enzyme known to affect mood may be decreased in teens who commit suicide

The activity of a brain enzyme known to affect mood may be decreased in teens who commit suicide, according to an article in the July issue of The Archives of General Psychiatry.

6 Jul 2004

Protein called Rac controls a number of biological processes and is directly implicated in several human diseases

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have described the regulatory mechanism of an important human protein called Rac that controls a number of biological processes and is directly implicated in several human diseases.

2 Jul 2004

Exelixis files new drug application for a proprietary novel anticancer compound

Exelixis, Inc. has submitted an investigational new drug application (IND) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for XL999, a proprietary novel anticancer compound.

29 Jun 2004

Cancer drug gefitinib (Iressa) may be able to restore tamoxifen's anticancer activity

A new study has found a possible mechanism for tamoxifen resistance in breast cancer and provides evidence that another cancer drug--gefitinib (Iressa)--may be able to restore tamoxifen's anticancer activity.

15 Jun 2004

Size and shape of synapses among neurons in the cerebral cortex determine long term memory capability

In a study to appear in the June 10 issue of Neuron, neuroscientists at the Picower Center for Learning and Memory at MIT show for the first time that storage of long-term memories depends on the size and shape of synapses among neurons in the outer part of the brain, the cerebral cortex.

14 Jun 2004