Cytochrome P450 News and Research

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Blue-green algae may lead to exciting class of anti-cancer drugs

Combining synthetic chemistry techniques with a knowledge of the properties and actions of enzymes, scientists have been able to produce an exciting class of anti-cancer drugs originally isolated from blue-green algae.

10 Jan 2007

St. John's wort and Echinacea increase activity of enzyme in the liver and intestine

St. John's wort and Echinacea, two widely-used herbal preparations, have been found to increase activity of a specific enzyme in the liver and intestine, an enzyme involved in the metabolization of roughly one in every four pharmaceutical drugs on the market today, reports a clinical pharmacologist at Indiana University School of Medicine.

11 Apr 2006

Link between coffee consumption and risk of myocardial infarction greater with certain gene variation

Individuals who have a genetic variation associated with slower caffeine metabolism appear to have an increased risk of non-fatal heart attack associated with higher amounts of coffee intake

9 Mar 2006

Coffee good or bad for you? It depends on your genes!

Scientists know that coffee, a major source of caffeine, is metabolized by the enzyme, cytochrome P450 1A2, and some individuals who have that particular gene are "rapid" caffeine metabolizers, whereas those with a different variation of the gene are "slow" caffeine metabolizers.

8 Mar 2006

New discovery sparks hope of safer dosage of Warfarin

The blood-thinning drug Warfarin tops the list of drug side-effects in Sweden. Patient sensitivity to Warfarin varies, which can lead to over-dosage and in certain cases to death.

17 May 2005

FDA go ahead for first of kind genetic lab test

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the marketing of the first laboratory test system that will allow physicians to consider unique genetic information from patients in selecting medications and doses of medications for a wide variety of common conditions such as cardiac disease, psychiatric disease, and cancer.

27 Dec 2004

Genetic evidence to support an inherited tendency to retain salt

Researchers at the University of Chicago have found genetic evidence to support the sodium-retention hypothesis, a controversial 30-year-old theory that the high rate of hypertension in certain ethnic groups is caused, in part, by an inherited tendency to retain salt.

29 Oct 2004