Genes News and Research

RSS

Pyruvate kinase M2 fuels tumor growth by influencing H3 histone protein

A metabolic protein that nourishes cancer cells also activates tumor-promoting genes by loosening part of the packaging that entwines DNA to make up chromosomes, a team led by scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reports in the Aug. 16 issue of Cell.

17 Aug 2012

Study helps explain how large DNA viruses undergo rapid evolution

Scientists have discovered that poxviruses, which are responsible for smallpox and other diseases, can adapt to defeat different host antiviral defenses by quickly and temporarily producing multiple copies of a gene that helps the viruses to counter host immunity.

17 Aug 2012

U-M, IGC launch new joint venture for personalized medicine

As a key step toward providing patients with treatments based on their own DNA profiles, the University of Michigan and the International Genomics Consortium (IGC) have launched a new joint venture that will help usher in an age of personalized medicine.

17 Aug 2012

Researchers use small molecule compound to generate reversible birth control in male mice

The development of a male contraceptive pill has long proven to be elusive, but findings from a new study may point scientists in the right direction to making oral birth control for men a reality.

17 Aug 2012

PKS-positive E. coli may encourage development of colon cancer

Scientists at the University of Liverpool have identified a type of E. coli bacteria that may encourage the development of colon cancer.

17 Aug 2012

Acute stress modifies DNA methylation and activity of certain genes

Acute stress alters the methylation of the DNA and thus the activity of certain genes. This is reported by researchers at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum together with colleagues from Basel, Trier and London for the first time in the journal Translational Psychiatry. "The results provide evidence how stress could be related to a higher risk of mental or physical illness", says Prof. Dr. Gunther Meinlschmidt from the Clinic of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy at the LWL University Hospital of the RUB.

16 Aug 2012

Radiosensitivity molecular signature can lead to better radiation therapy decisions for breast cancer

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center, working with colleagues in Sweden, the Netherlands and Puerto Rico, have validated a radiosensitivity molecular signature that can lead to better radiation therapy decisions for treating patients with breast cancer.

16 Aug 2012

Passenger deletions that deactivate essential genes provide new opportunity to strike cancer

Genomic deletions promote cancer by carving up or eliminating tumor-suppressor genes, but now scientists report in the journal Nature that the collateral damage they inflict on neighboring genes exposes cancer cells to vulnerabilities and new avenues for attack.

16 Aug 2012

RNA-delivering nanoparticles allow rapid screening of new drug targets in mice

By sequencing cancer-cell genomes, scientists have discovered vast numbers of genes that are mutated, deleted or copied in cancer cells. This treasure trove is a boon for researchers seeking new drug targets, but it is nearly impossible to test them all in a timely fashion.

16 Aug 2012

CYCLOPS genes may serve as targets for cancer therapies

The genomic tumult within tumor cells has provided scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard with clues to an entirely new class of genes that may serve as an Achilles' heel for many forms of cancer.

16 Aug 2012

Scientists reveal how TREX proteins act as passport for transfer of cell blueprints

Decoded process could hold the key to future treatments for a wide range of chronic health problems including Motor Neuron Disease, myotonic dystrophy and a wide range of cancers, University of Sheffield scientists have revealed.

16 Aug 2012

Rice University researcher to see how delays in gene transcription affect cellular processes

A Rice University researcher and his colleagues have received a National Institutes of Health grant to see how delays in gene transcription - life's most basic messaging system - affect cellular processes.

16 Aug 2012

Mechanism for chemotherapy resistance identified

Researchers have identified that chemotherapy induces subsequent treatment resistance through damaging healthy tissue, which in turn secretes novel factors that sustain the growth of residual tumor cells.

15 Aug 2012

Mindfulness meditation prevents feelings of loneliness

Many elderly people spend their last years alone. Spouses pass and children scatter. But being lonely is much more than a silent house and a lack of companionship. Over time, loneliness not only takes a toll on the psyche but can have a serious physical impact as well.

15 Aug 2012

Two papers may help identify gene variants that contribute to OCD or Tourette syndrome

Two papers that will appear in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, both receiving advance online release, may help identify gene variants that contribute to the risks of developing obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or Tourette syndrome (TS). Both multi-institutional studies were led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) investigators, and both are the first genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in the largest groups of individuals affected by the conditions.

15 Aug 2012

External stimulation impacts postnatal development of brain's white matter

A team at Children's National Medical Center has found that external stimulation has an impact on the postnatal development of a specific region of the brain. Published in Nature Neuroscience, the study used sensory deprivation to look at the growth and collection of NG2-expressing oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (NG2 cells) in the sensory cortex of the brain.

14 Aug 2012

Antisense therapy shows promise in treating toxoplasmosis

A targeted approach to treating toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease, shows early promise in test-tube and animal studies, where it prevented the parasites from making selected proteins. When tested in newly infected mice, it reduced the number of viable parasites by more than 90 percent, researchers from the University of Chicago Medicine report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

14 Aug 2012

Novel method identifies new oncogene that contributes to development of cancer

A team of researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, led by Dr. Mark W. Jackson, have developed a novel method to identify genes that, when overexpressed, make normal cells behave like cancer cells.

14 Aug 2012

Gadd45a protein plays a key role in skeletal muscle atrophy

Whether you're old, have been ill, or suffered an injury, you've watched gloomily as your muscles have atrophied. The deterioration of muscle-even slight or gradual-is about as common to the human condition as breathing.

14 Aug 2012

New class of drugs may prove useful in treating cancer and aging-associated disorders

In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on Aug. 6, an international team led by Igor Roninson, of the University of South Carolina and the Medical University of South Carolina, reported the development of a new class of drugs that may prove useful in the treatment of cancer and aging-associated disorders.

14 Aug 2012