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Analysis of alcoholics' brains suggests treatment target

An analysis of brain tissue samples from chronic alcoholics reveals changes that occur at the molecular level in alcohol abuse - and suggests a potential treatment target, according to researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

2 May 2008

Variations of the adiponectin gene may predict risk of breast cancer in women

According to a recent study, led by Virginia Kaklamani, MD, an oncologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and assistant professor of medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, variations of the adiponectin gene, which regulates a number of metabolic processes, may increase a woman's risk of developing breast cancer.

2 May 2008

Researchers report the cloning of a key group of human genes, the protein kinases

Although the human genome has been sequenced, research into mechanism of action of genes has been hampered by the fact that most human genes have not been isolated.

2 May 2008

Harmful blood glucose levels linked to genetic mutation

A genetic mutation that can raise the amount of glucose in a person's blood to harmful levels is identified today in a study in the journal Science.

1 May 2008

Phase of clock gene expression in human leukocytes correlates with habitual sleep timing

The phase of clock gene expression in leukocytes, assessed in the absence of the masking effects of light-dark and sleep-wake cycles, correlates with habitual sleep timing, according to a study published in the May 1 issue of the journal SLEEP.

1 May 2008

New study raises questions about prostate cancer therapies targeting insulin-like growth factor receptor

Therapies under development to treat prostate cancer by inhibiting the ability of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) to activate its target receptor could have unexpected results especially if a major tumor suppressor gene - p53 - is already compromised, according to new research by investigators at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

1 May 2008

Small molecule nutlin-3a activates an important cancer suppressor gene

By activating a cancer suppressor gene, a small molecule called nutlin-3a can block cancer cell division, according to researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health.

1 May 2008

Scientists produce stem cells from ordinary mouse skin cells

Researchers in the United States say they have produced a stem cell made from ordinary mouse skin cells which they have coaxed into becoming three different types of heart and blood cells in mice.

1 May 2008

Study raises questions about prostate cancer therapies targeting IGF-1

1 May 2008

Males and females have essentially unisex brains - at least in flies!

Research by Yale scientists shows that males and females have essentially unisex brains - at least in flies - according to a recent report in Cell designed to identify factors that are responsible for sex differences in behavior.

30 Apr 2008

New understanding of how some bacteria survive antibiotic treatment

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have discovered how some bacteria can survive antibiotic treatment by turning on resistance mechanisms when exposed to the drugs.

30 Apr 2008

Researchers discover molecular basis of limb-girdle muscular dystrophy

A team of French and German researchers report in the May 2008 print issue of The FASEB Journal that people with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy are missing a protein called c-FLIP, which the body uses to prevent the loss of muscle tissue.

30 Apr 2008

Silent fungus metabolism awakened for source of new drugs

U.S. scientists have re-awakened 'silent' metabolic pathways in fungi to reveal a new range of natural products. The research could provide not only a source of new drugs, but a way to "listen to what fungi are saying" to organisms around them.

30 Apr 2008

Study describes mechanism linking acohol with risk of breast cancer

The known association of alcohol consumption with an increased risk of breast cancer has been linked by researchers at the University at Buffalo to a process that causes genes that promote normal cell growth to produce proteins that precipitate unregulated cell growth, an action known as hypermethylation

30 Apr 2008

Yale scientists explain metastasis

Metastasis, the spread of cancer throughout the body, can be explained by the fusion of a cancer cell with a white blood cell in the original tumor, according to Yale School of Medicine researchers, who say that this single event can set the stage for cancer's migration to other parts of the body.

29 Apr 2008

Biomarkers identified for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

The first evidence of a distinctive protein signature that could help to transform the diagnosis and improve the monitoring of the devastating lung disease idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is being reported by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine researchers in this month's edition of PLoS Medicine, an open-access journal of the Public Library of Science.

28 Apr 2008