Protein News and Research

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Proteins are complex molecules that are made up of amino acids. They can be found in every cell in the body, and carry out vital processes that keep human beings alive. Mutations in proteins can lead to a multitude of diseases, the most common being cancer.

Researchers develop new silk-based stabilizer for vaccines and antibiotics

Researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health have developed a new silk-based stabilizer that, in the laboratory, kept some vaccines and antibiotics stable up to temperatures of 140 degrees Fahrenheit.

10 Jul 2012

Scientists develop novel anticancer drug designed to travel through the bloodstream

Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, working with Danish researchers, have developed a novel anticancer drug designed to travel -- undetected by normal cells -- through the bloodstream until activated by specific cancer proteins.

10 Jul 2012

Oligomers may be responsible for onset of Alzheimer's

Alzheimer's disease is one of the most dreaded and debilitating illnesses one can develop. Currently, the disease afflicts 6.5 million Americans and the Alzheimer's Association projects it to increase to between 11 and 16 million, or 1 in 85 people, by 2050.

10 Jul 2012

Measuring creatinine and cystatin C more accurately estimates kidney function

Measuring creatinine and cystatin C - two markers for chronic kidney disease (CKD) - more precisely estimates kidney function than either marker alone, according to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health. Results appear in the July 5 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

10 Jul 2012

Combination of estrogen and MPA increases synapses in the prefrontal cortex

A new study of aged female rats found that long-term treatment with estrogen and a synthetic progesterone known as MPA increased levels of a protein marker of synapses in the prefrontal cortex, a brain region known to suffer significant losses in aging.

10 Jul 2012

Overproduction of hepcidin appears to impair maternal-fetal iron transfer

A growing number of studies imply that children born to obese mothers face health problems stemming from the womb.

10 Jul 2012

Inspiration receives FDA clinical hold order for IB1001 phase III studies on hemophilia B

Ipsen announced today that its partner Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals Inc. (Inspiration) was notified by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that both clinical trials evaluating the safety and efficacy of IB1001, an investigational intravenous recombinant factor IX (rFIX) therapy for the treatment and prevention of bleeding episodes in people with hemophilia B, were placed on clinical hold.

10 Jul 2012

Protein interactions outside breast cancer cells can permanently stop proliferation

Protein interactions outside breast cancer cells can send signals to the cancer cells to permanently stop proliferating, a new study showed in the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio.

10 Jul 2012

Einstein researchers to study molecular mechanism behind Ebola virus infection

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University a five-year, $4.8 million grant to study the molecular mechanism that allows the Ebola virus to cause infection and spread in animals.

10 Jul 2012

EGF helps prevent inflammation-induced cancer

Epidermal growth factor (EGF) is a protein that normally regulates intestinal healing. However, biological therapies, like EGF, also may pose the risk of increasing the possibility of cancer. Philip Dubé, PhD, and Brent Polk, MD, both of the Saban Research Institute of Children's Hospital Los Angeles have demonstrated that in preclinical models, EGF encourages healing and provides powerful anti-inflammatory properties that prevent inflammation-induced cancer.

10 Jul 2012

Questionnaire may aid rheumatoid arthritis flare diagnosis

French researchers have created a 13-item patient-administered questionnaire for identifying a recent or present rheumatoid arthritis flare.

9 Jul 2012

Read-through molecule improves muscle function in DMD

A compound that results in a read-through on nonsense mutations in messenger RNA restores dystrophin expression in an animal model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, research shows.

9 Jul 2012

Gene defect linked to cluster of systemic complications

Research teams from The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) and Paris, France have discovered a gene defect linked to a cluster of systemic complications, including life-threatening thoracic aortic disease and intracranial aneurysms. The new syndrome is similar, but distinct from known syndromes such as Marfan and Loeys-Dietz syndrome.

9 Jul 2012

Special surface coating for stents to keep them in place

If a person's windpipe is constricted, an operation in which the surgeon inserts a stent to enlarge the trachea is often the only way to relieve their respiratory distress. But this grid-like implant can slip out of position, closing off the windpipe altogether. Researchers are working on a special surface coating for the stents to keep them in place.

9 Jul 2012

Researchers use metal complexes to modify peptide hormones

Researchers at the RUB and from Berkeley have used metal complexes to modify peptide hormones. In the Journal of the American Chemical Society, they report for the first time on the three-dimensional structure of the resulting metal-peptide compounds.

9 Jul 2012

Positive interim results from Inspiration's OBI-1 Phase 2/3 study for acquired hemophilia A

Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. today reported data from its ongoing Phase 2/3 study evaluating the efficacy of OBI-1, an investigational recombinant porcine factor VIII (FVIII), for the treatment of serious bleeds in people with acquired hemophilia A. According to the interim analysis, seven out of seven trial participants receiving OBI-1 experienced control and subsequent resolution of their bleeds.

9 Jul 2012

Novel treatment for cancer based on protein from HIV-1 virus

Yissum, Research and Development Company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, introduces a novel method for treating cancer based on Vif, a protein isolated from the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV-1). The method was invented by Professor Emeritus Moshe Kotler and Dr. Roni Nowarski from the Department of Immunology and Cancer Research at the Hebrew University.

9 Jul 2012

Human immune response: TCD scientists make breakthrough which could lead to new drug therapies

A team of researchers at Trinity College Dublin’s School of Medicine has gained new insights into a protein in the human immune system that plays a key role in the protective response to infection and inflammation. The research findings have just been published in the internationally renowned peer-reviewed Journal of Biological Chemistry.

9 Jul 2012

Does alcohol kill brain cells?

Several origins have been suggested for the idea that alcohol kills brain cells. Some link it to the temperance movement, which called for prohibition of alcohol.

9 Jul 2012

DNA from CF patients with and without chronic infections points to unsuspected mutation

Comparing the DNA from patients at the best and worst extremes of a health condition can reveal genes for resistance and susceptibly. This approach discovered rare variations in the DCTN4 gene among cystic fibrosis patients most prone to early, chronic airway infections.

9 Jul 2012