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'Intelligent' cancer drug development boosts success rates

A new era of intelligent cancer drug development has spurred a leap in the proportion of drugs reaching patients, according to a study by Cancer Research UK scientists published in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery.

17 Nov 2008

World's earliest nuclear family found

The earliest evidence of a nuclear family, dating back to the Stone Age, has been uncovered by an international team of researchers, including experts from the University of Bristol.

17 Nov 2008

Blood exosomes shown to contain tumor-specific genetic information for brain cancer

Tiny vesicles called exosomes released into the bloodstream from aggressive brain tumors contain genetic signatures that may help guide future diagnosis and treatment of this deadly disease.

17 Nov 2008

University of Illinois at Chicago joins international research effort on autism

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago are taking part in an international effort to gather DNA samples from 2,000 autism patients and their families over the next three years.

16 Nov 2008

Scientists find intra cellular pathway driving a deadly sub-type of breast cancer

An intra cellular pathway not previously linked to breast cancer is driving a sub-type of the disease that is highly lethal and disproportionately over-represented in African American women.

16 Nov 2008

Early-onset familial Alzheimer disease provides clues to treatment of common Alzheimer's

The rarest kind of Alzheimer Disease (AD) - the form that transmits from parent to child with a cruel 50 percent likelihood - has been valued for its potential to shed light for the millions of people affected by the common form of AD.

16 Nov 2008

Microvesicles released from glioblastoma cells carry information that may guide treatment

Microvesicles - tiny membrane-covered sacs - released from glioblastoma cells contain molecules that may provide data that can guide treatment of the deadly brain tumor.

16 Nov 2008

Seniors with sharp brains reveal first secrets of sharp memory in old age

Maybe you have an 85-year-old grandfather who still whips through the newspaper crossword puzzle every morning or a 94-year-old aunt who never forgets a name or a face.

16 Nov 2008

Previously unknown regulatory step during HIV replication provides potential new target for HIV/AIDS therapy

A previously unknown regulatory step during human immunodeficiency (HIV) replication provides a potentially valuable new target for HIV/AIDS therapy, report researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

16 Nov 2008

Discovery of key contributor to Alzheimer's disease process

Walter J. Lukiw, PhD, Associate Professor of Neuroscience and Ophthalmology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, is the lead author of a paper identifying, for the first time, a specific function of a fragment of ribonucleic acid (RNA), once thought to be no more than a byproduct, in regulating inflammation and the development of Alzheimer's disease.

16 Nov 2008

Potential new therapeutic targets for rejuvenating the aged immune system

In the November 15th issue of G&D, Dr. Kenneth Dorshkind and colleagues at the David Geffen School of Medicine (UCLA) have identified two genes - p16(Ink4a) and Arf - that sensitize lymphoid progenitor cells to the effects of aging, and confer resistance to leukemogenesis.

16 Nov 2008

Breakthrough in cellular analysis

Like skilled assassins, many diseases seem to know exactly what types of cells to attack.

16 Nov 2008

Alzheimer's gene apolipoprotein E4 slows export of amyloid-beta

The only known genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease slows down the brain's ability to export a toxic protein known as amyloid-beta that is central to the damage the disease causes, scientists have found.

16 Nov 2008

Genetic Immunity announces first patient dosed in trial with DermaVir patch for HIV

Genetic Immunity, a US/Hungarian clinical-stage company focused on development of nanomedicines for targeted immune amplification, today announced it has treated the first subject in a Phase II clinical study to evaluate DermaVir Patch.

13 Nov 2008

Alzheimer's gene slows brain's ability to export toxic protein

13 Nov 2008

Breakthrough in cell-type analysis offers new ways to study development and disease

Like skilled assassins, many diseases seem to know exactly what types of cells to attack. While decimating one cadre of cells, diseases will inexplicably spare a seemingly identical group of neighbors. What makes cells vulnerable or not depends largely on the kinds and amounts of proteins they produce - their 'translational profile,' in the lingo of molecular biology. For this reason, scientists have struggled to parse the subtle molecular differences among the hundreds of specialized cell types that are tangled together in tissues like the brain.

13 Nov 2008