Protein C News and Research

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Research on method to open blood-brain barrier for safe cancer drug delivery

One of the human body's most powerful defensive tools, the blood-brain barrier is a chemical labyrinth that prevents toxins and viruses in the bloodstream from reaching the brain. This foolproof security system, however, limits the ability of physicians to deliver drugs directly to the brain, making it difficult to treat brain tumors. Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute are endeavoring to solve this problem by investigating new methods for bypassing the blood-brain barrier and combating the spread of brain cancer.

28 Jul 2010

Scientists develop novel chemotherapeutic method for anticancer drug delivery

Combining nature and Greek mythology, researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have developed a tiny "Trojan Horse" system for delivering cancer-fighting drugs. With this system, the drugs are delivered only once they are inside the cancerous cells, so there is no damage to the healthy cells in the surrounding area.

28 Jul 2010

Attaching transferrin to nanoparticle surface can kill cancer cells

A normally benign protein found in the human body appears to be able - when paired with nanoparticles - to zero in on and kill certain cancer cells, without having to also load those particles with chemotherapy drugs.The finding could lead to a new strategy for targeted cancer therapies, according to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill scientists who made the discovery.

28 Jul 2010

Progenra receives Official Notice of Allowance for screening platform

Progenra, Inc., announced today their receipt of an Official Notice of Allowance, dated June 15, 2010, of U.S. Patent Application No. 11/156,707, "Diagnostic and Screening Methods and Kits Associated with Proteolytic Activity." IP protection of this technology was also recently granted by the European Union. This technology will enable faster drug discovery by improving the ability to identify more selective drugs that modulate the handling of proteins associated with various disease states.

27 Jul 2010

Researchers reveal biological rationale for why corticosteroids help people with lupus

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have uncovered the biological rationale for why large doses of corticosteroids given repeatedly over several weeks may help individuals with lupus, a chronic inflammatory disease that affects more than 1 million people in the U.S.

27 Jul 2010

Neurodegenerative disease-causing infectious protein can erupt from healthy brain tissue: Study

In a startling new study that involved research on both sides of the Atlantic, scientists from The Scripps Research Institute in Florida and the University College London Institute of Neurology in England have shown for the first time that abnormal prions, bits of infectious protein devoid of DNA or RNA that can cause fatal neurodegenerative disease, can suddenly erupt from healthy brain tissue.

27 Jul 2010

Circle Biologics introduces single device Autologous Platelet Concentrator Platform

Circle Biologics, Inc. has announced a technological break-through in regenerative medicine – its Autologous Platelet Concentrator Platform. This innovative single device platform is the first of its kind to incorporate both autologous cell concentration and protein concentration in one point-of-care device.

27 Jul 2010

PIK3CA, KRAS mutations in tumor can predict patients’ response to treatment: Research

Drugs such as everolimus that target the protein mTOR are used to treat several forms of cancer, but not all patients respond to the treatment. A team of researchers, led by Alberto Bardelli, at the University of Turin Medical School, Italy, has now identified a way to help predict which patients will respond to such drugs.

27 Jul 2010

ProtAffin signs manufacturing contract with CMC Biologics for COPD drug PA401

ProtAffin AG, a biotechnology company developing a novel class of biopharmaceutical products that act by targeting cell-surface glycan structures, today announced it has signed a manufacturing contract with CMC Biologics' Danish operations, located in Copenhagen, Denmark for manufacture of its lead product PA401 for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The contract will cover manufacture and supply of PA401 for preclinical development and early clinical development in COPD and related respiratory indications.

27 Jul 2010

Study on treatment needs of prostate cancer patients with low level PSA

Controversy has long existed over the benefit of the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test used to screen for the presence of prostate cancer, and there has been little study to document the risk profile of men who have a PSA level at or below what is considered 'normal.' New research published in the latest edition of Archives of Internal Medicine (Vol. 170, No. 14) by a team of investigators at The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ), further explores this population. The findings show that most men with prostate cancer who tested below the normal PSA level and had low-risk disease nevertheless underwent aggressive treatment. CINJ is a Center of Excellence of UMDNJ-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School.

27 Jul 2010

Johns Hopkins scientist wins $2.5M NIH Director's Pioneer Award

A Johns Hopkins scientist who proposes to design and create an all-new series of novel drugs is one of 17 winners of a special grant known as a Director's Pioneer Award from the National Institutes of Health.

27 Jul 2010

NIH awards BU $1.6M grant to target protein-protein interactions with synthetic organic drugs

An interdisciplinary team of Boston University professors is launching a project to develop new ways to target protein-protein interactions with synthetic organic drugs. Financed by a four-year $1.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, the goal is to develop new approaches for discovering "drug-like" small molecule inhibitors against challenging protein-protein interaction (PPI) interfaces.

27 Jul 2010

Scientists develop obesity drug without neurological side effects

The drug rimonabant was developed as a treatment for obesity and its myriad of serious health consequences. Despite having its desired effects on weight, which it decreased, and on levels of glucose and fats in the blood, rimonabant was never approved for use in the US because of serious neurological side effects including depression and anxiety. Now, a team of researchers, led by George Kunos, at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, and Alexandros Makriyannis, at Northeastern University, Boston, have developed a drug that has the same positive effects in mice on levels of glucose and fats in the blood as rimonabant but none of the neurological side effects.

27 Jul 2010

Scientists discover mechanism of herpes virus cell entry machinery

The mechanism by which a herpes virus invades cells has remained a mystery to scientists, but now research from Tufts University and the University of Pennsylvania reveals the unusual structure of a key member of the protein complex that allows a herpes virus to invade cells.The new map details an essential piece of the herpes virus "cell-entry machinery," providing scientists with a new target for antiviral drugs.

27 Jul 2010

Hospira commences EPO Phase I U.S. clinical trial in renal dysfunction patients with anemia

Hospira, Inc., the world leader in generic injectable pharmaceuticals, today announced the start of a U.S. Phase I clinical trial of its biosimilar erythropoietin (EPO) in patients with renal (kidney) dysfunction who have anemia, an important step on the road toward introducing a biosimilar product in the United States. Erythropoietin is a treatment for anemia associated with chronic renal failure and chemotherapy.

26 Jul 2010

Researchers discover potential method for neurodegenerative disease detection

New investigations, initiated by research workers at CIC bioGUNE and led by Dr. Aitor Hierro, have opened possibilities for making progress in the knowledge and prediction of neurodegenerative diseases such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), according to the journal of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.This study opens the possibility of research in humans to detect this pathology before the symptoms arise.

26 Jul 2010

Axela acquires Xceed Molecular

Axela Inc., an innovator in systems that multiplex protein biomarker testing in clinical research and diagnostics, has acquired Xceed Molecular, developer of the award-winning Ziplex® System for gene-expression analysis, the Breast Cancer Prognostic Assay, and Colon Cancer Xpress chip. The new Axela will be introduced at the 2010 American Association of Clinical Chemistry (AACC) annual meeting and Clinical Lab Expo, which takes place July 25 – 29 at the Anaheim Convention Center in California.

26 Jul 2010

ESC concerned over interpretation of JUPITER sub-analysis trial results about HDL cholesterol

The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) is concerned that interpretations of a paper about cholesterol, published in the Lancet, could act to deter ongoing research efforts into developing new therapeutic strategies to increase high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. Caution, the ESC experts advise, should be displayed in the interpretation of the results.

26 Jul 2010

Cerenis, Novasep awarded French Government funding for development of CER-001 HDL mimetic

Cerenis Therapeutics SA (Cerenis), a biopharmaceutical company developing novel high-density lipoprotein (HDL) therapies to treat cardiovascular and other metabolic diseases, and Groupe Novasep (Novasep), a leading supplier of manufacturing solutions to the life sciences industries, announce today that they have received French Government funding through OSEO to finance the development of CER-001, a Cerenis HDL mimetic.

26 Jul 2010

Gamma-tocotrienol suppresses colony formation of cancer stem cells: Research

Scientists from Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong have found that gamma-tocotrienol is potent in killing prostate cancer stem cells. This small group of cells is responsible for the initiation of prostate cancer and is resistant to conventional chemotherapy drugs. It causes relapses in the cancer by producing new chemo-resistant cancer cells. Gamma-tocotrienol is a member of the Vitamin E family and is derived naturally from palm oil.

26 Jul 2010

Protein C News and Research

Research on method to open blood-brain barrier for safe cancer drug delivery

Scientists develop novel chemotherapeutic method for anticancer drug delivery

Attaching transferrin to nanoparticle surface can kill cancer cells

Progenra receives Official Notice of Allowance for screening platform

Researchers reveal biological rationale for why corticosteroids help people with lupus

Neurodegenerative disease-causing infectious protein can erupt from healthy brain tissue: Study

Circle Biologics introduces single device Autologous Platelet Concentrator Platform

PIK3CA, KRAS mutations in tumor can predict patients’ response to treatment: Research

ProtAffin signs manufacturing contract with CMC Biologics for COPD drug PA401

Study on treatment needs of prostate cancer patients with low level PSA

Johns Hopkins scientist wins $2.5M NIH Director's Pioneer Award

NIH awards BU $1.6M grant to target protein-protein interactions with synthetic organic drugs

Scientists develop obesity drug without neurological side effects

Scientists discover mechanism of herpes virus cell entry machinery

Hospira commences EPO Phase I U.S. clinical trial in renal dysfunction patients with anemia

Researchers discover potential method for neurodegenerative disease detection

Axela acquires Xceed Molecular

ESC concerned over interpretation of JUPITER sub-analysis trial results about HDL cholesterol

Cerenis, Novasep awarded French Government funding for development of CER-001 HDL mimetic

Gamma-tocotrienol suppresses colony formation of cancer stem cells: Research

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

Expanding access to NMR with the Fourier 80 Duo

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