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GRK2 protein - potential drug target for heart failure

A protein that plays an important regulatory role in heart failure in the heart also exerts powerful effects on the adrenal gland, Jefferson Medical College researchers have found. The protein, GRK2, is a potential drug target for heart failure.

28 Nov 2005

Study finds AKT blocks cancer cell motility

PIn investigating the molecular mechanisms of cancer cell motility - the unique property that enables cancer to spread from its primary origin to other parts of the body - researchers have uncovered a surprising role for the AKT/PKB (protein kinase B) enzyme

26 Nov 2005

Two novel drugs kill breast cancer tumor cells

Two new drugs, when combined, killed up to 75 percent of breast cancer tumor cells in mice and suppressed the regrowth of tumors, according to researchers at the Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center.

26 Nov 2005

Six gene variants predict heart muscle damage after cardiac surgery

Duke University Medical Center researchers have found that patients with six specific variants of genes involved in the body's immune response are significantly more likely to suffer damage of heart tissue after cardiac surgery.

16 Nov 2005

New understanding of sphingosine kinases called SphK1 and SphK2

Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center researchers have found that two enzymes that catalyze the same reaction and produce the same product have opposite effects on cell growth and death.

7 Nov 2005

Role of alpha tocopherol associated protein in prostate cancer

Researchers have identified a protein that disrupts an important signaling pathway in prostate cancer cells and suppresses growth of the cancer.

1 Nov 2005

Discovery of signaling mechanism may help prevent metastatic melanoma

Researchers at Northwestern University have discovered a key signaling mechanism that may promote the ability of highly aggressive malignant melanoma cells to metastasize, or spread from a primary tumor to distant sites within the body.

1 Nov 2005

Novel mouse model of medulloblastoma

A collaboration of researchers, led by Dr. Martine Roussel of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, has developed a novel mouse model of medulloblastoma -- the most prevalent malignant pediatric brain tumor -- that the researchers hope will more accurately represent the genetic changes involved in human brain tumor development.

30 Oct 2005

Australian researchers determine structure of JAK2 kinase, huge implications for development of new cancer drugs

Researchers from Monash's Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology have determined the structure of the protein JAK2 kinase, a discovery with huge implications for the design and development of new cancer drugs.

25 Oct 2005

Scientists gain better understanding of how repetitive stretching of endothelial cells that line arteries can make them healthy and resistant to vascular diseases

UCSD researchers stretched cells in a workout chamber the size of a credit card to gain a better understanding of how repetitive stretching of endothelial cells that line arteries can make them healthy and resistant to vascular diseases.

24 Oct 2005

Study identifies molecular switch that integrates cell survival signals from multiple intracellular signaling pathways

The finding has substantial clinical significance, as mutations in these cell survival-signaling pathways are associated with many human cancers, and a better understanding of how these pathways converge to regulate the delicate balance between cell proliferation and cell death may lead to development of more effective cancer therapies.

17 Oct 2005

GRK5 protein plays important role in hypertension

Researchers at Jefferson Medical College have implicated a protein called GRK5 as having an important role behind essential hypertension, which affects more than 65 million Americans.

5 Oct 2005

Researchers "should rethink what they are doing" in creating drugs based on a fruit-fly model

The first close-up look at a pro-inflammatory signaling molecule involved in immune response in mammals suggests that researchers "should rethink what they are doing" in creating drugs based on a fruit-fly model, scientists say.

4 Oct 2005

Gleevec's uses might expand even further

Gleevec (Imatinib) is a representative of the newest generation of cancer drugs. The substance conveys its potent anti-proliferative effect by selectively supressing the tyrosine kinase pathway. The Giessen lung researchers now issue a first report of this substance as a new target therapy for pulmonary hypertension

4 Oct 2005

Ubiquitin ligase Rnf6 may be involved in oncogenesis

In a recent study, Dr. Ingolf Bach and colleagues from the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester and the University of Hamburg describe a novel role for the ubiquitin/proteosome protein degradation pathway in the regulation of local actin dynamics in neurons.

3 Oct 2005