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.

Obesity and heart failure risk

Heart specialists at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere report what is believed to be the first wide-scale evidence linking severe overweight to prolonged inflammation of heart tissue and the subsequent damage leading to failure of the body's blood-pumping organ.

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

Biomarker predicts malignancy potential of HG-PIN lesions in the prostate

Men whose prostate cancer screenings show high grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia (HG-PIN) may find themselves in limbo, "stuck" between diagnoses - they are told prostate cancer has not yet developed, but it might, and they are advised to undergo repeated needle biopsies as a precaution.

1 May 2008

New drug added to chemo kills off residual breast cancer stem cells

New research says chemotherapy often fails to totally eliminate breast cancer because it does not knock out breast cancer stem cells.

30 Apr 2008

New cancer drug opportunities

An international study released this week in the prestigious journal Nature could revolutionise the way in which cancers are treated and potentially put an end to aggressive DNA damaging chemotherapies and radiotherapy treatments.

30 Apr 2008

FDA needs additional $225 million, new authority to inspect foreign facilities to protect U.S. residents from unsafe prescription drug imports, agency officials say

FDA officials on Tuesday said the agency would need at least $225 million in additional funding annually, along with other authoritative powers, to adequately inspect the safety of imported drug products, the Baltimore Sun reports.

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 create heart and blood cells from reprogrammed skin cells

Stem cell researchers at UCLA were able to grow functioning cardiac cells using mouse skin cells that had been reprogrammed into cells with the same unlimited properties as embryonic stem cells.

30 Apr 2008

Scientists discover the double life of proteins

Scientists at The Australian National University are a step closer to understanding the rare Hartnup disorder after discovering a surprising link between blood pressure regulation and nutrition that could also help to shed light on intestinal and kidney function.

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

Ranibizumab therapy for diabetic eye disease shows promise

A JDRF collaboration between Johns Hopkins researchers and Genentech has shown that a drug for the treatment of diabetic eye disease has performed better in clinical trials than the current standard treatment using laser surgery.

29 Apr 2008

Study explains why steroid therapy for sinusitis and asthma loses its punch over time

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have outlined a new path for potential therapies to combat inflammation associated with sinusitis and asthma based on a new understanding of the body's earliest immune response in the nose and sinus cavities.

29 Apr 2008

Getting to the roots of breast cancer

The lesson learned in eradicating dandelions from your yard could apply in treating breast cancer as well, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in a report that appears online today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

29 Apr 2008

CSIRO researchers open up new class of chemistry

CSIRO Entomology business manager, Cameron Begley, said researchers believed the discovery opened up an entirely new class of chemistry.

29 Apr 2008

Scientists determine drug target for the most potent botulinum neurotoxin

Botulinum neurotoxin - responsible for the deadly food poisoning disease botulism and for the beneficial effects of smoothing out facial wrinkles - can also be used as a dreaded biological weapon. When ingested or inhaled, less than a billionth of an ounce can cause muscle paralysis and eventual death. Although experimental vaccines administered prior to exposure can inhibit the destructive action of this neurotoxin - the most deadly protein known to humans - no effective pharmacological treatment exists.

29 Apr 2008

Human protein may offer novel target for blocking HIV infection

A research group supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has uncovered a new route for attacking the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that may offer a way to circumvent problems with drug resistance. In findings published today in the online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers report that they have blocked HIV infection in the test tube by inactivating a human protein expressed in key immune cells.

29 Apr 2008

Tomato paste helps fight sunburn and wrinkles

Scientists in Britain are suggesting that a tomato product may help fight sunburn and wrinkles.

29 Apr 2008

Chocolate good for pregnant women

According to scientific research in the U.S. eating chocolate, especially dark chocolate, during pregnancy is good for mother and baby.

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

Most of us can lose weight initially, keeping it off is another matter!

The inability to manage weight gain and weight regain throughout life is helping to fuel the obesity epidemic in adults and children throughout Europe. However, the successful participation of more than 400 families in 8 countries in the largest European dietary intervention study, co-ordinated by the EC funded Diogenes project and headed by Professor Arne Astrup from the Faculty of Life Sciences at University of Copenhagen, is helping to address this vital issue.

28 Apr 2008